Pork Tenderloin Whole Muscle Cure

[Mmmm Meat]

Here's a nice easy way to start for anybody wanting to get into curing meat. I saw this pork tenderloin at the market on 11 April - just over a pound in weight and about four bucks out the door. I did an equilibrium cure consisting of:

3% salt
.25% cure number 1
.5% pepper
.5% garlic powder
.5% smoked paprika
.5% Cayenne pepper

I put it in a tightly sealed Zip Lock bag and let it cure for eight days in the 'fridge. I based the cure time using the brine calculator here: https://genuineideas.com/ArticlesIndex/nitritecuringcalculator.html

I pulled it on day eight and rinsed off all the cure, salt and seasonings. I dried it and redressed it with the pepper/garlic/paprika/cayenne mix. I didn't have any collagen sheets to wrap it in but I had some 50 - 55 mm beef middles that I thought I could squeeze it into since it was so small in diameter. I got the meat about 75% of the way into the casing before it finally split at one end. I used a bit more casing cut into a small rectangle to cover the area of the tear in the casing and trussed it to hold the patch in place. Starting weight was 514 g on 19 April.

It reached 37% weight loss around day 20 but the middle section was still pretty squishy so I let it dry further until the central portion firmed up a reasonable amount. I pulled it today - 33 days of drying reduced the weight to 274g, which is 49% weight loss. It has a nice purplish red hue and tastes fantastic. All in all, a pretty easy and straightforward cure. After a quick taste, it got vacuum sealed and stashed for a month or so to equalize.

 

[thirdeye]

Is there any particular reason you selected Cure #1 instead of Cure #2?

 

[Mmmm Meat]

I was expecting the cure to be complete within a 30 day period so I opted for #1. I believe it was the correct choice. Agree or disagree?

 

[thirdeye]

I was expecting the cure to be complete within a 30 day period so I opted for #1. I believe it was the correct choice. Agree or disagree?

I've always thought Cure #1 is used when you are going to be cooking the meat, and cure #2 is used for dry cured meats that don't get cooked.... like salami. Cure #2 is salt, sodium nitrite, and sodium nitrate, the sodium starts working right away, and the sodium nitrate is kind of time release and converts to nitrite to give you protection over a longer period of time.

 

[indaswamp]

I've always thought Cure #1 is used when you are going to be cooking the meat, and cure #2 is used for dry cured meats that don't get cooked.... like salami. Cure #2 is salt, sodium nitrite, and sodium nitrate, the sodium starts working right away, and the sodium nitrate is kind of time release and converts to nitrite to give you protection over a longer period of time.

Cure #2 is used in dry cured meat production-especially salami. But the nitrate need to be reduced to nitrite by the staphylococcus Bacteria. This happens slowly over time so the nitrate acts like a nitrite reserve.
Cure #1 will give you about 30 days of protection, so if you are making dry cured products that will dry fast then there is no need for cure #2. Things like kabanosy, cacciatore salami in hog casing, or small cuts of meat like jerky or tenderloins. Once the water activity is low enough, then cure is no longer necessary as bacteria can't grow anyways. The cure is to keep the product safe until it is dry.

 

[thirdeye]

Cure #2 is used in dry cured meat production-especially salami. But the nitrate need to be reduced to nitrite by the staphylococcus Bacteria. This happens slowly over time so the nitrate acts like a nitrite reserve.
Cure #1 will give you about 30 days of protection, so if you are making dry cured products that will dry fast then there is no need for cure #2. Things like kabanosy, cacciatore salami in hog casing, or small cuts of meat like jerky or tenderloins. Once the water activity is low enough, then cure is no longer necessary as bacteria can't grow anyways. The cure is to keep the product safe until it is dry.

Thanks for clarifying that.

 

[Mmmm Meat]

Exactly, The nitrite in cure #1 is consumed/exhausted after about 30 days, so if you are curing something that will require more drying time than that, then using Cure #2 provides both nitrite and nitrate, the latter of which is converted to nitrite in a slower reaction that keeps the cure (nitrite) working in the meat for longer periods.

 

[smokerjim]

Looks good

 

[Robert H]

Looks delicious.