Is my meat safe?

[AmandaW]

Newbie here... we butchered our own pigs and I cured 4 pork bellies and 4 hams in a wet brine. I used this post http://www.pelletsmoking.com/searching-cure-26/ham-brining-101-bacon-6993/ and came up with 20 gallons of water, 906 grams of curing salt, 30c salt and 40 cups brown sugar. That amount covered the meat in a large drum. I injected at 20% and cured for 7 days. Now I’m scared to death of my meat ‍‍ Can someone please check my math and tell me if I did this right? They’re really salty and I’m going to do a water soak to draw some out if I cured them safely. Please let me know what you think. Thanks!

 

[AmandaW]

Edited to add that I cured 70lbs of meat.

 

[atomicsmoke]

You did have a heavy hand when you measure the salt. The most popular wet cure here, pop's wet cure, says max 1 cup of salt per gallon. You used 1.5.

Also the curing salt amount, while less than max safe limit is on the high side.

Your meat is safe...but likely inedible (too salty). I'd venture to say a soak will help. Since your nitrite level is high already it won't drop below safe levels after soaking.

 

[AmandaW]

Thank you! How long would you recommend soaking in water?

You did have a heavy hand when you measure the salt. The most popular wet cure here, pop's wet cure, says max 1 cup of salt per gallon. You used 1.5.

Also the curing salt amount, while less than max safe limit is on the high side.

Your meat is safe...but likely inedible (too salty). I'd venture to say a soak will help. Since your nitrite level is high already it won't drop below safe levels after soaking.

 

[pc farmer]

chef jimmyj

 

[daveomak]

20 gallons of water X 8.35#'s/gal = 167#'s X 454 = 75,818 grams water

Morton’s Table Salt..................................... 76.0 ..... per 1/4 cup
Morton Pickling Salt.................................... 74.0 x 120 = 8,880 grams
La Baleine Coarse Sea Salt.........................66.8
La Baleine Fine Sea Salt............................ 64.8
Morton’s Kosher Salt.................................. 62.0 x 120 = 7,440 grams
Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt..................... 45.2 x 120 = 5,424 grams
Maldon Sea Salt......................................... 33.2

1 cup of packed brown sugar weighs 170 grams.... X 40 = 6,800 grams brown sugar

906 grams cure#1..

70#'s of meat... X 454 = 31,780 grams... of meat...

75,818+8,880+6,800+906+31,780 = 124,817 grams of stuff...
8,880 / 124,817 = 7.11 % salt....
124,817-8,880+5,424 = 121,316 grams of stuff
5,424 / 121,316 = 4.47 % salt....

6,800 / 124,817 = 5.45 % sugar...
6,800 / 121,316 = 5.6 % sugar....

906 x 0.0625% nitrite = 56.6 grams nitrite / 124,817 = 454 Ppm nitrite in the cure mix...
906 x 0.0625% nitrite = 56.6 grams nitrite / 121,316 = 467 Ppm nitrite in the cure mix...

Depending on the salt used, that would determine what to do...

To make an equilibrium cure / brine, you want the salt around 1.75-2.25%.... the sugar around 1-1.25%... and the nitrite around 150 Ppm....
Contrary to the point made in the forum you noted, you CAN measure cure at 1 tsp. for every 5#'s of stuff....
1 tsp. in 5#'s is 150 Ppm regardless of what makes up the 5#'s of weight..
Your injection was good.. and necessary...
An equilibrium cure / brine takes up to 30 days.. under refrigeration of course... the saving grace of an EQ. cure / brine is you can't over salt, over sugar or over cure if your weights are calculated correctly...

May I suggest you start weighing your ingredients... for small batches like 1-2 bellies or 1 ham, a 0-100 grams electronic scale is great... It also can be used for weighing spices and herbs accurately ..

If you would like any additional clarification, I'm here.. Dave

 

[AmandaW]

Your numbers look familiar so I at least got most of that right. based on all of that, would you say that is safe to eat? I’m not going to poison people by using too much cure am I?

20 gallons of water X 8.35#'s/gal = 167#'s X 454 = 75,818 grams water

Morton’s Table Salt..................................... 76.0 ..... per 1/4 cup
Morton Pickling Salt.................................... 74.0 x 120 = 8,880 grams
La Baleine Coarse Sea Salt.........................66.8
La Baleine Fine Sea Salt............................ 64.8
Morton’s Kosher Salt.................................. 62.0 x 120 = 7,440 grams
Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt..................... 45.2 x 120 = 5,424 grams
Maldon Sea Salt......................................... 33.2

1 cup of packed brown sugar weighs 170 grams.... X 40 = 6,800 grams brown sugar

906 grams cure#1..

70#'s of meat... X 454 = 31,780 grams... of meat...

75,818+8,880+6,800+906+31,780 = 124,817 grams of stuff...
8,880 / 124,817 = 7.11 % salt....
124,817-8,880+5,424 = 121,316 grams of stuff
5,424 / 121,316 = 4.47 % salt....

6,800 / 124,817 = 5.45 % sugar...
6,800 / 121,316 = 5.6 % sugar....

906 x 0.0625% nitrite = 56.6 grams nitrite / 124,817 = 454 Ppm nitrite in the cure mix...
906 x 0.0625% nitrite = 56.6 grams nitrite / 121,316 = 467 Ppm nitrite in the cure mix...

Depending on the salt used, that would determine what to do...

To make an equilibrium cure / brine, you want the salt around 1.75-2.25%.... the sugar around 1-1.25%... and the nitrite around 150 Ppm....
Contrary to the point made in the forum you noted, you CAN measure cure at 1 tsp. for every 5#'s of stuff....
1 tsp. in 5#'s is 150 Ppm regardless of what makes up the 5#'s of weight..
Your injection was good.. and necessary...
An equilibrium cure / brine takes up to 30 days.. under refrigeration of course... the saving grace of an EQ. cure / brine is you can't over salt, over sugar or over cure if your weights are calculated correctly...

May I suggest you start weighing your ingredients... for small batches like 1-2 bellies or 1 ham, a 0-100 grams electronic scale is great... It also can be used for weighing spices and herbs accurately ..

If you would like any additional clarification, I'm here.. Dave

 

[daveomak]

The cure will dissipate during cooking... How much ??... Testing has shown up to 80 ish %....
Edibility would be improved if you dumped 10 gallons and added back 10 gallons (of water edited) that would cut those values in half..
The meat will probably have to be soaked to reduce the salt further...
If you dilute the mix, 10-12 days on the bellies and 3-4 weeks on the hams...

Taken from Pops brine curing method....
Curing times vary with meat, but generally overnight to 2-3 days for chickens and turkeys, 8-10 days buckboard bacon, 10-14 days belly bacon, pork shoulder, whole butts, 3-4 weeks whole hams, 10-20 days corned beef (fresh beef roasts, briskets, rolled rib roasts, etc.) If whole muscle is more than 2" thick, then inject so it can cure i/o as well as o/i, and/or in and around bone structures, etc.

 

[chef jimmyj]

A BIG THANKS to DaveOmak. Great job laying out the Math...JJ