Pops6927's Wet Curing Brine

[griz400]

Boy ... this is one of the most informative thread I have read here .. took about 2 hrs .. lol ..Points to you Pops ... we vacation on a cruise this Saturday and gone a week .. just received a 2 1/2 lb container of #1, ordered from Walmart and picked up from store .. paid 16.00 good/bad ??


Anyways , after we get back from vacation .. will be curing up some loins for Canadian bacon.. and then smoking with hickory .. may cold smoke an hr or 2 then smoke to an internal of 145 ?? sound like a plan ?? then actually will be making some from bellies right after this ..
Couple of questions .. going to make some large loins and is like 10 - 14 days a good brine time ?? and dont know what the weather will be like .. if its cool/cold in a couple weeks in Fla here , would like to cold smoke a few hrs. , then smoke with hickory to internal of 145 .. good ?? straighten me out pops ... love this thread ... thinking of some some lemons in the brine .. cause I got a whole tree full of Myers lemons right now out back ..

 

[dirtsailor2003]

Boy ... this is one of the most informative thread I have read here .. took about 2 hrs .. lol ..Points to you Pops ... we vacation on a cruise this Saturday and gone a week .. just received a 2 1/2 lb container of #1, ordered from Walmart and picked up from store .. paid 16.00 good/bad ??
View attachment 343671

Anyways , after we get back from vacation .. will be curing up some loins for Canadian bacon.. and then smoking with hickory .. may cold smoke an hr or 2 then smoke to an internal of 145 ?? sound like a plan ?? then actually will be making some from bellies right after this ..
Couple of questions .. going to make some large loins and is like 10 - 14 days a good brine time ?? and dont know what the weather will be like .. if its cool/cold in a couple weeks in Fla here , would like to cold smoke a few hrs. , then smoke with hickory to internal of 145 .. good ?? straighten me out pops ... love this thread ... thinking of some some lemons in the brine .. cause I got a whole tree full of Myers lemons right now out back ..

I’d avoid adding the lemons. The acid will cook the meat and you will probably end up with a product that isn’t great.

 

[chopsaw]

I'll second no lemons . I added a few slices one time . Didn't hurt the end result , because I didn't add many but they turned black in the brine .

 

[Flying Clay Disk]

real simple curing brine: ...

My apologies if this question is redundant, I've read most of the threads, but not all.

Regarding Pops brine cure recipe (all the way back on page 1), would it be possible to eliminate the white sugar altogether and just go with a combo of brown sugar and maple syrup? Specifically, I think I would like to go with 3/4 cup of brown sugar + 3/4 cup of maple syrup (in lieu of the 1 cup of brown sugar + 1 cup of white sugar).

Everything else would be essentially the same, but I am also adding some spices like bay leaf, thyme and crushed fresh garlic. (I'm still debating the garlic though).

Would this yield bad results?

 

[biteme7951]

My apologies if this question is redundant, I've read most of the threads, but not all.

Regarding Pops brine cure recipe (all the way back on page 1), would it be possible to eliminate the white sugar altogether and just go with a combo of brown sugar and maple syrup? Specifically, I think I would like to go with 3/4 cup of brown sugar + 3/4 cup of maple syrup (in lieu of the 1 cup of brown sugar + 1 cup of white sugar).

Everything else would be essentially the same, but I am also adding some spices like bay leaf, thyme and crushed fresh garlic. (I'm still debating the garlic though).

Would this yield bad results?

Brown sugar is just white sugar with molasses added, so yes you can use just brown sugar. I tried maple syrup in a brine once and found the maple taste I was looking for got lost in the process somewhere is it was not as pronounced in the end product as I had hoped. and at the price of pure maple syrup I never tried it again.....but you can give it a try for yourself and see. If using the brine for canadian bacon you can just brush some syrup on the meat as it's smoking and it will come thru in the finished product.

add any spices you like untill you achieve the results you desire.

Barry.

 

[Flying Clay Disk]

biteme7951,

Thanks! I think I'll take your advice and just put the maple syrup on while smoking instead. And maybe I'll just go with all brown sugar instead of a 50-50 blend. Nothing against white sugar, but I just prefer the character of brown sugar better. Thanks again!

 

[zwiller]

+1; You could also use maple wood for the smoke. Maple comes through pretty good unlike other woods. In fact, that's why I don't care to use it. That said, family is goo goo for maple lunch meats. WRT to spices, I prefer to leave them out of cured stuff.

I make it a rule to make any recipe exact at least once before modding and suggest you do the same. Canadian bacon with Pops brine on maple wood and maple syrup glaze at end sounds like a sure winner to me.

 

[daveomak]

My apologies if this question is redundant, I've read most of the threads, but not all.

Regarding Pops brine cure recipe (all the way back on page 1), would it be possible to eliminate the white sugar altogether and just go with a combo of brown sugar and maple syrup? Specifically, I think I would like to go with 3/4 cup of brown sugar + 3/4 cup of maple syrup (in lieu of the 1 cup of brown sugar + 1 cup of white sugar).

Everything else would be essentially the same, but I am also adding some spices like bay leaf, thyme and crushed fresh garlic. (I'm still debating the garlic though).

Would this yield bad results?

Morning.... excellent question.... After a week or two, you may find the brine/cure mix has become "ropy"... That's from the impurities in the brine... do not boil or heat the curing brine with cure in it... nitrite degrades about 130 F...

 

[dr k]

I use 1/3 C each per gallon of water: dark or light brown sugar, Maple syrup and Kosher salt with no problems. Maybe the less sugar in the same amount of water keeps it from getting ropy. I do use Todd's Maple Pellets in the Amnps and I can taste the maple flavor. I have used 1/2 C each of the ingredients above but never more.
-Kurt

 

[pops6927]

Certainly, the only thing you absolutely need is water and curing salt. Sugars of any kind are simply for flavoring. You can modify the curing brine with additional flavorings, spices, salts, sugars, maple, etc. I've added maple extract also. I can get maple pellets from Todd that does a good job, too. Let us know what you've done and comment on it!

 

[Flying Clay Disk]

Well, here's what I've done so far. I halved a tasty lookin' roughly 5 lb pork loin into to equal weight pieces. The brine I went with is basically your recipe with a couple tweaks and adds.

1- Gal Water
1 - Cup Kosher salt
2 - Tbsp Prague #1 (NOTE - See comments below!)
1-3/4 Cup Brown sugar
4 - Bay leaves
1 - Tbsp dried thyme
1 - Tbsp black peppercorns
1 - Tbsp Crazy Salt (essentially salt, onion powder, garlic powder and sage)
2 - Tsp onion powder

I allowed the water to come up to room temp just enough to dissolve the sugar and salt, then let it cool. Then I divided it in half and placed each half loin in a gallon zip lock with 1/2 of the brine. Total 2 bags. I have this in the outside refrigerator and plan on leaving it for 7-9 days.

I was going to inject it, but I realized my injection needle was missing and it's a long way into town (like really long way) so I just went with what I had.

edit - Edited post based on input from comments.

 

[daveomak]

Well, here's what I've done so far. I halved a tasty lookin' roughly 5 lb pork loin into to equal weight pieces. The brine I went with is basically your recipe with a couple tweaks and adds.

1- Gal Water
1 - Cup Kosher salt
2 - Tbsp Prague #1 -- 2 TBS Prague powder is enough cure for 30#'s of meat... 1 TBS = 3 tsp...
1-3/4 Cup Brown sugar
4 - Bay leaves
1 - Tbsp dried thyme
1 - Tbsp black peppercorns
1 - Tbsp Crazy Salt (essentially salt, onion powder, garlic powder and sage)
2 - Tsp onion powder

Iwarmed the solution up just enough to dissolve the sugar and salt, then let it cool . Warming the solution, if you had the Prague Powder in it, could have degraded the cure... Cure starts to break down at 130 deg. F...

Then I divided it in half and placed each half loin in a gallon zip lock with 1/2 of the brine. Total 2 bags. I have this in the outside refrigerator and plan on leaving it for 7-9 days.

I was going to inject it, but I realized my injection needle was missing and it's a long way into town (like really long way) so I just went with what I had.

 

[Flying Clay Disk]

Yep, you're absolutely correct! Major mistake on my part (and also over the 200ppm max)!! Thank you! Now the question is, what to do? Trash the whole lot, or dump the brine/cure and make a new batch with the correct levels? It's been in the brine/cure for just under 20 hours.

BTW..."warmed" was probably a bad term, I just took the chill off the near ice-water. No where near 130F, more like 50F max. It was still cold to the touch.

edit - Bit of a backstory as to why I made this mistake, but wrong is wrong. No sense belaboring it.

 

[dr k]

Pink salt #1 6.25% nitrite says 24lb./100gal. =3.84oz./gal. Two Tbsp you put in is about 2oz. In that gallon. So it seems ok. But I would like to know as well .
- Kurt

 

[Flying Clay Disk]

Two Tbsp you put in is about 2oz. in that gallon.

Well...according to my understanding 1 Tsp = 5.7g (of Prague #1), and there are 3 Tsp per 1 Tbsp (no debate there). Therefore, 2 Tbsp = 34.2g. Consequently, by weight, 34.2g = 1.21oz. However, the max for Prague #1 is 200ppm or roughly 3g/kg, or 3g/2.2lbs. So, doing the math another way (meat wt. + water wt.)*.25% = cure, or (4.4lbs + 8.34lbs)*.25% = .03185lbs (or 14.46g = .52oz. = 2.54 Tsp). So...my cure seems too high...as daveomak has correctly (I believe) pointed out.

Note- the one caveat here is the above does not take into consideration the weight of both the salt and the sugar (which is part of where my error is).

 

[daveomak]

OK...
1 gal water including all the other stuff is about 10#'s... you've added 1/2 of a 5# loin...
Now each 1/2 gal of brine and loin is about 7.5#'s.. That take's about 1.5 tsp or 1/2 TBS of cure for ~156 Ppm nitrite...
Each 1/2 gal brine/cure has 1 TBS dissolved in it...
I would dump the liquid into a container and return 1 qt. back to the zip bag with the meat... that will net you 1/2 TBS or 1 1/2 tsp. per qt. or the correct amount for 7.5#'s of stuff.
the remaining ingredients seem to be in the ballpark.. ~1/4 to 1/2 cup per qt...
Do not add any additional liquid...

 

[Flying Clay Disk]

Perfect! Thanks, Dave!!

Really appreciate your input and assistance!

 

[dr k]

I got about 18gm. Per Tbsp. 21 if it's heaping. Moisture content may be different. I'm still stuck on what the label says 24lb./100gal. Pop's recipe for a Tbsp per gallon is about 1/6 of that. I like the wet cure because if it covers it cures and I don't have to mess with ppm. Now I'm more confused.
- Kurt

 

[Flying Clay Disk]

It is confusing, frankly. I've seen published and storied cures for Canadian Bacon with 3 Tbsp of Prague #1 (yes, "TABLEspoons) for one 8lb loin!! :eek: (and more than just a couple times too!).

I'm still learning...and this isn't my first rodeo either. Lots of knowledge here though!

BTW...18g is close (5.7g * 3 = 17.1g)/Tbsp.

 

[daveomak]

Now for the 24#'s per 100 gallons...

Those directions are for a commercial "pump the meat" operation... When you can consistently pump 10% of the solution into the meat.. It is not for an equilibrium brine, like you are attempting...

4 oz. per 100#'s of meat = 4 x 28.38 = 113 grams per 100#'s or 1.13 grams per pound...

24#'s per 100 gallons = 0.24#'s per gallon or 4 oz. per gallon

4 oz = 113 grams x 0.0625 = 7.1 grams nitrite..

1 gal = 8.35#'s x 454 = 3,791 gms.. + 113 = 3904 gms total..

7.1 / 3904 = 1819 Ppm nitrite in the 4 oz. per gallon mix...

If you inject 10% of the weight of the meat, of the above mix, you will get a ~180 Ppm nitrite in the meat...

If you submerge a 5# or 2,270 gm hunk of meat in that 1819 Ppm mix........
Original solution weight of 10#'s + 5#'s of meat....
The meat is ~1/3 the weight of the brine = meat...
Therefore, it is "somewhat" reasonable to assume, it will, given enough time, absorb ~ 1/3 the dissolved ingredients...
Now the meat "could have" +/- 600 Ppm nitrite...

No "home curing" person would even think about dissolving 24#'s of cure in 100 gallons or brine mix... The above method is for commercial pumping operations....
The above solution must NOT be used for an equilibrium brine/cure mix...