# Equilibrium Curing Question



## nomadd917 (Feb 9, 2019)

Quick question about equilibrium curing.

Do you ever include the weight of the curing salt, salt, sugar, and any other spices in your total weight for calculating the amount of salt, cure, and sugar needed/desired?


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## DanMcG (Feb 9, 2019)

No just the weight of the meat.


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## petewoody (Feb 9, 2019)

danmcg said:


> No just the weight of the meat.


and water


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## daveomak (Feb 9, 2019)

I just include the meat and water...  The salt, sugar etc, should be included, but, since it's a constant to attain a 2% salt, 1% sugar and 0.25% cure, I ignore it...  Ain't the "correct" way to do it.....
I also have noted many recipes for brine/equilibrium cures...   The amount of water/liquid appears to be 25-50% the weight of the meat...  The reasoning makes perfect sense to me... 
At 50% liquid, the concentration in the liquid is increased 3X...  from 2% to 6%....    With a higher concentration of ingredients in the liquid, the equilibrium is "FORCED", so to speak...  takes less ingredients and takes up less room...
At 25% liquid, the concentration rises 4.5X to 9%... 
Using that lesser amount of liquid, a freezer type zip bag seems to be the go-to container....
Also, I recently came across this from the FDA...
https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/nchfp/lit_rev/cure_smoke_pres.html
*6.2.4. Cure Penetration*
Cure mixtures do not penetrate into frozen meats. Before curing, it is essential to thaw meats completely first in the refrigerator. Pieces must be prepared to uniform sizes to ensure uniform cure penetration. This is extremely critical for dry and immersion curing (PHS/FDA 2001). Use an approved recipe for determining the exact amount of curing formulation to be used for a specified weight of meat or meat mixture (PHS/FDA 2001).* All surfaces of meat must be rotated and rubbed at intervals *of sufficient frequency to ensure cure penetration when a dry curing method is used (PHS/FDA 2001). *Immersion curing requires periodic mixing of the batch to facilitate uniform curing *(PHS/FDA 2001). Curing should be carried out at a temperature between 35°F and 40°F. The lower temperature is set for the purpose of ensuring cure penetration and the upper temperature is set to limit microbial growth (PHS/FDA 2001). Curing solutions must be discarded unless they remain with the same batch of product during its entire curing process –because of the possibility of bacterial growth and cross-contamination, do not reuse brine (PHS/FDA 2001).


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## DanMcG (Feb 9, 2019)

petewoody said:


> and water


Thanks for the corection, I guess I shouldn't be posting at 4 am....till I have some coffee.


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## nomadd917 (Feb 9, 2019)

danmcg said:


> Thanks for the corection, I guess I shouldn't be posting at 4 am....till I have some coffee.



If you use water in your cure. Correct me if I am wrong but I think you can do a dry equilibrium cure. I’ve only tried wet cures/brines.


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## petewoody (Feb 9, 2019)

nomadd917 said:


> If you use water in your cure. Correct me if I am wrong but I think you can do a dry equilibrium cure. I’ve only tried wet cures/brines.


No. Equilibrium curing is using a known amount of salt and cure to the brining liquid so that when sufficient time has passed, the liquid and the meat are in equilibrium regarding the amount of salt and cure each holds.


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