# Seeking measurement check(s) for meat/salt/sugar/cure ratio for curing a pork loin



## sea2ski (Jan 14, 2018)

Seeking some measurement calculation checks from some seasoned pros around here.
Curing a pork loin for some version of a Lomo or lonzino.  Do the measurements for the meat/salt/sugar/cure look correct? Other spices are going in, but they are just added flavor. I am more concerned about the ratios.  I will curing in a vac sealed bag, then putting in a bung, hanging in a chamber (modified fridge with humidity and temp control.) Aiming for about 38% weight loss for the finished products, then sliced paper thin on the slicer.

#1:
1619 gms pork loin
35.1 gms salt
2.25 gms brown sugar
4.04 gms Cure #2

#2:
1554 gms pork loin
32 gms salt
19.5 gms brown sugar
3.88 Cure #2

Thank you in advance for your thoughts and validations!


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## daveomak (Jan 14, 2018)

Cure #2 looks good...   ~2% salt is for table fare..  ~3% + the cure is what I have found is "normal" for dry cured meats..   Poli recommends the same from the recipes I looked at..  even his wet cure coppa used 3% salt..   Soooo, I don't know where you got that recipe from ???    I would scrub them from my list or attribute it to proof reader error..


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## sea2ski (Jan 14, 2018)

Thank you for the feedback Dave.

The first batch I made seemed wayyyyy too salty, and I had calculated it to be at 3.8% (maybe I measured wrong there and added too much?) So I thought I would drop this batch to 2.4%   I guess that is too much of a drop to a unsafe level for a proper salt cure? 
If I move it up to 3.4%, think I am good to go?  
And the Cure #2 weight?

The new numbers would go to:

#1:
1619 gms pork loin gms
51.26 gms salt  (Was 35.1 gms)
2.25 gms brown sugar
4.04 gms Cure #2

#2:
1554 gms pork loin
49.2 gms salt  (was 32 grms)
19.5 gms brown sugar
3.88 Cure #2


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## daveomak (Jan 14, 2018)

sea2ski said:


> Thank you for the feedback Dave.
> 
> The first batch I made seemed wayyyyy too salty, and I had calculated it to be at 3.8% (maybe I measured wrong there and added too much?) So I thought I would drop this batch to 2.4%   I guess that is too much of a drop to a unsafe level for a proper salt cure?
> If I move it up to 3.4%, think I am good to go?
> ...


 ...0.25%

Good numbers ...  The total salt will be ~3.4%...  
That should take care of the bacteria just fine....


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## daveomak (Jan 16, 2018)

Morning...  I found the clip from Marianski's site I was "more or less" quoting...   FWIW...

It is not expected that an Eskimo will cure seal or whale meat with nitrites. They would rather pound their meat pieces until thin, and dry them in windy and cold conditions that most of us will find impossible to duplicate. It also goes without saying that it takes longer to remove moisture from the inside of a 18 lb. ham than a 2 oz. strip of meat. More Nitrate can be safely applied to a meat that will dry for a year as the Nitrates dissipate slowly in time. For this reason you can apply 625 ppm of sodium nitrite to a dry product and only 156 ppm to a regular smoked sausage. *The salt is applied at around 6% to a country ham which needs plenty of protection, about 3% for a dry fermented sausage, 2.5% for semi-dry fermented sausage and only 1.8% for a smoked one. At home you can do whatever pleases you, although we don't see why someone would not want to make products in a safe way.*


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## sea2ski (Feb 11, 2018)

Thanks for the come back Dave. I appreciate it as always.

Tomorrow I will be taking the loins out, trussing and spraying with hopefully a viable supply of Mold-600. I say hopefully because it is about a year old, but I have kept it in the deep freezer in a vac sealed bag at -10F. I put 4 gms in 6 oz of distilled water tonight to hopefully "wake it up" overnight. Tomorrow night I will do two things. 1) Dilute the mold mixture by about double to give plenty of liquid  for the meat and will spray the chamber  2) stuff one loin in a beef bung and the other I will go naked - then trussed, then sprayed with the mixture.

Question for those with more experience. Is there a way to tell if the mold is viable before I apply it tomorrow night? Or do I just have to wait a few days for the meat to hang in the chamber for a few days and hope for the best? (Chamber is set to 50F/70% humidity, and it has been holding there for a week so it is stable to this point.)  I did not know if I could add sugar (or something) to the mixture in the morning, maybe, and if there is some "activity" when I get home I will know if it is good or not.

I have nothing else in the chamber, so I am starting my culture from scratch here. Any advice is appreciated.


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## cdn offroader (Feb 12, 2018)

I've been having good results pitching my mold similar to what you do with yeast. Room temp water and a spoon of sugar, let it sit while I am getting things ready, then spray on liberally. You can see from the link what I get after less than 24 hours.

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/venison-cacciatore.256732/#post-1654640


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## sea2ski (Feb 12, 2018)

Thank you cdn offroader, I appreciate the reply!


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