Pastrami help

[donanthony100]

Hello all, have made a previous post regarding pastrami. Going to start a batch tomorrow out of venison. Interested in pops method. But couple questions. He states 1 cup of salt per gallon of water. But salt varies greatly between manufacturers and a cup of Morton’s kosher salt will be a lot different compared to let’s say diamond crystal. Also. Some venison roasts like the sirloin tip in the rear leg is quite thick 2-3 inches in the center. I know cure only works so fast so at what point is injecting cure a necessity? Little worried about letting the meat sit in the fridge for two weeks and the inside is tehcinally “raw”. Wanted to do a dry cure but this is what I’m hesitant against. Thanks!

 

[SmokinEdge]

Hello all, have made a previous post regarding pastrami. Going to start a batch tomorrow out of venison. Interested in pops method. But couple questions. He states 1 cup of salt per gallon of water. But salt varies greatly between manufacturers and a cup of Morton’s kosher salt will be a lot different compared to let’s say diamond crystal. Also. Some venison roasts like the sirloin tip in the rear leg is quite thick 2-3 inches in the center. I know cure only works so fast so at what point is injecting cure a necessity? Little worried about letting the meat sit in the fridge for two weeks and the inside is tehcinally “raw”. Wanted to do a dry cure but this is what I’m hesitant against. Thanks!

Don’t be nervous. It all works. Salt is all over the board in terms of cup measurement. Kosher is way different than say pickling salt (granulated) but you can cut it to 1/2 cup. Any meat over 3” thick needs injection otherwise just roll with the process it works fine.

Personally I dry cure anything under 3” thick.

 

[thirdeye]

Here is a previous post of my pastrami using Pop's Brine (with a bunch of aromatics added), and below that is a post from DaveOmak using Pop's brine.

Tri-Tip Pastrami Using Pop's Brine

For my most recent pastrami, I used a 1-gallon corning brine based on Pop's Brine, but added a bunch of corning aromatics and substituted 16 ounces of beer. I did inject 10% of the meat weight. The beef corned for 12 or 14 days, seasoned, rested 24 hours, then smoked followed by a pressure...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

Pastrami from Scratch -- using -- Pops Brining Method --

I think it was my last batch of Pastrami using a commercial corned beef, I was griping about having to pay XXX $/pound for the brining liquid while purchasing the beef... seemed like a waste of $$ plus I thought making Strami from scratch was no biggee...and I could control all the details.. ...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

 

[chopsaw]

He states 1 cup of salt per gallon of water.

That was the original formula . Later on he cut the salt back to 1/2 cup and his " low salt " of 1/3 cup .
I use it at the 1/2 cup per gallon .

But salt varies greatly between manufacturers and a cup of Morton’s kosher salt will be a lot different compared to let’s say diamond crystal.

Yup , but the fact that you understand that is most of the battle , and a good thing .

In the direction of your concern , Pop's was using plain non iodized table salt if I remember correctly . So that will give you a reference for granular size .

I'm using pickling salt at the 1/2 cup rate . I use it for overnight brining of poultry .
For that small grain size it gets salty for me if held longer than 2 days . I'm not fully curing with it .
I'm also using 1/2 cup white , and half cup brown sugar . That tempers the salt as well . For taste at least .

I weigh my salt for sausage making , but for Pop's brine at the 1 gallon volume I find that a half cup of salt works no matter the type , for my taste .

Follow thirdeye 's thread for adding pickling spice .
Keep us posted on what you do .

 

[zwiller]

While I still use Pop's and it was the method I learned to cure with, I now would suggest using Tenderquick for anymore first getting into curing. The salt variance with Pop's can be frustrating especially when you are first starting out. Pops used sea salt from my memory BUT the formula is posted a few different places and simply says "salt" and nothing specific. I personally use 1/4C per G of TABLE salt for the low salt version. Would use 1/2C large grain salt like pickling if I was using it. Somewhere in here I posted the Pop's formula by weight. I measured and weighed it all out etc. No BS: The exact moment I learned that if you measured salt by weight you did not have to account for grain size the Omak method clicked in my head.