# Is there a solution for too much cure?



## vinylhanger (Jan 25, 2010)

I was hoping my first post wouldn't be a post proving my newbiness.  My wife picked me up a Smoke Hollow for Christmas and I've used it to do some boneless ribs and such.  I've had pretty good success and have had a lot of fun.

So for my next trick, I figured I'd try some jerky.  Picked up the London Broil, had it sliced and ended up getting a dry cure on it at 3 a.m. Saturday morning.  Of course, I couldn't find any measuring spoons and looked at the directions and did a guesstimate.   Well, you can guess how that turned out. I ended up using twice the amount of cure as the instructions instructed.  It is Eastman Outdoors Jerky Cure and Seasoning.  One teaspoon per pound and I had 2 1/2 pounds of meat.  I ended up using the whole one once packet.  Six teaspoons instead of 2 1/2.

In my defence, I was going to just toss the meat, no matter how much it hurt.  However, my wife suggested I ask here and see if I could rinse it, or how big a deal it actually is to have used so much excess cure.  All the reading I've done tonight suggests that we will all die and the earth will reverse its rotation if we use it as is.   So in a nutshell, this newbie is deffering to the experts.  If I gotta toss it, that's fine, but it sure looks and smells like some yummy meat.

On a side note, my wife and I also got into a discussion about the fact that 2 1/2 teaspoons just didn't seem to be enough cure to physically cover all the meat.  The instructions said nothing about a brine mixture, so I am just curious as to how the cure actually works if it doesn't cover completely, or do I need to massage it until it does?

Sorry for the longish post, I tend to drone on a bit, but I am typically pretty harmless.   Oh, and I love this site.  I've learned a lot in a short time, however, obviously not enough.


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## DanMcG (Jan 25, 2010)

I'm no expert, and I'm not familiar with the product you're using, but nitrates are nothing to fool around with, to much can kill ya and I personally would toss it and try again. Even if you could wash it off, I think after 24 hours it's already into the meat and it's to late.


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## justsmoke2 (Jan 25, 2010)

I would toss just to be on the safe side.  I would think it would be to salty to eat anyways.  I made the mistake of wanting to add more seasoning on some sausage from a kit.  So I measured them out not thinking I needed less cure as I was adding enough season for an extra 2 lbs.


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## scpatterson (Jan 25, 2010)

Think I would toss it myself and get some measuring spoons....

Stop off my Roll Call and introduce yourself, let us know your experience and such...

Lot a good people here and tons of info


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## pignit (Jan 25, 2010)

Toss it.... lesson learned. We've all been there.


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## que-ball (Jan 25, 2010)

Yeah, toss it.  If you had realized your error sooner I'd have said "throw more meat at it".  The cure doesn't need to physically touch each piece of meat from the start.  Mix it as best you can, and it will penetrate through the meat as the process takes place.


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## vinylhanger (Jan 25, 2010)

Toss it I will do.  And then go and buy myself a set of measuring spoons.  Thanks for the info and understanding responses.  I'm off to buy some more meat and try again.  I'll let you know how it turns out.


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## erain (Jan 25, 2010)

VH,   nice to see you taking an interest, but look at the mistake you made and suppose it was the other way around. half as much cure as needed... the meats need to be weighed closley and the cure needs to be weighed/measured precisley. sorry the hear about the result but i would toss and start again. if interested in curing get a book called "great sausagemaking and meat curing" by rytek kutas... read it and man there is a ton of stuff to learn... also lots of info on the net. better luck next time!!!


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## DanMcG (Jan 25, 2010)

Like Erain said "_the cure needs to be weighed/measured precisley" _I use a scale that measures down to .1 of a gram and I get a warm fuzzy felling when I know I got the right amount of cure in my product. Last thing i want to do is make a friend sick or worse. And Like Pignit said,_ "lesson learned. We've all been there_." Anybody that says they never tossed a chunk of meat is lying to ya. I tossed 9 pounds of Canadian bacon two weeks ago cause I might have screwed it up, or it might have been the premix brine :)


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## ryanhoelzer (Jan 29, 2010)

Luckily WalMart is about 2 minutes away.  I was mixing my cure/seasoning last night for my first batch of jerky and couldn't find a single measuring spoon.  I could swear I had some..  Anyway, a quick trip to WM and I was set.


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## tlzimmerman (Jan 29, 2010)

As far as covering the meat, I always either mix it well with my other dry seasonings before rubbing, or I put it all in water brine or mix it with ground jerky.  Getting a good cover of cure is very important, mix well.

Good luck.  Good scales and precise measurements are a must when curing meat.


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