Smoked Cured pork loin is it right?

[kvn]

That, or a suitable environment (slightly drafty basement or similar) where the temps stay around the ranges suggested. 75% - 80% humidity is desirable too. These are the guidelines. Old world charcuterie was made without curing chambers so one would expect that a bit of variability still gets the job done.

Whole muscle curing is pretty safe if you dry cure or brine under refrigeration with recommended salt and cure percentages for the appropriate amount of time. Then hang the meat in a space close to suggested parameters till you loose 35 -40 % of the original weight, then eat it up. You can find calculators online that can tell you how long to cure the meat based on size and weight.

Thanks!

 

[SmokinEdge]

Then hang the meat in a space close to suggested parameters till you loose 35 -40 % of the original weight, then eat it up.

The old world makers hung their salumi in the shade well ventilated knowing the humidity goes down in the day and rises at night. This creates an average. Humidity can dip into the low 60’s but needs to have equal time in the mid to upper 70’s or into the 80’s to rehydrate the surface of the product. This will work, but is best to just keep RH 75-80%

 

[Mmmm Meat]

The old world makers hung their salumi in the shade well ventilated knowing the humidity goes down in the day and rises at night. This creates an average. Humidity can dip into the low 60’s but needs to have equal time in the mid to upper 70’s or into the 80’s to rehydrate the surface of the product. This will work, but is best to just keep RH 75-80%

Exactly. Better safe than sorry - it's not that hard to create a space that can maintain those parameters

- but I'm pretty sure the old-world makers didn't understand the humidity situation. More likely, they discovered over hundreds of years of curing meat that certain seasons provided the conditions that provided excellent conditions for charcuterie, and other seasons created conditions that often resulted in total failure. .

(having lived in Italy for five years, I was made entirely aware of their acceptance that their fate was in God's hands. They did extraordinarily dangerous things that we would never even consider. I have been on the Autostrada (freeway) going well over a hundred miles per hour with my Italian friends driving. I (in the back seat) put on my seatbelt and they laughed at me and explained that if it was our time to die, then God had it already planned. No sense in practicing safety. Similarly, on many occasions, I would see incredibly dangerous situations while driving - people lying in the middle of the road in the middle of a blind corner, passing on blind corners, people working on a car with legs laying out exposed towards the middle on a single country paved road...... or the best, the ones that always blew American Servicemen/women away - the four car pass on a two lane highway. One slow vehicle would cause a backup of many Italian drivers in a hurry. As soon as a clear spot became available, the first car behind the slow driver would begin to pass him, but the impatient drivers behind him would pass him as he passed the slow vehicle. If there were faster cars farther back in the line, they would pass the other drivers who were also passing, creating a wall of 5 cars all going the same direction on a road that was intended to have enough space for two lanes plus shoulders for stopped vehicles, often while there was oncoming traffic coming from the other direction. Absolute pandemonium - and this is just a taste of how they place their lives in God's hands and at times forsake basic safety).

Knowing all that by first hand experience, I'm very sure that their methods that have been passed down family lines over generations were all developed over many (many) years by the survivors that learned by the mistakes of their forefathers. For us, rather than following those often questionable practices, sticking to the recommended current temperature and humidity protocols ensures the highest levels of safety, especially when working with ground/diced meats. There are many reputable resources that provide safe methods to produce quality cured meats with a minimal risk. It is those practices that we should emulate.