# Question on Pops Brine



## IA pigsNcrops (Jul 17, 2019)

Some of you may have caught my thread on the smoked turkey legs, which were great.  I have a question about pops brine, since that was my first time using it. Here we go:

I see people brining fish, whole chickens and turkeys etc.  Do you always add the cure #1, or sometimes just the salt and the two sugars?

Second, I plan on doing bacon, ham, and ham steaks with it, however on my turkey legs, I had a couple of comments that people said it had a ham taste to it.  So my question is, if you do a corned beef, pastrami, fish, or something else, do that meat flavor come through, or is the brine still dominant.  I see in Pops article/recipe, he says you can add other seasonings, so would that be seasonings that someone would normally use with the type of meat they are brining?

Thanks, the first time using pops brine was great, just looking to better myself for future use.


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## noboundaries (Jul 17, 2019)

First off, don't mess or experiment with "curing" (ham, bacon, ham steaks) if you want to stay healthy and safe. Use tried and true recipes and amounts. 
Cure #1 will ALWAYS give a cured meat a hammy flavor. 

Brining is a different story. You can brine to cure, but not always cure with a brine. When I brine my poultry, for example, I'll add just a tad of cure #1 to give a very slight hammy flavor to my smoked bird, but in no way is that bird cured. When I cure bacon with a brine, I use proper amounts of cure #1 based on the weight of the meat, water, and ingredients. 

Please understand the difference between brining, curing, and curing with a brine. It will keep you safe.


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## IA pigsNcrops (Jul 17, 2019)

I dont plan on deviating or experimenting from pops recipe for curing the hams, bacon, etc. 
 I see where people say they use pops brine to brine a chicken or turkey, in these instances is where my question is about different flavors, and if cure #1 is needed since it will be hot smoked the following day or so and cooked to the normal IT.


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## Bearcarver (Jul 17, 2019)

IA pigsNcrops said:


> I dont plan on deviating or experimenting from pops recipe for curing the hams, bacon, etc.
> I see where people say they use pops brine to brine a chicken or turkey, in these instances is where my question is about different flavors, and if cure #1 is needed since it will be hot smoked the following day or so and cooked to the normal IT.




If you're going to hot smoke it 40° to 140° in less than 4 hours, you don't need to cure it, but you still have to take each type of meat to it's safe finished temperature. Or like noboundaries said, add a little cure, just for flavor.

Bear


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## radioguy (Jul 17, 2019)

Give a brine a try.  Search for roadside chicken or poultry brine, slaughter house. There are quite a few good brines on here.

Bear is right if you cook directly from the refrigerator to finish temp there is no need for cure.  Only use cure if you want that hammy taste or need workability above 40f...cold smoke, drying. 

RG


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## smokerjim (Jul 17, 2019)

Bearcarver said:


> If you're going to hot smoke it 40° to 140° in less than 4 hours, you don't need to cure it, but you still have to take each type of meat to it's safe finished temperature. Or like noboundaries said, add a little cure, just for flavor.
> 
> Bear


what bear said!


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## JC in GB (Jul 18, 2019)

Pops brine is a tried and true method but there are other curing methods available to you that are worth discovering.  Disco has a good recipe for dry cured bacon and I believe Bear has a good method for curing as well.  When curing, you need to be aware of the PPM of nitrite in the meat.  The PPM level is what gives a proper cure.  When curing bacon for instance, I shoot for a nitrate PPM between 156 and 175.

Dave Omack is very knowledgeable on cures and safe practices. 

Also, there are several good threads on calculating PPM and some calculation utilities available.

JC


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## bill ace 350 (Oct 17, 2019)

Pops brine is outstanding. 
you can adjust salt and sugar level, add pickling spice,  whatever you like, just make sure you use the right amount of cure #1 per gallon of water.


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## pops6927 (Nov 10, 2019)

I use under 1/3rd the maximum amount of cure required; 1 ounce vs. 3.84 ounces, just shy of ¼ of the maximum the amount allowed.  My dad developed his own curing brine using time vs. nitrites to gently cure his meats; immersing the meats longer, but still safely, to properly cure product with a smaller amount of sodium nitrite than the maximum amount allowed by law.  Through 2 years of experimentation I discovered his formulation of cure to water equation.  1 ounce of sodium nitrite to 1 gallon of potable water.  All the rest are flavorings and extra salt.  Because this is a short-term cure (less than 30 days), salinity is a lesser factor vs. long-term (cure #2) curing.  And, 1 tbsp. of curing salt is 93.75% plain, un-iodized salt and 6.25% sodium nitrite.


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## flatbroke (Nov 25, 2019)

Bump


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