Injecting brine during cure

[zalbar]

If you're got anything thicker than an inch or so it's always recommended to inject. I can accept that, but i'm not sure just how deep I'm supposed to go. If I have a pork butt, do I go to the bone, or only halfway to the meat?

Question has been bugging me for a while, thought I'd ask you folks.

cheers!

 

[Dutch]

You want to inject in layers and make sure to hit all the muscle groups.  When I used to stitch pump hams and butts, I would go down to the bone-inject the brining cure, pull the needle out about half way and inject again; making sure that all parts of the ham or butt was injected.  Failing to get the brine down around the bone will result in bone sour. Once pumped, the ham or butt or bacon would spend another 3-5 days in the curing pickle before going into the smokehouse. Our standard was to pump enough brine to equal 10% of the products green weight

It is possible to dry cure hams, butts and bacon but I'll leave that to dry cure gurus to answer.

 

[pcallison]

Hi Zalbar, I've always had good luck following Rytec Kutas' method found in his book, Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing. Picnics and shoulders(butt) should be pumped to 15% of their green weight, as they lose more of the pickle than a ham. Should be injected near the bone first & then evenly  throughout the rest. Has always worked for me. You'll be able to tell when you cut into it, it'll evenly pink. Be sure to totally imerse the meat after brining for 5-7 days(longer is better) before smoking. I highly recomend this book for all things related to curing. Good luck,and always err on the side of caution.See ya, Phillip

 

[diggingdogfarm]

What are you intending to cure?
What brine will you be using?

~Martin

 

[pcallison]

Sorry Dutch didn't mean to step on you, must have been huntin' & peckin' when you responded. I also meant to say imerse in brine for 5-7days. By the way I love your baked bean recipe,I tweak it a little bit w/ Jeff's BBQ sauce, very good stuff and always a big hit.

 

[zalbar]

It's sort of a followup to that ham I was talking about in the other fresh cured ham thread. I noticed there was an uncured spot after I was done slicing up the ham. Generally I'm going to be doing pork, no smoking just bringing up to 150 in the oven before slicing like I do with my bacon.

@Digging: For the brine I just use your calculator adding the weight of the meat in water then seasoning with whatever is on hand that i'm feeling peckish for.