Looking for detailed information on how to make it! I have all the stuff it's that I don't want to over inject and screw up a good piece of meat...
Looking for detailed information on how to make it! I have all the stuff it's that I don't want to over inject and screw up a good piece of meat...
I will try Bears method this year but I am still looking for info on how to inject the brine into the ham. If possible I want to keep the bone in the ham. Depending on the size of the deer it will probably weigh 10 lbs or so. The old guy that passed away soaked them in crocks with a brown sugar cure that tasted great. I didn't get any info on the details before he passed away. I am worried about over injecting the ham and ruining it.
I will try Bears method this year but I am still looking for info on how to inject the brine into the ham. If possible I want to keep the bone in the ham. Depending on the size of the deer it will probably weigh 10 lbs or so. The old guy that passed away soaked them in crocks with a brown sugar cure that tasted great. I didn't get any info on the details before he passed away. I am worried about over injecting the ham and ruining it.
Hi there and welcome!
I believe the rules of an equilibrium brine will keep you from getting too salty.
In short you:
This is called an equilibrium brine and should NOT oversalt your meat because no matter what, there can be only 2.25% of salt available for ALL the material (water and meat) in the bucket. As you let this cure for all of those days the salt will/should distribute EVENLY throughout the water and the meat. So again 2.25% salt max in any of it.
- weigh your venison ham.
- You figure out how much water it will take to cover the ham by 1 inch of water and get that weight.
- Add your venison and water weights together and copy down that number as your Total weight
- You will take 2-3% of the total weight and add that much salt to the water (I recommend 2.25% as a good number as 3% is just too salty for me)
- The math for 2.25% salt is, Total Weight x 0.0225 = salt needed
- You then do 1% of the total weight as sugar or brown sugar
- The math for 1% sugar is, Total weight x 0.01 = sugar needed
- Calculate the cure #1 amount THIS IS IMPORTANT so it will be
- Using Total Weight In Grams - (Total weight in grams / 453.6g) x 1.134g of cure = cure needed
- In Pounds - Total weight in pounds x 1.134g of cure = cure needed
- Dissolve the ingredients in the non-heated water (I fill up a blender with water and dry ingredients and blend until dissolved). Heat will kill the cure so don't add the cure to hot water
- Put your venison leg in a brining tub or bucket and pour the brine/cure liquid over the leg
- Get a meat syringe and draw the liquid from the tub and start injecting the ham all around the bone and like 2 inches apart all over
This is a lot of info so if any of it is confusing please feel free to ask but this is basically a great way to cure your venison or any ham and ensure it isn't too salty :)
Or you can just follow my Dry Cured Dried Beef Step by Step & not get anything too salty.
Bear
You can make bear SS the same as deer and lots of stuff on here about it. Either add 15% pork fat or cut it with 50% beef with 73% fat as they sell in the store. It's bear to make damn sure it is cooked good. Do not raise the smoker over 180 and the thicker the tubes just be prepared to cook it a long time.I am going to give yours a try . Do you have a recipe for bear summer sausage? I am going to shoot one next month and I am researching various recipe's . I have always taken mine to the butcher and he injects them with the bone in. I have grown accustomed to it that way and we use the bone to flavor a pot of beans.