Pork Tenderloin (not loin)

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Wrong... you need to calculate salt amount @ 25 to 30% loss... for example: if your tenderloin id 1 pound...
1 lb minus 30% = salt amount... that is how you get get to right saltiness property of finished product... your amount of wet brine doesnt affect saltiness... salt is distributed evenly regardless of brine amount... it is pure physic... time affects salt distribution... it's simple as that... hope it helps you get through....

I think you are speaking of a different recipe than the OP...
 
4. Using the weight of the meat.... calculate the salt and sugar based on your personal threshold..
Did you not use the weight of the water ????
Oops, that was a typo. Yes the water weight was included . My question though was about water being 1/2 the meat weight. I did see your post from today with the photo from the 1900 book, and the sixth step indicates that 5 gallons of water (42) pounds will be enough to cover the 100 pounds of pork belly. And if the right container is used I suppose that would be correct. I have just never heard anyone stating to "Use 1/2 the meat weight for the amount of water". My brine buckets are 5 Quart, 2 gallons, 3 gallons and 5 gallons, and I use liners... so I look at my brisket, belly or whatever and pick a bucket I know will hold an adequate amount of brine to cover, and I generally make a conservative guess. I cinch up the liner and zip tie it.
That said, this is an interesting thought and next time I make a curing brine, I will test out this theory and see how well it works with my brining containers.

BTW, Greg Blonder has some articles about salt diffusion, here is one of them.
 
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daveomak daveomak , my experiment can be sooner than I thought.... I'm on day 10 of a DaveOmak (loin) ham. When I rinse it I'll do the water test in one of my containers and see what I come up with.
 
I've read Blonders stuff... I don't agree with a lot of his methods....
Salt diffusion in meat at 36-38F is a lot different than 80-130F, over a 24 hour period...
He's comparing apples to oranges....
In MY OPINION, as a college professor, he doesn't understand curing meats....
500 years ago, in Europe, those folks understood making prosciutto.. Approx 50-55F for a year or longer....
Folks keep trying to hurry up this process... It ain't gonna happen...

BTW, try a zip bag and 25-50% water ... turning daily...
 
I've read Blonders stuff... I don't agree with a lot of his methods....
Salt diffusion in meat at 36-38F is a lot different than 80-130F, over a 24 hour period...
He's comparing apples to oranges....
In MY OPINION, as a college professor, he doesn't understand curing meats....
500 years ago, in Europe, those folks understood making prosciutto.. Approx 50-55F for a year or longer....
Folks keep trying to hurry up this process... It ain't gonna happen...

BTW, try a zip bag and 25-50% water ... turning daily...
I think Blonder comprehends the science of curing but does not always take into account the artisan factor that makes this hobby fun for some people. For example he has an article on dry cured pastrami, with a twist... he uses two parts Cure #1 to one part canning salt, and the required amount is 1/4 teaspoon per pound of meat. The goal is to use Cure #1 in amounts slightly less than would provide a preservation cure, but enough for the traditional pastrami color, and to have the 'perfect' saltiness. Using beef navel, curing time is 2 days with the mention that the meat might not be fully cured but that the heat during smoking would complete the diffusion process. A pastrami rub is applied, and the pastrami is hot smoked. I tried this and the end result is technically pastrami...., it just did not have the depth of flavor and texture I prefer.
 
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daveomak daveomak Here are the results of my water amount experiment for a wet equilibrium curing brine. I started with a 4.5 pound pork loin (this was cured with your injectable ham cure, but for this experiment that is irrelevant) and using 1/2 the meat weight or 2.25 pounds of water, I rounded up to 5 cups of water to determine if that will be enough water to cover the meat. I'm using a 2 gallon bucket.

And the results are: Yes, it worked, there was about 1/2" of water above the meat. However, notice the meat is touching the sides of the bucket, a tight fit. Had I selected a 3 gallon bucket so the liquid would be unrestricted, the level of water would not have covered. The bottom line is.... using 50% of the meat weight for water weight works, but it is dependent on diameter of container. I bet using 60% of the meat weight might be a safer number to insure cover.

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I find dry rub curing for 14 days on bacon on a wire rack with spacers, then rinse, as an example, then placing on a wire rack in the refer for another 5-7 days, to concentrate the flavor, gives a depth of flavor to bacon that's amazing..

Bacon and Spacers.jpg
 
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