Dave,
Can you help me understand what you mean by this, and recommend proper strategies?
For home curing, I think we are naturally forced to modify our processes simply due to the equipment we have available to us. For example, we use syringes for injecting cure because we don’t have pump stations at home. But whether curing at home or on an industrial scale, the same nitrite levels should be targeted. To that extent, JC’s calculator works as intended.
OK, I think I've got it....
I make up a mix for injection.... If the meat weighs 10#'s, I weigh out the proper amount of STPP, sugar, salt and cure#1... I dissolve those, in that order, into my injection liquid... which I generally use 10% weight of the meat...
I do NOT adjust the ingredient amounts for the liquid I'm injecting... I figure most of it will evaporate during the cook leaving behind the ingredients... If that is totally not the case, -(minus) up to 10% still puts the ingredients in an acceptable range for cure and flavor....
Unlike the needle injector at a processor, we do a "better" job... They have allowances during the process also...
Uncooked cured beef products (covered under the MPI Regulations, sections 319.100, 102, and 103) and pork products not covered under the PFF regulations (PM 66C) may contain up to 10% added ingredients (solution) without a label declaration.
For PFF-controlled cured pork products, heat processed pickle-cured pork bellies/jowls, cooked cured beef products, etc., FSIS will permit an allowance of up to plus or minus 20% of the targeted % pump/pick-up before action is required because different pieces of meat or poultry were used to calculate the effective or actual % pump/pick-up.
So, following those rules, we would be allowed an injection range of 8-12% measured injected, to comply with a 10% injection... Pumped, Pick Up to the meat..
And, I have found, when injecting meats with the proper amounts, then bagging and keeping in the refer for 6-14 days, the liquid "usually" is absorbed back into the meat...
