Ok, so early this morning, I cleaned up two leg roasts from an elk.
one was small 534 grams
one was larger 1932 grams
I use a basic KUTAS recipe but brought the Worcestershire sauce back a bit as it overpowered my tastebuds when I first tried it. I use equal amounts of Worcestershire sauce and soya sauce now, and it tastes good.
I also add an equal amount of water.
because of the odd weights, I have to alter the amounts of ingredients.
as KUTAS is not published in weight, but in volume (I HATE that) I have to "eyeball" it.
so, the small amount was about 40% of his recipe, and the large amount was about 140% of his recipe.
When I dipped each piece into the brine, the small package ran out of brine, but the large portion had brine left over.
it seems that there are many recipes that are all "Close" to each other regarding ingredients, and the most important I think is "Cure #1" as this meat will be dehydrated at a lower temperature.
So here's my question:
Can I make a larger standard ingredient batch, and dip each piece in, add to a bag, then say add 2 TBSP (Tablespoon) of left over brine per lb of meat to the bag, then close it up and let it cure/brine for my preferred 48 hour minimum??
When I mix my brine up, I heat it a bit to allow the salts to dissolve.
Then I mix the heck out of it.
Then if my meat is not par-frozen, I'll cool the brine.
I'm thinking I'm not going to go wrong doing this, because KUTAS recipe called for 3 lbs meat, and when I made some EXACTLY 3 lbs of meat, I pretty much ran out of brine there too.
So, lets say I've got somewhere between 3 and 5 lbs of meat, I mix up a brine using the 3lbs recipe and double it to ensure I have enough, then dip each piece in, and toss in a bag.
When I dip, I actually toss the piece into the brine, and swirl it around to mix up the ingredients some, as I notice the ground pepper really clumps up bad.
Then when all are dipped, I toss in 2 TBSP of brine per lb into the bag (adding a bit of water if necessary to allow a full 2 TBSP of liquid added per lb) and zip it up, and toss away the remaining brine.
This way, I ensure enough liquid to spread out the ingredients and allow the cure to move through the meat easily.
To my way of thinking, it would be easier to get complete coverage, and enough brine, and have left over brine, that to try to make exactly the right amount, and find a couple three pieces are dry as the brine ran out.
(one other thought, IF I go this route, I WILL be calculating the weights of the dry ingredients I have on hand, and converting to weight, as that is so much easier to scale recipes)
one was small 534 grams
one was larger 1932 grams
I use a basic KUTAS recipe but brought the Worcestershire sauce back a bit as it overpowered my tastebuds when I first tried it. I use equal amounts of Worcestershire sauce and soya sauce now, and it tastes good.
I also add an equal amount of water.
because of the odd weights, I have to alter the amounts of ingredients.
as KUTAS is not published in weight, but in volume (I HATE that) I have to "eyeball" it.
so, the small amount was about 40% of his recipe, and the large amount was about 140% of his recipe.
When I dipped each piece into the brine, the small package ran out of brine, but the large portion had brine left over.
it seems that there are many recipes that are all "Close" to each other regarding ingredients, and the most important I think is "Cure #1" as this meat will be dehydrated at a lower temperature.
So here's my question:
Can I make a larger standard ingredient batch, and dip each piece in, add to a bag, then say add 2 TBSP (Tablespoon) of left over brine per lb of meat to the bag, then close it up and let it cure/brine for my preferred 48 hour minimum??
When I mix my brine up, I heat it a bit to allow the salts to dissolve.
Then I mix the heck out of it.
Then if my meat is not par-frozen, I'll cool the brine.
I'm thinking I'm not going to go wrong doing this, because KUTAS recipe called for 3 lbs meat, and when I made some EXACTLY 3 lbs of meat, I pretty much ran out of brine there too.
So, lets say I've got somewhere between 3 and 5 lbs of meat, I mix up a brine using the 3lbs recipe and double it to ensure I have enough, then dip each piece in, and toss in a bag.
When I dip, I actually toss the piece into the brine, and swirl it around to mix up the ingredients some, as I notice the ground pepper really clumps up bad.
Then when all are dipped, I toss in 2 TBSP of brine per lb into the bag (adding a bit of water if necessary to allow a full 2 TBSP of liquid added per lb) and zip it up, and toss away the remaining brine.
This way, I ensure enough liquid to spread out the ingredients and allow the cure to move through the meat easily.
To my way of thinking, it would be easier to get complete coverage, and enough brine, and have left over brine, that to try to make exactly the right amount, and find a couple three pieces are dry as the brine ran out.
(one other thought, IF I go this route, I WILL be calculating the weights of the dry ingredients I have on hand, and converting to weight, as that is so much easier to scale recipes)
