Meat Thickness and how it relates to Wet Curing, Dry Curing and Injecting ???

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aahhyes68

Newbie
Original poster
Apr 19, 2014
23
10
SE MI.
As always, please feel free to straighten me out on any lingo or misunderstood information on my part.... I'm trying to get a good grasp on this.. Thanks. :)

Lets start with wet curing as in Pops family brine as an example.

I've been reading and I've found different posts/websites talking about the thickness of a piece of meat that can be brined without injecting. I've read 2" and up to 4" max. If the brine/cure penetrates the meat at 1/4" per day that's 2" in 8 days...can this be taken as 4" piece of meat can be penetrated from both sides at the same time to meet in the center in 8 days without injecting (+2 days on top) ?

Is 2" ALL that the brine will penetrate or does it just continue on at 1/4" per day ? Is that rule just to get it out of the brine sooner ??

Example; If I have a 6#, 10"L x 5" round pork loin for Can bacon. Could I just let it continue to soak to penetrate the whole piece ? If not, what % of the solution would have to be injected and what method is followed ? Inject every sq in ?? What is acceptable, or preferred rather ?

I have some questions on the dry curing (not the dry curing like Christopher Columbus did lol) method too....

How does meat thickness come into play with a dry cure ? For instance; I can have a 10# pork belly shaped like a patio brick or a 10# pork loin shaped like a log ? What is the formula, or procedure here ?

I've been playing with DDogs universal cure calculator...(very cool and thanks) but am confused on using it as a dry rub and as it is used in conjunction with other spices ?  For instance... 5# of meat requires 68.39 g of #1/salt/sugar. If I wanted to add 20g of spices does it all get rubbed on at the same time as evenly as possible ? What if I wanted to add 40g of spices ? I read an article where it tells you do divide the rub into 1/3 and apply 1/3 every 4 days and the last 1/3 being applied was when additional spices went in ?? 
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Thanks for the help guys...I know I have a lot of questions...I'm connecting the dots, slowly but surely. 
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Steve B. & Family
 
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All great questions I want to see the answers.Some of the smarter guys will be along and help you with the dots.I can learn when they do also

Dan 
 
 
I dunno, Dan. Maybe I posted this question in the wrong place ? 
It has been fairly slow the last few days with posters.I am sure it is in the right place.With warm temps finally hitting some of these posters area they have time to get out and catch up on outside projects.We will keep this thread bumped up and get you a answer.

Dan
 
You're right...it's been a long, crappy winter so when it's finally nice I don't sit in front of the puter either..

I have about 20# of bellies and a 5# pork loin soaking in Pops brine right now. Maybe I'll go shake the buckets to keep me busy for a while...lol.

I'll check back tonight. 
beercheer.gif
 
That sounds like some nice amount of meat to have.I dont have a problem here with season change 60deg to 80deg year around and always green.My problem is no smoker for now waiting to sell this place so I can move out to the farm and build a brick smokehouse.I have a wood burning dome oven.It takes half a tree to get going and burns real hot.I will just wait a little longer till I build my smokehouse for my Bacon.  
 
@Aahhyes68

Actual curing time when immersion brining depends on a lot of different factors.....thickness of the meat....muscle orientation.....connective tissue content....fat content...density of the muscle....temperature...brine concentration...etc.
Injecting anything over 2 inches thick is a general recommendation to ensure an adequate cure in a reasonable amount of time.
The quantity of brine inject depends on the concentration of the brine and other factors.

I'll leave questions specific to Pops' brine for him.

The same factors above affect curing time when applying a dry cure mix.
Best answer is...allow adequate time.

There's nothing wrong with adding spices to the dry cure mix.....if a lot of spices are to be used, some prefer to add the dry cure mix first and then the spice to ensure a good cure because the cure mix obviously takes priority.
Dividing the cure mix and applying in multiple sessions is preferred by some in certain situations, especially if there's a lot to be applied.

Many curing techniques and particulars boil down to personal preference, they're not necessarily essential.

If you have more questions, please don't hesitate.



~Martin
 
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You're right...it's been a long, crappy winter so when it's finally nice I don't sit in front of the puter either..

I have about 20# of bellies and a 5# pork loin soaking in Pops brine right now. Maybe I'll go shake the buckets to keep me busy for a while...lol.

I'll check back tonight. 
beercheer.gif
Why dont you PM POPs or Bearcarver and let me know what happens

Dan
 
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