# Curing question



## ahakohda (Jun 20, 2019)

I got a book about meat curing and looking for clarification. 
 Amount of cure #1 to add is 85g. Too much?
 Time to cure 10 hrs. Too little? 

They advise to smoke it afterwards for 5 hours in 130F slowly rising to 165-170 until internal 154F.


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## rexster314 (Jun 20, 2019)

For 2 pounds of chicken
Digging Dog calculator:
2.26 gram cure #1
16.02 gram salt
9.07 gram sugar
         OR
.08 oz cure #1
.57 oz salt
.032 oz sugar
Ounces have been rounded off


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## bregent (Jun 20, 2019)

rexster314 said:


> For 2 pounds of chicken
> Digging Dog calculator:



Those are dry cure rates; he's making a brine. I'm not a brine cure expert so I'll leave others to determine the correct rates, but it does seem very high.


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## ahakohda (Jun 20, 2019)

I mean I did my fair share curing both dry and brine using this calculator. All those required long curing time.

Maybe they use stronger concentration to shorten curing time? I’m just trying to verify...

I was thinking since cure 1 is a mix of salt and nitrite only 6gram of nitrites are going in. Rest is salt


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## fivetricks (Jun 20, 2019)

I tbl per gallon of cure. Not sure of the weight of that.

There have been numerous threads on pops brine. Find a couple of those for guidance. Also, as far as time it depends on what you're looking for.

If you want to make a brined chicken, skip the cure and soak 12-24 hours depending on your preference.

If you want to make cured chicken then I would go longer. A good rule of thumb is that cure will penetrate muscle at a rate of 1/4 of 1 inch per 24 hours.


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## petewoody (Jun 20, 2019)

bregent said:


> Those are dry cure rates; he's making a brine. I'm not a brine cure expert so I'll leave others to determine the correct rates, but it does seem very high.


For two pounds of chicken and one gallon of water you should use 11.73 grams of Cure #1. It also won't cure overnight. Overnight brining is usually salt only to enhance moistness in the cooked product.The recipe is dangerous.


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## fivetricks (Jun 20, 2019)

8.33 lbs for the gallon of water
2 lbs for the chicken

1.13g/lb cure calculation = 11.67 grams of cure.


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## ahakohda (Jun 20, 2019)

Yeah curing time raised a red flag for me too. Especially for chicken.


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## kit s (Jun 20, 2019)

Both dry and wet is considered a brine. The difference when using calculator is that you add the weight of the liquid to the weight of the meat.


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## jokensmoken (Jun 20, 2019)

As the others have said, adding curing salt for a 10 hour brine makes no sense...I'm no expert but an overnight "soak" is more a marinade as opposed a cure.
I'd skip the curing salt all together...
For a bit of a flavor twist...use ginger ale for your liquid in your overnight salt + brown sugar "brine"
I usually do a half n half...2 liters ginger ale + 2 liters water + 1/2 cup salt + 1/4 cup brown sugar.
Walt


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## smokerjim (Jun 20, 2019)

I use pop's brine which calls for 1tbsp of cure per gallon,  which mentioned above I do the 1/4" per day  plus 2 days. but if I cure for less time just to get the hammy taste I smoke at higher temps to get meat up to 145 internal in around 3 hours, I think with chicken I would try and get it there before that though. (just my opinion)


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## zwiller (Jun 20, 2019)

I am not an expert but familiar with curing.  I think the recipe might be OK.  Recipe looks ALOT like Mariasnki's smoked chicken from memory.  Gonna shout out to curing guru 

 daveomak
 and get an expert double check.  

1G water = 3,785g.  
85/3785 = .022 = 2.2%  
2.5% is the common rate

All that being said, use Pop's.  Easy and awesome.  I use the low salt version and have 5lbs of drums in it right now.  

WRT to cure time, I have seen a few guys say they like a light cure on chicken.  For full cure, I think you need a few days if injecting and a week if not.


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## petewoody (Jun 20, 2019)

zwiller said:


> I am not an expert but familiar with curing.  I think the recipe might be OK.  Recipe looks ALOT like Mariasnki's smoked chicken from memory.  Gonna shout out to curing guru
> 
> daveomak
> and get an expert double check.
> ...


It is 0.25% not 2.5%


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## Saline_Smoker (Jun 20, 2019)

To confirm what zwiller said, yes, what you've posted is basically a Marianski's recipe for whole smoked chicken, in a 21º brine (just cracked open the book to double check). That said, they suggest letting it sit in the brine for 18 hours (not 10hr as your recipe states). Why the shorter time period compared to other meats you brine? The simple answer that the Marianskis provide is that beyond obviously just being smaller in most cases the chicken contains a bunch of bone in comparison to say brining a ham. "The bones are not going to absorb any salt and curing times need to be shorter."

If you're not doing a whole bird and you're just doing chicken wings/thighs/drums, I personally do a slightly lower 17º brine for 18hrs. From experience I can tell you they'll indeed be adequately cured in that time period and I find it's a lovely amount of salt in the finished product.

Here's the recipe for a half gallon of 17º brine, enough to cover 12-16 whole chicken wings, or an average grocery store package worth of thighs/drums:
½ Gallon Water
89g Non-Iodized Salt
41g Cure #1
44g Brown Sugar


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## ahakohda (Jun 20, 2019)

you will be laughing but this recipe is exactly from his book. And time is as shown 10 hours.


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## Saline_Smoker (Jun 20, 2019)

LOL! I have one of their other books "Home Production of Quality Meats & Sausages", they have 18hrs stated in this one. Ha! Who knows. Anyway, I go with 18hr and haven't had any issues, so take that as you will.


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## Saline_Smoker (Jun 20, 2019)

Realized I have some photos of this. Here are some pics of a yardbird I did last fall using a 21º brine for 18hr, then smoked per Marianski's schedule with cherrywood. Nice and juicy, and no one died! :)


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## daveomak (Jun 20, 2019)

The cure is about 7X too much IF you were doing an "equilibrium" brine...  5 or 6 days in the cure...
Maybe due to the shortened time and the rate of adsorption into the meat, it works out OK to consume, especially after cooking as heat breaks down the cure and destroys the nitrite, (or so it says in the fine print) ..
It surely looks good... Shows the importance of drying the skin prior to adding smoke...


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## mosparky (Jun 20, 2019)

I take exception to the temp mentioned. 22 degrees ? 22 F is far too cold for cure to happen and 22 C is far, far too warm to keep chicken or any raw whole muscle meat for 10 hrs. I doubt my fridge will get down to 22 F and I'm going to get real worried if my freezer gets that warm.


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## ahakohda (Jun 20, 2019)

22 degrees refers to brine strength. Not temperature.


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## PolishDeli (Jun 21, 2019)

My 2 cents:

-Time seems a bit short, but considering that no part of a chicken is very thick, and the meat fibers aren’t dense, the cure penetration should be fast.

-8 pounds of water for 2 pounds of meats seems excessive. 

-The amount of cure is not that high.  The hidden assumption here pertains to the amount brine (and hence NaNO2) the meat picks up.  It’s only at ~135ppm if you assume a ~10% pick-up.  And only ~50ppm if you assume a ~4% pickup. In either case, there is enough cure to help with flavor and preservation for hot smoking.

If you want to play with the numbers, here is my cure calculator (excel file).  It is based (mostly) on Marianski’s book(s)/website.


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## daveomak (Jun 21, 2019)

mosparky said:


> I take exception to the temp mentioned. 22 degrees ? 22 F is far too cold for cure to happen and 22 C is far, far too warm to keep chicken or any raw whole muscle meat for 10 hrs. I doubt my fridge will get down to 22 F and I'm going to get real worried if my freezer gets that warm.




Sparky, As ahakohda noted above, *22 degrees *denotes the salt concentration in the brine solution...   There are many confusing things one has to deal with in this curing stuff...  hang in there...


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