How Do Ingredients Other Than Salt And Sugar Affect Curing With Prague Powder #1?

[doongie]

I have read in this forum about getting a better maple flavor in Canadian Bacon by using maple sugar as part of a dry cure mix, using syrup seems to not give quite the amount of flavor others are looking for. My mother mentioned that she was trying to make some pecan pralines, but they got to hardball before she could pour them so I have a bag of praline “dust”. It has maple in it so I immediately thought of using it in place of maple sugar next time I dry cure some pork loin. The praline mixture also included butter, milk, and pecans.

My question is, how will the milk solids and pecan meat affect the curing process, if at all? I use Prague Powder #1 and diggingdogfarms calculator to mix a dry cure rub.

 

[thirdeye]

I've used maple sugar in my dry cure for loins, and I've seen posts where maple syrup was cut with water and injected into the loins. There is a spice called fenugreek that imparts a maple flavor and in my experience a little goes a long way. I tried it a couple of times and it wasn't for me.

 

[PolishDeli]

Sounds like most of your praline “dust” is fat, sugar, and, protein.
My hypothesis: little to no effect.
Any lactic acid may serve as an accelerator, but the amount and it's effect would be small.
Are there anti caking agents in the "dust"?

 

[doongie]

Sounds like most of your praline “dust” is fat, sugar, and, protein.
My hypothesis: little to no effect.
Any lactic acid may serve as an accelerator, but the amount and it's effect would be small.
Are there anti caking agents in the "dust"?

No anti caking agents. The only ingredients in the dust are sugar, milk, maple syrup, butter, and pecans.
1 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of maple syrup, with syrup being 60% sugar this totals about 1-1/3 cup of sugar. 2/3c milk and 2 Tbsp butter. I would put this dust at about 60–70% sugar, and 30-40% milk fat solids.

 

[doongie]

I've used maple sugar in my dry cure for loins, and I've seen posts where maple syrup was cut with water and injected into the loins. There is a spice called fenugreek that imparts a maple flavor and in my experience a little goes a long way. I tried it a couple of times and it wasn't for me.

What I’ve read here makes a certain amount of sense to me, the sugar help deliver the cure into the meat, so using maple sugar would deliver the maple flavor with it.
it’s interesting that you me tion fenugreek can provide a maple flavor, I may look into that.

 

[chopsaw]

I don't have input on this , but I just have to say ,
P PolishDeli I always take note of your input and answers .
You address the question that was asked without an ego .
You give solid advice to the question and your knowledge and hands on experience show through .
You are a great addition to this forum .

 

[thirdeye]

What I’ve read here makes a certain amount of sense to me, the sugar help deliver the cure into the meat, so using maple sugar would deliver the maple flavor with it.
it’s interesting that you me tion fenugreek can provide a maple flavor, I may look into that.

So, water and salts (and sodium nitrite is a salt) are absorbed by meat with a predictable diffusion rate. We've had some discussion about the size of sugar molecules and I recall that one theory was that they were large enough that they did not travel very far. Another theory was that sugars dissolve somewhat and mix into the bag liquid and are re-absorbed that way. Thoughts?

 

[doongie]

Another theory was that sugars dissolve somewhat and mix into the bag liquid and are re-absorbed that way. Thoughts?

Quite honestly, I’m a real greenhorn in terms of curing. I can taste a significant difference between the meat I cure with sugar and what I cure without. That doesn’t support either theory though. I would think dissolved sugar would be reabsorbed. It seems even the deep interior of the meat cured with sugar is sweeter than the meat that is cured without, but that could just be perception.

 

[indaswamp]

So, water and salts (and sodium nitrite is a salt) are absorbed by meat with a predictable diffusion rate. We've had some discussion about the size of sugar molecules and I recall that one theory was that they were large enough that they did not travel very far. Another theory was that sugars dissolve somewhat and mix into the bag liquid and are re-absorbed that way. Thoughts?

thirdeye, it is my understanding that sugar will be absorbed by the meat, but the diffusion rate is much much slower than the salts...which is one reason why a longer cure time gives better results.