Did I just trash my ham?

[DailyLunatic]

My first attempt at a ham. Had a small loin stub and thought I'd try a YouTube recipe I found. Had the thing printed out, excel calculated for my small bit, and... misread the line.

Instead of 0.2g (0.5g/Kg) of Sodium Erythobate, I read the line for Pink Cure and added 1.2g (2.5g/Kg). Didn't realize until the next day.

Have I ruined this? Toss? Fry up and eat now? Let it finish? ...or give to the Soi Dogs that keep killing my ducks?

-sterling

 

[indaswamp]

Sodium Erythorbate is a salt of ascorbic acid....and ascorbic acid is vitamin C. At 6X the dosage, it would still be safe to eat. And being that this is a whole muscle and not a mince like sausage, the extra acid from the higher dosage is of no concern for proper binding like it would be in a sausage. You should have a great color....as long as you added the proper amount of cure #1. You did add cure #1 right?

 

[DailyLunatic]

Sodium Erythorbate is a salt of ascorbic acid....and ascorbic acid is vitamin C. At 6X the dosage, it would still be safe to eat. And being that this is a whole muscle and not a mince like sausage, the extra acid from the higher dosage is of no concern for proper binding like it would be in a sausage. You should have a great color....as long as you added the proper amount of cure #1. You did add cure #1 right?

Correct. Cure was added at correct ratio.

Whew. Oaky, then. Down to waiting. Test in a few weeks.

-sterling

 

[indaswamp]

Are you doing a wet brine or dry brine?

 

[indaswamp]

SmokinEdge may have some thoughts on this for you...

 

[DailyLunatic]

Are you doing a wet brine or dry brine?

Just a beginner and not sure. It's not soaking in a tub, or hanging out on a hook to dry, so not sure. I think of it as a vacuum cure. Followed this, so let me know what this would be called.

 

[SmokinEdge]

My first attempt at a ham. Had a small loin stub and thought I'd try a YouTube recipe I found. Had the thing printed out, excel calculated for my small bit, and... misread the line.

Instead of 0.2g (0.5g/Kg) of Sodium Erythobate, I read the line for Pink Cure and added 1.2g (2.5g/Kg). Didn't realize until the next day.

Have I ruined this? Toss? Fry up and eat now? Let it finish? ...or give to the Soi Dogs that keep killing my ducks?

-sterling

You haven’t ruined anything. Just stick with the original time plan. Erythorbate is a forgiving ingredient, I use it in most of my regular curing. It’s a preservative that will color fast, help stop rancidity (keeps longer in the freezer) and also is a cure accelerator. Typical application is .05% so it really doesn’t take much but is sometimes hard to measure out because of being so little. I’ll sometimes double the amount on small items just to make it easier to measure and I’ve seen no negative effect.

The process in the video is called equilibrium dry curing. Some use vacuum bags and some of us use zip bags pretty much all the same. Enjoy the cure.

 

[SmokinEdge]

One thing I should have asked earlier is how thick is the piece of loin?
Erythorbate is a cure accelerator and while I have and do successfully dry cure with erythorbate included in the mix, I’m usually not thicker than about 2”. By the time you get up to 3” thick you are pushing the limits of equilibrium dry curing and could run the risk of burning up the nitrite before the cure is complete. I’ve not used erythorbate that thick without injection.

 

[DougE]

One thing I should have asked earlier is how thick is the piece of loin?
Erythorbate is a cure accelerator and while I have and do successfully dry cure with erythorbate included in the mix, I’m usually not thicker than about 2”. By the time you get up to 3” thick you are pushing the limits of equilibrium dry curing and could run the risk of burning up the nitrite before the cure is complete. I’ve not used erythorbate that thick without injection.

My first thought, too. On a thick piece, the nitrite may be converted before it has time to cure all the way to the center.

 

[DougE]

Best advice I can give is to cut it in half at the end of your curing time and see if it is cured in the center.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Best advice I can give is to cut it in half at the end of your curing time and see if it is cured in the center.

I think it will be ok, but we will see what he comes up with.

 

[DougE]

I think it will be ok, but we will see what he comes up with.

Fully agree.

 

[DailyLunatic]

One thing I should have asked earlier is how thick is the piece of loin?
Erythorbate is a cure accelerator and while I have and do successfully dry cure with erythorbate included in the mix, I’m usually not thicker than about 2”. By the time you get up to 3” thick you are pushing the limits of equilibrium dry curing and could run the risk of burning up the nitrite before the cure is complete. I’ve not used erythorbate that thick without injection.

It's just a small nub end. 450 g or so. Depending how you scrunch it up, could be 1.5", to 2.25".

Bummer to hear that there will be a 3" thickness limitation. Some of the loins I was planning are almost 5". Would have been good for sandwiches.

-sterling

 

[SmokinEdge]

It's just a small nub end. 450 g or so. Depending how you scrunch it up, could be 1.5", to 2.25".

-sterling

You should be just fine then.

 

[DougE]

3 inches or under in thickness and you're golden.