# Pop's Curing Brine



## pops6927

Let me present this photo of the intructions from a package of cure #1:








Do you seer where it says : "... 24 pounds of curing salt to 100 gallons of water ..."?
take 24 lbs x 16 oz per pound = 384 oz. per 100 gallons of water. That is THE MAXIMUM concentration allowed by Federal Law. Reducing it down proportionally, that is 3.84 oz. of curing salt per 1 gallon of water MAXIMUM allowed. But, my dad PROVED to the NYS Inspectors (no Federal Inspectors way back then in the 1940's and 50's) that a milder cure was sufficient to fully cure meat products by letting them cure longer in a lower concentration curing brine! Thus, that is how he made his more tender, juicier hams and bacons! And, I did tests over a 2 year period trying to find his "perfect Mix" of curing salt to water ratio and developed "Pop's Curing Brine" of 1 oz. (heaping tablespoon - a level tablespoon of curing salt is .88 of an oz.. but a heaping tablespoon is 1 oz.)) of curing salt to 1 gallon of water. Now yes, you could do 2 oz. or 3 oz. or the maximum 3'84 oz, to cure your products in a shorter time frame, but risk making the meat more rubbery and less tender than at the milder cure ratio of 1 oz. per gallon of concentration.
Likewise, I have cured 1 chicken leg in a 55 gallon bucket of curing brine as well as a whole chicken in 1 gallon of curing brine for the same amount of time, and they both turned out exactly the same! Proving it is NOT the VOLUME, but the CONCENTRATION of the curing brine that is required! Debunking the idiom of having to weigh the meat, the water, the other ingredients, etc. to make a successful curing brine.
Injection with the curing brine is at 2" per thickness of meat - actually a 2" x 2" area for sufficient coverage.
A 10% pump is about the most a meat can absorb without leaking out through natural seams. That is weighing the meat prior to injection, then weighing the meat post injection and calculating the increase in weight, about 10%.
Their are producers that will do a 15% or 20% pump (like cooked deli hams), but it is truly watery garbage! Stick with 10% whenever available! (Of course, that is net weight after cooking and processing). My dad's hams were below original weights consistently!
May I answer any other questions?
Thank you!

*Pops §§:D *






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