Curing

In its simplest form the word curing means saving or preserving meat and the definition covers preservation processes such as: drying, salting and smoking. When applied to homemade meat products, the term curing usually means preserved with salt and nitrite. When this term is applied to products made commercially it will mean that meats are prepared with salt, nitrite, ascorbates, erythorbates and dozens more chemicals that are pumped into the meat. Meat cured only with salt, will have a better flavor but will also develop an objectionable dark color. Factors that influence curing:

The size of the meat - the larger meat the longer curing time. Temperature - higher temperature, faster curing. Moisture content of the meat. Salt concentration of dry mixture or wet curing solution-higher salt concentration, faster curing. Amount of fat-more fat in meat, slower curing. pH - a measure of the acid or alkaline level of the meat. (Lower pH-faster curing). The amount of Nitrate and reducing bacteria present in the meat.

Curing Temperatures
The curing temperature should be between 36-40 F (2-5 C) which falls within the range of a common refrigerator. Lower than 36 F (2 C) temperature may slow down the curing process or even halt it. Commercial producers can cure at lower temperatures because they add chemicals for that purpose. There is a temperature that cannot be crossed when curing and this is when meat freezes at about 28 F (-2 C). Higher than normal temperatures speed up the curing process but increase the possibility of spoilage. This is a balancing act where we walk a line between the cure and the bacteria that want to spoil meat. The temperature of 50 F (10 C) is the point that separates two forces: below that temperature we keep bacteria in check, above 50 F (10 C) bacteria forces win and start spoiling the meat. Meats were traditionally cured with Nitrate. Before Nitrate can release nitrite (the real curing agent) it has to react with bacteria that have to be present in the meat. Putting Nitrate into a refrigerator kept solution (below 40 F) will inhibit the development of bacteria and they may not be able to react with Nitrate. On the other hand sodium nitrite works well at refrigerator temperatures. When used with Nitrates/nitrites, salt is an incredibly effective preserving combination. There has not been even one documented incident of food poisoning of a meat cured with salt and Nitrates. People in the Far East, Africa, South America and even Europe are still curing meats at higher than normal temperatures without getting sick. That does not mean that we recommend it, but if someone in Canada shoots a 1600 lbs (726 kg) Moose or a 1700 lbs (780 kg) Kodiak Bear he has to do something with all this meat. He is not going to spend 5,000 dollars on a walk-in cooler, is he? These are exceptional cases when curing can be

performed at higher temperatures. After the Second World War, ended most people in Europe neither had refrigerators nor meat thermometers, but were curing meats with Nitrate and making hams and sausages all the same. Because of primitive conditions the curing temperatures were often higher than those recommended today but any growth of C. botulinum bacteria was prevented by the use of salt and Nitrates. They also predominantly used potassium Nitrate which works best at temperatures of 4650 F (8-10 C) and those were the temperatures of basement cellars. There was not much concern about longer shelf life as the product was consumed as fast as it was made. Salt and nitrite will stop Cl. botulinum spores from developing into toxins, even at those higher curing temperatures. Due to increased bacteria growth at those higher curing temperatures the shelf life of a product would be decreased. Remember when handling meats, the lower the temperatures the slower the growth of bacteria and the longer life of the product. Extending the shelf life of the product is crucial for commercial meat plants as the product can stay on the shelf longer and has better chances of being sold. Curing is a more complicated process than salting. In addition to physical reactions like diffusion and water binding, we have additional complex chemical and biochemical reactions that influence the flavor and color of the meat.

What Will Happen if Too Little or Too Much Cure is Added?

With not enough cure, the color might suffer with some loss of cured flavor too. FSIS regulations dictate the maximum allowed nitrite limits and there are no limits for the lower levels. It has been accepted that a minimum of 40-50 ppm of nitrite is needed for any meaningful curing. Too much cure will not be absorbed by the meat and will be eaten by a consumer.

What Will Happen if the Curing Time is Shorter or Longer?

If the curing time is too short, some areas of meat (inside or under heavy layers of fat) will exhibit an uneven color which might be noticeable when slicing a large piece of meat. It will not show in sausages which are filled with ground meat, although the color may be weaker. If curing time is longer by a few days, nothing will happen providing the cured

meat is held under refrigeration. You dont want to cure bone-in meats longer than 30-45 days as they may develop bone sour even when kept at low temperatures. Taste your meats at the end of curing. You can always cure them longer in a heavier brine (to increase salt content) or soak them in cold water (to lower salt content).

Cured Meat Color

The color of the cured meat depends on the type of meat, nitrite and cooking temperature. Meat color is determined largely by the amount of myoglobin (protein) a particular animal carries. The more myoglobin the darker the meat, that simple. This color is pretty much fixed and there is not much we can do about it unless we mix different meats together. Cured meats develop a particular pink-reddish color due to the reaction that takes place between meat myoglobin and nitrite. If an insufficient amount of Nitrate/nitrite is added to the meat the cured color will suffer. This may be less noticeable in sausages where the meat is ground and stuffed but if we slice a larger piece like a ham, the poorly developed color will be easily noticeable. Some sections may be gray, some may be pink and the meat will not look appetizing. To check your cured meats, take a sample, cut across it and look for uniform color. About 50 ppm (parts per million) of nitrite is needed for any meaningful curing. Some of it will react with myoglobin and will fix the color, some of it will go into other complex biochemical reactions with meat that develop a characteristic cured meat flavor. If we stay within Food and Drug Administration guidelines (1 oz. Cure #1 per 25 lbs of meat - about 1 level teaspoon of Cure #1 for 5 lbs of meat) we are applying 156 ppm of nitrite which is enough and safe at the same time. Cured meat will develop its true cured color only after submitted to cooking (boiling, steaming, baking) at 140-160 F (60-71 C). The best color is attained at 161 F (72 C).

Curing With Nitrates/Nitrites

Meat cured only with salt, will have a better flavor but will also develop an objectionable dark color. Adding nitrites to meat will improve flavor, prevent food poisoning, tenderize the meat, and develop the pink color widely known and associated with smoked meats. In the past we used potassium Nitrate exclusively because its derivative, sodium nitrite was not discovered yet. Sodium Nitrate (NaNO3) does not cure meat directly and initially not much happens when it is added to meat. After a while micrococci bacteria which are present in meat, start to react with Nitrate and create sodium nitrite (NaNO2) that will start the curing process. If those bacteria are not present in sufficient numbers the curing process may be inhibited.

Curing with Nitrate

The reactions that occur are the following:

KNO3 potassium Nitrate KNO2 nitrite (action of bacteria) KNO2 HNO2 nitrous acid (in acid medium, pH 5.2 - 5.7) HNO2 NO nitric oxide NO myoglobin nitrosomyoglobin (pink color)

Potassium Nitrate worked wonderfully at 4-8C (40-46F) which was fine as refrigeration was not very common yet. If the temperatures dropped below 4C (40F) the bacteria that was needed to force Nitrate into releasing nitrite would become lethargic and the curing would stop. Potassium Nitrate was a slow working agent and the meat for sausages had to be cured for 72-96 hours.

Curing with nitrite. The use of Nitrate is going out of fashion because it is difficult to control the curing process. By adding sodium nitrite directly to meat, we eliminate the risk of having an insufficient number of bacteria and we can cure meats faster and at lower temperatures. Sodium nitrite does not depend on bacteria, it works immediately and at refrigerator temperatures 2-4 C (35-40F). At higher temperatures it will work even faster. About 15% of sodium nitrite reacts with myoglobin (color) and about 50% reacts with proteins and fats (flavor).

Curing Accelerators
The time required to develop a cured color may be shortened with the use of cure accelerators. Ascorbic acid (vitamin C), erythorbic acid, or their derivatives, sodium ascorbate and sodium erythorbate speed up the chemical conversion of nitrite to nitric oxide which reacts with meat myoglobin and creates nitrosomyoglobin (pink color). They also deplete levels of meat oxygen which prevents the fading color of the cured meat in the presence of light and oxygen. Commercial producers perform curing in one step by injecting meats with a curing solution and then bouncing meat inside of the tumbler machine to evenly distribute solution inside. There is not enough time to develop true cured color and the cure accelerators are introduced inro curing solution. Now the meats can be cured fast and the true cured color will develop.

Curing with accelerators

Best Meats for Curing

Pork - best color, taste and flavor Beef - significant loss of protein and minerals Lamb - little improvement Veal - little improvement Poultry - good Fish - good, the looks and flavor of smoked fish is greatly influenced by curing

American Cures
Cure #1 (also known as Instacure #1, Prague Powder #1 or Pink Cure #1) For any aspiring sausage maker it is a necessity to understand and know how to apply Cure #1 and Cure #2, as those two cures are used worldwide though under

different names and with different proportions of nitrates and salt. Cure #1 is a mixture of 1 oz of sodium nitrite (6.25%) to 1 lb of salt. It must be used to cure all meats that will require smoking at low temperatures. It may be used to cure meats for fresh sausages (optional). Cure #2 (also known as Instacure #2, Prague Powder #2 or Pink Cure #2) Cure #2 is a mixture of 1 oz of sodium nitrite (6.25%) along with 0.64 oz of sodium Nitrate (4%) to 1 lb of salt. It can be compared to the time-releasing capsules used for treating colds. It must be used with any products that do not require cooking, smoking or refrigeration and is mainly used for products that will be air cured for a long time like country ham, salami, pepperoni, and other dry sausages. Both Cure #1 and Cure #2 contain a small amount of FDA approved red coloring agent that gives them a slight pink color thus eliminating any possible confusion with common salt and that is why they are sometimes called pink curing salts. Cure #1 is not interchangeable with Cure #2 and vice versa.

Morton Salt Cures

In addition to making common Table Salt the Morton Salt Company also produces a number of cures such as Sugar Cure mix, Smoke Flavored Sugar Cure mix, Tender Quick mix, and Sausage and Meat Loaf seasoning mix. To use them properly one has to follow instructions that accompany every mix. Our commonly available cures contain both nitrite and Nitrate. Curing Agent Cure #1 Cure #2 Morton Tender Quick Morton Sugar Cure Morton Smoke Flavored Sugar Cure Nitrate No Yes Yes Yes Yes Nitrite Yes Yes Yes Yes No

European Cures
There are different cures in European countries, for example in Poland a commonly used cure goes by the name Peklosl and contains 0.6% of Sodium Nitrite to salt. No coloring agent is added and it is white in color. In European cures such a low nitrite percentage in salt is self-regulating and it is almost impossible to apply too much nitrite to meat, as the latter will taste too salty. Following a recipe you could replace salt with peklosl altogether and the established nitrite limits will be preserved. This isnt the case with American Cure #1, that contains much more nitrite in it (6.5%) and we have to color it pink to avoid the danger of mistakes and poisoning.

Country USA Poland Germany France England Sweden Australia

Cure Name Cure # 1 Peklosl Pkelsalz Sel nitrit Nitrited salt Colorazo Kuritkwik 6.25 % 0.6 % 0.6 % 0.6 % various 0.6% various

% of nitrite in salt

How to Apply Cures

Well, there are two approaches:

Like an amateur - collecting hundreds of recipes and relying blindly on each of them. You lose a recipe and you dont know what to do. And how do you know they contain the right amount of cure? Like a professional - taking matters in your own hands and applying cures according to the USA Government requirements.

In case you want to be the professional, we are enclosing some useful data which is based on the U.S. standards. Comminuted products - small meat pieces, meat for sausages, ground meat, poultry etc. Cure #1 was developed in such a way that if we add 4 ounces of Cure #1 to 100 pounds of meat, the quantity of nitrite added to meat will conform to the legal limits (156 ppm) permitted by the Meat Division of the United States Department of Agriculture. That corresponds to 1 oz. (28.35 g) of Cure #1 for each 25 lbs. (11.33 kg) of meat or 0.2 oz. (5.66 g) per 5 lbs. (2.26 kg) of meat. Comminuted Meat (Sausages) 25 lbs. 5 lbs. 1 lb. 1 kg 1 0.2 0.04 0.08 Cure #1 in ounces Cure #1 in grams 28.35 5.66 1.1 2.5 5 1 1/5 1/2 Cure #1 in teaspoons

Cured dry products - country ham, country style pork shoulder, prosciutto, etc. These products are prepared from a single piece of meat and the curing ingredients are rubbed into the surface of the meat several times during the curing period. Nitrite is applied to the surface of the meat or poultry as part of a cure mixture. If you look at the FSIS nitrite limits

table on page 36 you will see that the maximum nitrite limit for Dry Cured Products (625 ppm) is four times higher than for Comminuted Products (156 ppm). To cure meat for sausages (comminuted) and to stay within 156 ppm nitrite limit we have to apply no more than 1 oz of Cure #1 for each 25 lbs of meat. To dry cure 25 lbs of pork butts and to stay within 625 nitrite limits we need 4 times more of Cure #1, in our case 4 ounces. Keep in mind that when you add Cure #1 (there is 93.75% salt in it) you are adding extra salt to your meat and you may re-adjust your recipe. Meat for Dry Curing 25 lbs. 5 lbs. 1 lb. 1 kg Cure #1 in ounces 4 0.8 0.16 0.35 Cure #1 in grams 113.4 22.64 4.4 10.0 Cure #1 in teaspoons 20 4 3/4 1.5

The reason that there are much higher allowable nitrite limits for dry cured products is that nitrite dissipates rapidly in time and the dry cured products are air dried for a long time. Those higher limits guarantee a steady supply of nitrite. Immersed, Pumped and Massaged Products such as hams, poultry breasts, corned beef. Here, it is much harder to come up with a universal formula as there are so many variables that have to be determined first. The main factor is to determine % pump when injecting the meat with a syringe or % pick-up when immersing meat in a curing solution. We will calculate the formula for 1 gallon of water, Cure #1 and 10% pick-up gain. Then the formula can be multiplied or divided to accommodate different amounts of meat. 10% pump or 10% pick-up mean that the cured meat should absorb 10% of the brine in relation to its original weight. For immersion, pumped or massaged products, the maximum ingoing nitrite limit is 200 ppm and that corresponds to adding 4.2 oz of Cure #1 to 1 gallon of water. Amount 1 gallon (8.33 lbs) of water 4.2 Cure #1 in ounces Cure #1 in grams 120 Cure #1 in teaspoons 20 (6 Tbs)

This is a very small amount of brine and if you want to cure a large turkey you will need to increase the volume. Just multiply it by a factor of 4 and you will have 4 gallons of water and 1.08 lbs. of Cure #1. The following is the safe formula for immersed products and very easy to measure: 5 gallons of water, 1 lb. of Cure #1. In the above formula at 10% pick-up the nitrite limit is 150 ppm which is plenty. Keep in mind that adding 1 lb. of Cure #1 to 5 gallons of water will give you 4.2% salt by weight and that corresponds to only 16 degrees brine (slightly higher than sea water). If we add an additional 2 lbs. of salt we will get: 5

gallons of water, 1 lb. of Cure #1, 2 lbs. of salt and that will give us a 25 degree solution which is great for poultry.

Useful Information

If it cant be cured dont smoke it When curing is completed it is advisable to test the meat for color and saltiness by cutting a tiny piece and looking at the cross cut section. It should have a uniform pink color. In case it is too salty, place the meat in cold water in refrigerator for 12 hours and taste again. It is much easier to fix the problem now than to eat sausage later with tears in our eyes. Add an extra 24 hours of curing time if needed. About 1 level teaspoon of Instacure #1 is needed for 5 lbs of meat ( there are 5-6 teaspoons to 1 oz of cure) or 2.5 grams of cure for 1 kilogram of meat. Keep seperately different types of meat (lean and fat pork, beef)) as some of them might go again to the grinder to be ground through a different plate. Cured ground meat will be drier and harder to stuff into casings because of the action of the salt. It is advisable to dice the meat or grind it through a big a plate and after curing regrind it with a proper size plate before stuffing. If the meat will not be ground again, re-mix it well by hand. The two premixed cures, Instacure #1, and Instacure #2, are not interchangeable. Containers for curing are to be made of stainless steel, food grade plastics or stone. Nitrates react with aluminum and it should not be used for curing. Add sugar only when curing at refrigerator temperature 38 40 F (4 5 C), otherwise fermentation might occur and will spoil the meat. Cure mixtures and curing solutions do not work on frozen meat. Meat must be first thawed. Dry curing is the prefered method to cure meat for production of sausages. When rubbing ham make sure the cure is rubbed into the aitch bone joint and hock end of the ham. Sodium nitrite is used where curing time will be short : sausages, small pieces of meat. Sodium nitrate is used in production of meats that will be cured for at least 4 weeks - large hams or dry sausages. A characteristic quality of fresh cured meat is its grey color wchich comes on minutes after adding nitrite to the meat. The cured meat will achieve its characteristic pink color when heated to 130 F (54 C) or higher. Best curing color achieved by cooking cured meat to 161 F ( 72 C) inside temperature. Sugar counters the harshness of the salt, improving the flavor. Normally we add 3% sugar in the salt (that means that for 100 kg of the mix we have 97 kg salt and 3 kg sugar). When using sodium ascorbate or sodium erythorbate in curing solution, it should be used within 24 hours because their reaction with nitrite will lower the nitrite level of the solution and its effectiveness.

Phosphates should be used only with wet cure. They increrase the water holding capacities of cured products. The length of curing (dry cure method) is seven days per inch of thickness of meat. Adding too much nitrates/nitrites (crossing upper limits) to the dry mixture or wet curing solution can impart a bitter and strong curing taste to the meat. 50 ppm of sodium nitrite is accepted as the minimum for the development of the proper color of the meat. Modern-day cured meats at retail have a residual nitrite content of about 10 ppm.

Meat Curing Methods

There are three methods of curing meats:

Dry Curing Wet Curing Combination Curing

Salt Curing
Salting meat without nitrite is seldom performed today. In some undeveloped countries the fish is still heavily salted for preservation. Back fat or any fatty trimmings do not contain myoglobin and can not react with nitrite. For this reason they may be salted only. San Daniele and Parma Italian dry hams are made without nitrate. In all, a very few products are made or preserved by salting alone.

When salt is added to meat it provides us with the following benefits:

Adds flavor (feels pleasant when applied between 2-3%). Prevents microbial growth. Increases water retention, and meat and fat binding.

Salt does not kill bacteria, it simply prevents or slows down their development. To be effective the salt concentration has to be 10% or higher. Salt concentration of 6% prevents Clostridium botulinum spores from becoming toxins though they may become active when smoking at low temperatures. Adding sodium nitrite (Cure #1) eliminates that danger. The two physical reactions that take place during salting are diffusion and water binding, and no chemical reactions are present. Salting is the fastest method of curing as it rapidly removes water from inside of the meat. The salt migrates inside of the meat and the water travels to the outside surface of the meat and simply leaks out. This gives us a double benefit:

Less water in meat More salt in meat

Both factors create less favorable conditions for the development of bacteria. Today the products that will be salted only are pork back fat and some hams that will be air-dried for a long time.

Dry Curing
Dry curing has been performed the same way since the 13 th century. It is basically the salting method with the addition of nitrates.Before smoking the salt with nitrates had to be rubbed in ham or other meat cuts which was a tough job because it could only be done by hand. Then pork pieces were packed in tubs forcing the meat and coarse salt as tightly as possible and left there for determined time sometimes even up up to 6 weeks. The salt was dehydrating the meat and drawing the moisture out of it. All that liquid would simply drain away through the hole in the bottom of the tub. This drainage played important part in the process as the moisture was taking with it minute meat particles and blood. Those in turn might spoil the brine if given high enough temperatures. If a brine is kept at refrigerator temperatures the drainage hole is not needed and the liquid can sit at the bottom of the vessel. Some of the liquid will be re-absorbed by the meat itself. Of course if the product is to be air-dried the liquid is unwelcome as it will slow down the drying process. The dry curing method is best used for all types of sausages, bacon, and hams that will be air-dried. In most cases after curing, meats go for smoking, then for air drying and there is no cooking involved. In addition to salt and Nitrates, the ingredients such as sugar, coriander, thyme, and juniper are often added to the dry mix. The dry cure method is characterized by fast action and it can be used under wider temperature variations than other curing methods. There is a greater loss of meat weight due to the loss of water, product will have more pronounced flavor, will be saltier and will be better preserved. Suitable for meats that will not be cooked but smoked and air- dryed or

just air-dryed. It is the best curing method for people living in hot climate or having no refrigeration.

A mixture of 25 lbs of salt, 2 lbs of brown sugar and 2 oz of potassium nitrate is rubbed into the fresh ham

Hams are tightly packed in salt and placed in a curing tub for 6 weeks. Holes in the bottom of the tub allowed the salty water to drain out. Then followed 2 weeks of smoking.

Ham production in XVIII Century Virginia. Photos courtesy The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Often meat was rubbed lightly with salt but more salt was applied around bones by kneading it harder with thumbs. Then meats were placed on a tilted table to drain from 6 to 12 hours. One pound of salt (1 %) was used for each 100 lbs of meat. Meat treated that way has less chance of spoiling as much of the moisture and leftover blood will drain away. Then meat was washed briefly with cold water to remove any traces of the bloody liquid and a dry mix was applied to its moist surface what helped to dissolve and hold the cure. The dry cure method is the fastest method as it uses nothing but salt (100 %) wherein in wet cure the maximum salt content is 26 % . At that point brine becomes saturated and no more salt can be absorbed by water. Dry cure can be used under wider temperature variations (warmer climate-no refrigeration) and there is less possibility it may go sour. The purpose of air drying is to remove moisture from the meat and the dry cure being mostly salt is not bringing any extra moisture into the meat. The wet cure (water, salt and nitrite) will be a bad choice for curing of air dried products as it will provide extra moisture (water) instead of removing it. In most cases after dry curing, meats go for smoking, then for air drying and there is no cooking involved. In addition to salt and nitrates, the ingredients like sugar (not recommended when temperatures are high), coriander, thyme, and juniper are often added to the dry mix. There is some unavoidable loss of natural juices and meat protein when salting or dry curing method is used (less than 1%). Salted piece will remain in salt for a few weeks or will hang in the air even longer (loosing more moisture) and the lost water will not be replaced. The final product will weigh 15-20% less than the weight of the original meat. In case of byproducts like liver, heart, kidneys and heart the weight loss can be as large as 34-40%.

How Dry Curing Works

Salt that is rubbed in into the surface of the meat starts migrating inside and at the same time water that is present inside of the meat starts to travel towards outside. You may say that the water is leaking out of the meat. This process is very fast during first 7 days and then slows down as there is more salt inside of the meat and less water. Most dry cured products will be smoked and/or air dried and this is a welcome scenario as a lot of moisture

has been eliminated and there is smaller possibility of meat spoiling during further airdrying. Eventually the equilibrium is reached when all salt is inside of the meat and no more water loss occurs. Unfortunatelly some meat juice (protein, minerals) was lost together with water and of course the meat piece lost some of its original weight. Salt which is already inside of the meat penetrates meat fibres and they swell, become larger and are able to accept and hold water inside of them. Think of them like if they were a sponge that when wet can hold quite a lot of water. In most cases the bloody liquid simply drains away and there is an inevitable weight loss. If the same meats meats were packed in a sealed tub without drainage holes, some of the natural brine that was created will be absorbed back into the meat. Due to increased salt content the product may feel salty what is offset somewhat by adding sugar into the mixture. Loss of weight (water) during dry curing

How To Apply
To guarantee continuous supply of salt and uninterupted curing of the meat, the dry curing is performed in a few stages. 1. The ingredients should be thoroughly mixed and divided into two equal parts. The first part of the mix should be rubbed in into the meat paying extra attention to bone areas which like to spoil first. An extra amount of salt should be supplied there by forcing it with the thumbs. During this initial salting of the meat, it is important to thoroughly cover all surface of the meat piece with salt, because the high salt level and the colder temperatures are the only means of protection against the growth of spoilage bacteria.

Then the meats would be packed tightly in a container with larger pieces like hams on the bottom and smaller pieces on the top so that each piece will retain its shape. The meats are packed skin down. Liquid drawn drom the meat will accumulate on the bottom of the container and if the holes were made it would drain off. This liquid can stay in container providing the curing is done at low temperatures (35-40 F). Most of the liquid will be re-absorbed by the meat itself. 2. The remaining part of the mix should be divided in two parts, using each part for the two following saltings. The second cure shall be applied later exactly like the one earlier, paying special attention to the bones. When repacking place the pieces in different order from the one they originally occupied. 3. The third cure shall be applied as the second. For best results it is recommended to repack meats again on the twenty first day. The reason cure is applied in stages is that we want to have continuous supply of salt and nitrate to continue the process. After curing is complete, the meat pieces must be rinsed in fresh water to remove any crystalized salt that accumulates on the surface what would prevent sucessful smoke penetration (some products may not be smoked at all). Then the meats are hung or placed on wire mesh for draining. Store meat at a refrigerator temperature of 38 40 F (3 - 4 C).

Basic rules for applying dry cure

When curing times are short, up to 14 days, use Cure #1 according to the standard limit of: 1 oz. cure for 25 lbs. of meat. For longer times use Cure #2 that contains Nitrate which will keep on releasing nitrite for a long time. The amount of dry mix needed to cure 25 lbs. of meat by the dry cure method when making dry (fermented) sausages is:

2 oz. Cure #2 12 oz. canning salt 6 oz. dextrose or brown sugar seasonings

Dry Curing Times

The length of curing depends very much on the size of the meat and its composition. Fatty tissues and skin create a significant barrier to a curing solution. When curing a large meat piece, for example a ham, a curing solution will start penetrating on the lean side of the meat and then will progress deeper forward towards the bone and the skin side. There will be very little penetration on the fatty skin side. It seems logical that removing the fat layer of the skin will speed up curing. It definitely will, but it is not such a good idea. The fat acts as a barrier not only to curing but to smoking and removal of moisture as well. After smoking the ham might be baked or poached in hot water. Here the fat acting as a barrier will prevent a loss of dissolved protein and meat juices that will try to migrate into the water. For more uniform curing, meats should be overhauled (re-arranged) on the third and

tenth days of the cure. The curing time will depend on the size of the meat piece and your own preference for a strong or lightly salted product. A basic rule is 2 days per pound for the small cuts and 3 days per pound for hams and shoulders. For example, a six pound bacon would require about 12 days in cure, while a 12 pound ham would need 36 days. Another formula calls for 7 days of curing per inch of thickness. A ham weighing 12-14 lbs. and 5 inches thick through the thickest part will be cured 5 x 7 = 35 days. Smaller pieces should end up on top so they can be taken out first allowing larger pieces to continue curing. Otherwise they may taste too salty. Smaller meat cuts like bacon, butt, and loins can be cured with a dry mixture based on the following formula for 100 lbs. of meat: 4 lbs. salt, 1.5 lbs. sugar, 2 oz. Saltpeter (1 lb. Cure #2). Divide the mixture into three equal parts. Apply the first one-third and leave the meat to cure. After three days overhaul and rub in the second part. After three more days apply the last third of the mixture and allow to cure for about 12 days. Generally, the addition of spices occurs after the last re-salting has been completed. Rub with cure, overhaul after 1 week, apply of the mix, overhaul after 2 weeks, apply remaining mixture.

Wet Curing
The wet curing method, sometimes called brine (salt and water), sweet pickle (sugar added), or immersion curing has been traditionally used for larger cuts of meat like butts or hams that were smoked. It is accomplished by placing meats in a wet curing solution (water, salt, nitrites, sometimes sugar). Sugar is added only when curing at refrigerator temperatures, otherwise it may begin fermentation and start to spoil the meat. The wet curing is a traditional, time consuming method, going out of fashion as the large hams had to be submerged for up to 6 weeks and turned over on a regular basis. With such a long curing time there is a danger of meat spoiling from within the center where the bone is located. During that time we have to scoop up the foam and any slime that might gather on the surface, as that might be a source of contamination. Most smaller meat cuts require about 3-14 days of curing time at 40 F (4 C). It is still a fine curing method for smaller cuts of meat that will have a shorter curing time. The meats have to be turned over on a daily basis and prevented from swimming up to the surface. After curing is complete, the meat pieces must be rinsed in fresh water and placed on wire mesh for draining. We do achieve certain weight gain when curing meats, even without chemicals, but this is not the reason why a home sausage maker cures meats. Meats are cured to produce a top quality product. The weight gain is as follows:

Canadian bacon 3-4% Bacon 3% Ham 4%

Slower than dry curing, slight meat weight gain (significant weight gain in commercially made products due to large amount of pumped into meat curing solutions), product less salty but with shorter shelf life, flavor of the product milder and more palatable. Nowadays more popular method of the two. The wet curing method or immersion curing has been traditionally used for larger cuts of meat like butts or hams that were smoked. It is accomplished by placing meats in a wet curing solution (water, salt, nitrites, sugar). Sugar is added only when curing at refrigerator temperatures, otherwise it will begin fermentation and start spoiling the meat. Wet curing is used to preserve meat, add curing flavor and provide pink color to the meat. After wet curing the meats are normally smoked. Most meat cuts require about 3 14 days of curing time even at 40 F (4 C). It is still a fine curing method for smaller cuts of meat that will have a shorter curing time. To distribute evenly the curing solution at the half curing time the meats have to be turned over (top pieces placed at the bottom and vice versa) and prevented from swimming up to the surface. The reason being that salt has a tendency to sink to the bottom and nitrates/nitrites like to swim up to the top. The curing solution is not uniform and it has to be agitated once in a while otherwise meats will not be cured evenly. During that time we have to scoop up the foam and any slime that might gather on the surface, as that might be a source of contamination. Using this method, large pieces of meat like hams need to remain in solution for up to 6 weeks and with such a long curing time there is a danger of meat spoiling from within the center where the bone is located. That is why it is much safer to shorten curing times by applying combination curing (stitch pumping plus wet cure) when curing large pieces of meat. There are two ways of applying wet cure into meats 1. Immersing meat in curing solution (water, salt and nitrite) 2. Spray pumping meats with needles and curing solution

How Wet Curing Works

During wet curing meat products loose some of its water and soluable materials (meat juice, minerals) but are gaining salt.There are basically two distinct phases: Salt migrates from the solution towards inside of the meat and the water from the inside of the meat travels to the solution that is is outside. This process is very fast during first 7 days, then diffusion slows down as the salt pressure becomes equalized on both sides of the meat and finally stops. During this phase there is a net meat loss due to the loss of water and also some unavoidable loss of natural juices and meat protein which is much smaller than if a salting or dry curing method were used. This loss of meat juices and protein amounts to about 1% when long term curing hams.

In a second phase salt which is already inside of the meat penetrates meat fibres and they swell, become larger and are able to accept and hold water inside of them. Think of them like if they were a sponge that when wet can hold quite a lot of water. Now the solution is flowing back into the meat creating a net gain of meat that will depend on the total time of curing, amount of fat in the meat, salt concentration and method of curing. Under normal conditions this gain happens only after 30 days of curing. Altough the exchange of salt and water stops when salt pressure is balanced on both sides of the meat, nevertheless the chemical and biological reactions continue (nitrate realease nitrite which reacts with mioglobin and produces pink color).The cured meat in a way matures (ages) and develops a characteristic aroma especially noticeable in case of a cured ham.

When meat is chopped or ground and then extracted with water, some of the proteins will dissolve. When the meat is left in large pieces, less protein will dissolve. The meat which is covered by fat and skin over part of its surface (hams), the losses to brine will be reduced. The protein losses will depend on strength of the brine (stronger the brine, the smaller the losses) and the time of curing and will vary from 1 to 4 percent of original weight. That happens in brines below 20 percent salt concentration (brines weaker than 75 degrees). These losses are very undesirable as they affect the final flavor of the meat. Note: all concentrations of brine allow the meat to take up salt. The maximum amount of water was absorbed by the meats when their salt content had reached 4 to 5 per cent.

Soaking
The purpose of soaking is to provide more even salt distribution inside of the meat. A large piece of meat for example a ham or a picnic (shoulder) even when fully cured will not have a uniform salt distribution. The reason being is that a ham on one side has a layer of fat that lies between the skin and the lean meat underneath. The skin and the accompanied fat layer

creates a significant barrier to salt penetration and the curing solution will penetrate ham from its face and from its leaner side. After curing there will be moore salt near the lean face than near the fat area. The following drawings are based on data from the book Meat Through The Microscope, C. Robert Moulton, Ph.D and W. Lee Lewis, Ph.D, The University of Chicago.

When immersed in cold fresh water the salt which is present in a ham will start travelling outwards (sort of reverse curing). The outside areas (especially the surface) contain more salt and have the shortest distance to water. Those areas will loose salt first and the salt distribution inside of the meat will be more uniform. Soaking can be performed even on a fully smoked and cooked sausage that was greatly oversalted. Place it in a cold water (refrigerator) overnight and you might save your product. Note: when pumping meat with a brine injector we achieve more uniform salt distribution and soaking can be eliminated. We can directly inject brine under the fat layer to speed up the curing process. Today the meat preservation plays the secondary role and for the best tasting product it is advisable to soak meats in running water. If not using running water the container where meats are soaked should have the water replaced every 30 minutes. The reason for soaking is the removal of excess salt that normally accumulates on the surface of the meats and more uniform distribution of the salt inside of the meat. The recommended times are: 2 hours for the hams and shoulders and 30 minutes for the bacon. Some sources ask for 3 minutes of soaking for each day of curing. Keep in mind that soaking will remove about 10 % of the curing ingredients that were introduced into the meat. The surface of the meat should be washed with water to remove any crystals of the salt what will prevent proper smoke penetration. Then the meats are hung or placed on wire mesh and allowed to drip for 24 hours before smoking. Store meat at a refrigerator temperature of 38 40 F (3 - 4 C). Pumping of the meat and then immersing it in a solution allows more even salt distribution inside. The salt distribution inside of the ham will further equalize during smoking process. If meats are pumped first and immersed in a brine or submitted to a massaging process there is no need for soaking.

Draining
Rinsing/soaking should be done in cold running water 62 68 F (17-20 C) and the time will depend on the size of the meat pieces and the total time of curing. If after curing meats are not going to be soaked, they should be briefly rinsed with warm water 106 114 F (43-45C) to remove any salt crystals and then hung in well ventillated area for drying. The surface of the meat must be dry or feel tacky before it can continue for smoking. Air fan can speed up drying process or meat can dry out in a smoker by applying some heat. The temperature should not be higher than 120 F (48 C) and all drafts shall be opened as we want flow of the fresh air. That wil normally take about a day.

Meat Pumping
Commercial plants add phosphates to wet cure solution which hold extra amounts of water and that of course amounts to higher profits. Water retaining chemicals that are used in commercial applications can be very effective and using the state of the art pumping machines allows for pumping up to 80 % of curing solution into meat in relation to the

original weight. There are high technology companies that produce especially prepared mixtures that are used for that purpose.

Brine pump and manually operated injector.

Inject Star BI-152 Automatic Pickle Injector For injecting bone-in or boneless meat, poultry, or fish

Roast beef

Steaks

Pork loins

Brisket

Turkey

Chickens

Stitch pumping different meats. Photos courtesy Koch Equipment, Kansas City, MO Needle pumping has many advantages:

Curing solution can be precisely introduced where needed most (bone areas and fatty tissues) Curing times become shorter Spices and special flavorings can be injected inside of the meat

A home sausage maker can use a manual meat syringe to perform the same function though on a somewhat limited scale. The syringe holds 4 oz. of brine and has a 5 3/8 long needle with 12 tiny holes around its surface. Smaller syringes for general kitchen use can be found in every major appliances store. They are used for pumping meats with marinade.

Photographs courtesy The SausageMaker, Buffalo, N.Y. There are two methods of needle pumping: Artery pumping a wet cure method where a long needle, connected with a hose to a pump, will inject a brine solution into the hams artery. It is a very efficient way of distributing the curing solution uniformly and quickly through the meat. The arterial blood system of the animal becomes a pipeline for the brine distribution throughout the ham. A leg will have to be carefully and professionally butchered so the artery will remain intact. There is of course no possibility of a bone removal prior to pumping. It was a very popular method during Russias engagement in the First World War (19141918) and during the Second World War (1941-1945). After the kill the pigs were immediately artery-pumped. The solution pumped out all blood from the animal then remained in its system.This method requires some anatomy knowledge on a part of the operator but is still too slow for present meat processors and is going out of fashion. Stitch pumping a wet cure method where the curing solution is applied under pressure to the surface of a ham, bacon, butt etc., with a bank of needles connected to a pump. The solution comes from the pump and its pressure is strictly controlled otherwise it will create tear and internal damage to the meat fibers. The fact that you have pumped up your meat does not mean it is already cured. It either has to go into a tumbler to be massaged for a day or two or it has to be immersed in the remaining solution for prescribed time. Very often it was pumped with a stronger solution (75 %) and immersed in a weaker brine (70 %). A home sausage maker can use a manual meat syringe to perform the same function though on a somewhat limited scale. The syringe holds 4 oz of brine and has a 5 3/8 long needle with 12 tiny holes around its surface. There is no need to worry about pressure which is constant and low enough not to create any damage to meat fibers. For home sausage maker the main advantage of the pumping meat is the ability to direct curing solution around the bones of the ham what will very effectively prevent bone souring. Stitch pumping though very effective do not allow for an even distribution of the brine and it should be followed by either:

Massaging in tumblers (commercial applications) Immersion curing Dry curing

How Much To Pump

The amount of solution that will be introduced into the meat depends largely on the total time of curing:

Fast curing (7-14 days) requires about 10-12% of brine in relation to the original weight of the meat (green weight) Slow curing (30-50 days) requires about 5-6% of brine in relation to the original weight of the meat (green weight

Keep in mind that pumping meat introduces moisture into the product which is undesirable in dry meats or when the main purpose of curing is meat preservation. In these cases dry curing method is more suitable. Hams are generally pumped with a solution of similar or greater strength than the solution that will cover them. That allows curing ingredients to work simultonously on inside and to penetrate the meat from outside. The final effect will be more uniform salt distribution and a faster curing time.

How and Where to Pump

Large pieces of meat like hams have tendency to start spoiling within from the bone area what is known as bone taint which can happen after 30 days. Needless to say higher than recommended temperatures will greatly speed up the process. Direct introduction of a brine into those areas will allow for immediate curing to take place thus protecting meat from spoilage and reducing total curing time. Bone-sour is more common when large pieces of meat like hams and picnics, are cured in a brine. Salt present in brine takes almost twice as long to penetrate the ham as does salt from the dry cure. For this reason large cuts of meat should always be pumped with a curing solution and then immersed in brine or rubbed with dry mix on outside and left for curing. Pumping the meat and applying dry mix on outside is the fastest curing method.

For hams and shoulders that weigh 10 15 lbs use 3 pumpfuls of brine (1-shank, 2-knuckle joint and 3-aitch bone).

After meat is pumped with the solution, it is placed in tubs up to 3 high and weighed down from the top so the pieces will remain For hams and shoulders that weigh more than 15 lbs use completely immersed in brine. 5 pumpfulls.

Wet Curing - Spray Pumping Followed by Immersion Curing

Curing solution: salt, water and nitrates/nitrites % (weight) of Amount of Brine Strength pumped solution Brine in % Number of in SALometer in relation to the relation to the injections degrees original meat weight of the weight (100 kg) meat (100 kg)

Product

Curing Time in Days

Product

% (weight) of Amount of Brine Strength pumped solution Brine in % Number of in SALometer in relation to the relation to the injections degrees original meat weight of the weight (100 kg) meat (100 kg) 6 7 (6-7 kg) 7-9 40

Curing Time in Days If Artery 6-10 or if Stitch 812 If Artery 5-8 or if Stitch 610 5-7

Smoked and 65 - 85 Boiled Ham

Smoked and 65 - 85 Boiled Butt Smoked Canadian 55 - 65 Bacon, Smoked Loin 65 85 (3% Boiled Beef sugar added to Ham brine in relation to salt) Smoked 65 85 Bacon Smoked 65 85 Jowls

6-7

5-7

40

2-3

2-3

40

67 56 2 3

2-4 45 45

30

8 - 10

30 30

4-6 4-6

Overhauling

Overhauling means periodic re-arrengement of meat pieces that are inside of a curing container. It is done for the following reasons: There will be less curing in areas where meats touch each other. Undercured meat areas may have different shade of pink color. The curing solution will have sections of different density-salt will sink to the bottom, nitrate will swim up to the top When meats are placed on top of each other the top layers supply pressure to the bottom section and the meat juices will leak out into the brine. That is why meats should not be stacked higher than 3 feet.

The strength of the solution will change in time, salt might settle on the bottom, nitrites might be on top, some meat juices will enter the brine, meat pieces may touch each other etc. To allow all meats to cure evenly, the solution should be remixed and agitated. A rule of thumb is to overhaul the meat every seventh day for three weeks. A smaller piece that will be cured for 10 days only, should be overhauled after 5 days. The easiest way is to use two separate containers and switch the meats from one container to the other. The pieces that were on top are now on the bottom and vice versa. Then the brine can be stirred and

poured over meat pieces in a new container. If only one container is used the meat should be removed, the brine stirred, and the meat reinserted in a different order.

Combination Curing
Combining the dry cure method with spray pumping. A ham is spray pumped with a curing solution and the outside is rubbed with dry mix (salt and nitrite). That will allow the inside curing solution to penetrate the meat more evenly while the outside dry mix solution will be moving towards the inside. Combining the wet cure method with spray pumping (artery or stitch). A meat cut is spray pumped with a curing solution and then immersed in a container. The meat pieces should be completely covered and weighed down to prevent pieces from rising to the surface. They must also be turned over at least once every day for the duration of curing. The higher salt percentage in a curing solution the faster the curing process. When 26% of salt is added to water, the solution becomes saturated and more salt will not be absorbed by the water. The salt will settle on the bottom of the container. When forcefully rubbing salt into the meat we are introducing 100% of salt. This means that the dry curing method is much faster as it introduces more salt. Another benefit is that no moisture is added into the meat, on the contrary, salt will draw water out of meat creating less favorable conditions for bacteria to grow. For these reasons traditionally made hams relied on the dry cure method. Combination curing is very popular method as it drastically cuts down processing time. Below there are some typical curing times that employ combination curing. Dry mix (salt and nitrates/nitrites) are rubbed into meat pieces, then placed on top of each other (up to 3 high) in a container. Extra mix is added between layers and the the meat is left to cure for 24 hours. Then container is filled with a wet curing solution and secured from the top for neat pieces to be completely immersed in brine.

Combination Curing Dry Method followed by Wet Method

Curing ingredients: salt, nitrates/nitrites and water % (weight) of dry mixture in relation to original meat weight (100 kg) 2 (2 kg) 26 Amount of Brine in % relation to the weight of the meat (100 kg)

Product

Brine Strength in SALometer degrees

Dry Curing Time in Hours

Curing Time in Brine (in Days)

Draining Time in Days

Smoked Loin Smoked

50 - 55 50 55

24 - 36 24 36

30 (30 liters) 5 - 8 30 6 10

1 1

Product

Brine Strength in SALometer degrees

% (weight) of dry mixture in relation to original meat weight (100 kg)

Dry Curing Time in Hours

Amount of Brine in % relation to the weight of the meat (100 kg)

Curing Time in Brine (in Days)

Draining Time in Days

Butt Boiled Butt Smoked Bacon Smoked Jowls 50 55 65 85 65 85 26 3 3 24 36 24 36 24 36 30 40 40 6 - 10 7 10 7 10 1 1-2 1-2

Commercial Curing Methods

Meat plants can not afford the luxury of the traditional wet curing as it requires storage space and extra time. The process they employed consists of pumping meats with needle injectors with specially formulated and often patented formulas, then massaging the meats in tumblers to distribute the curing solution more evenly. Needle injectors pump the meat under pressure with a prepared solution that contains everything that is allowed by law to make the process the shortest and most economical. Some methods allow pumping meat with a curing solution and microscopic parts of meat of any kind. Massaging is an additional curing step employed by commercial plants. It involves placing pieces of meat that are pumped with curing solution into a meat tumbler. This is a machine with a rotating drum and the meat pieces will be bouncing around its mowing walls providing even better brine distribution inside of the meat. The meat does not have to be immersed in brine at all. Using high production stitch pumping machines and a tumbler, a ham can be ready for the smoker in 24 hours. You can massage your meat by hitting it with a closed fist all around, you could even wrapp up meat with a towel and hit it for a few minutes with a heavy object. You could also buy a small capacity tumbler machine. Meat plants dont use these machines to improve quality, they use them to work faster and save money. A pork butt left for 10 days in a brine solution will be perfectly cured in every area, something a needle injector and tumbler will not do. There is a limit to how many holes can be made in meat with needles as they damage the texture of the meat. These machines are only effective if used with chemicals that will help to cure meat faster. By injecting the curing solution directly into the meat we speed up the process. The tumbler helps to distribute the solution evenly inside but nitrite needs time to create a pink color. Salt also needs time to cure meat but there is no easy way to notice how well salt did its job. If curing time is too short, some areas of the large piece of meat will turn

grey, some lightly pink and some will be red-pink. That is why we use cure accelerators so they can cure and color meat at a much faster rate. Using high production stitch pumping machines and a tumbler a ham can be ready for the smoker in 24 hours.

Wiltshire Curing
Wiltshire curing was an English method of curing whole hog sides in brine. Curing bacterial flora was carefully maintained in the same tank for many years. This of course required laboratory testing. More salt and Nitrate was added when needed and the bacteria living in brine kept reacting with Nitrate. The reaction produced nitrite which kept on curing meat. In a freshly formulated brine there may not be enough bacteria to convert Nitrate into nitrite and as a result the curing may be poor. For this reason the use of Nitrate is generally discouraged today.

Curing Meat for Sausages

Lets make something absolutely clear, you dont need to cure meat to make your sausage. Grind the meat, mix with spices and stuff the mass into a casing. Grill it, hot smoke it, or place it in a refrigerator, the product is still called a sausage. Curing is an extra process that requires more time, designated containers and a space in a refrigerator. The reason we advocate the curing procedure is that this book is about making quality products and quality takes time. Meat for quality smoked sausage should be cured. Curing imparts a certain peculiar flavor which is in demand by the consumer and if we cure hams, bacon, chops, butts, and fish because they taste better, so why not cure meat for sausages? The fact that we grind meat makes it only easier on our teeth to chew it - it does not improve the color, texture or the flavor of the sausage. Someone might say: but Ive mixed nitrite and spices with ground meat before stuffing so thats OK. Well, its not ok, the problem is that not enough time was allocated and the sausage is only partially cured. The dry method of curing is used to cure meat for sausages. Meat should be cut into smaller pieces, about 2 inches (5-6 cm) and not heavier than 0. 5 lb (250 g). The curing time depends on:

Diameter of the meat - making cuts smaller or grinding them in a grinder increases the meats surface area and speeds up curing. Temperature - usually set by the refrigerator setting. In the past when Nitrates were used, curing temperatures were higher (42-46 F, 6-8 C) which allowed curing bacteria to react with Nitrate. As a result nitrite was released which would then cure meat. Additives - adding ascorbates speeds up curing. More important for commercial producers.

Meat should be thoroughly mixed with salt, Cure #1 (salt, nitrite), sugar (if used) and packed tightly in a container, not higher than 8 inches (20 cm). Then the meat is covered

with a clean cloth and stored in a refrigerator. There are chemical reactions taking place inside meat and the cloth allows the gases to evaporate through. It also prevents the surface of the meat from reacting with oxygen which sometimes creates gray color areas on the surface. This is normal, the meat is fine and there is nothing to worry about. With the use of ascorbates and erythorbates it is possible to cure meats at even lower temperatures, which is commonly practiced by commercial establishments. The curing times at 40 F (4 C) (refrigerator temperature) are as follows:

Meat pieces size 2 - 72 hours. Ground meat - 24 - 36 hours, depending on a plate size.

What will happen to smoked sausages if the meat is not cured? Basically nothing as long as you add salt and Cure #1 (sodium nitrite) to ground meat during mixing (you are still curing meat). The final color might not be as good as the properly cured sausage but it will still be a great sausage. If you dont want to cure meat using the traditional method, use the alternative curing method described below.

Alternative curing methods

1. Grind each meat through a proper plate (as dictated by the recipe). The reason that we grind now and not cut meat into pieces for curing is that salt and sodium nitrite will penetrate a tiny piece of ground meat much faster than a 5 cm (2) cube. Mix meat with salt and Cure #1. Pack tightly (to remove air) and separately, place each type of ground meat in a container and cover with a cloth to allow breathing. Let it set for 3-4 hours at room temperature 20-22C (68-71F). Chemical reactions proceed much faster at higher temperatures and so does curing. Add spices, mix all together and stuff casings. 2. Grind each meat through a proper plate (as dictated by the recipe). Mix meat with salt, Cure #1 and other ingredients. Stuff sausages and place in a cooler for 12-24 hours before smoking. When removed from a cooler they have to be conditioned at room temperature for a few hours to remove moisture from the surface. 3. Grind each meat through a proper plate (as dictated by the recipe). Mix meat with salt, Cure #1 and other ingredients. Stuff sausages and hang at room temperature for 2 hours. Transfer to a smokehouse. As you can see in all instances we are buying extra time to allow curing inside the meat. A commercial producer will not perform curing at higher than cooler temperature as this will affect the shelf life of the product. Commercial processors cure meat faster and at lower temperatures by using ascorbic acid, erythorbic acid, or their derivatives, sodium ascorbate and/or sodium erythorbate. These additives speed up the chemical conversion of nitrite to nitric oxide which in turn will react with meat myoglobin to create a pink color. They also deplete levels of meat oxygen which prevents the fading of the cured meat color in the presence of light and oxygen. Bear in mind that those simplified curing methods can not be used when curing whole pieces like hams, butts or loins. Due to the insufficient curing time they will have an

uneven pink and reddish area or even some gray in it. That would be easily noticeable when slicing those meats. As sausage is made from comminuted meat any variations in color can not be spotted, unless larger chunks of meat are mixed with finely ground meat. When making less than 5 pounds of sausage it is perfectly acceptable to make curing a part of the mixing and conditioning process. This way the sausage is stuffed and ready to go into the smoker and all equipment can be washed and put away. When making large amounts of sausage, you may use a few pork butts or picnics and trimming this meat will take a while. Then you have to grind, mix, stuff and smoke sausages. This operation will take many hours. It is feasible to make sausages on two separate occasions: 1. The first day - meat selection and trimming. The skin and bones are removed, all sinews, gristle and glands are discarded. Meat is cut into small pieces, mixed with salt and nitrite and placed in a refrigerator for 24 hours. Except the knife no equipment was needed.

Making Brine
There isnt a universal brine and every book and recipe provides customized instructions. Salt of different density and weight (table salt, Morton Kosher, Diamond Kosher) is measured with different instruments such as spoons, cups, ounces, pounds, kilograms water measured by cups, quarts, gallons, liters a total mess and chaos. The main advantage of making your own brine is that you have total control over it and there is no guessing involved. Firstly, it makes no sense at all to talk about curing time if we dont specify the strength of a brine. We can mix cup salt with one quart of water or we can add 5 cups salt into one gallon of water and it is obvious that curing times will be different though both brines will do the job. To prepare your own brine in a professional way and not to depend blindly on thousands of recipes you need two things: 1. Buy a brine tester. They are so cheap that there is no excuse for not having one. The salinometer or salometer (brinometer) consists of a float with a stem attached, marked in degrees. The instrument will float at its highest level in a saturated brine, and will read 100 degrees (26.4 % salt solution). This is known as a fully saturated brine at 60 F. In weaker brines the stem will float at lower levels and the reading will be lower. With no salt present the reading will be 0. To make brine put some water one into a suitable container, add some salt, insert a brine tester and read the scale. Want a stronger solution: add more salt. Need weaker brine: add more water, it is that simple. Keep in mind that a salinometers scale measures the density of a solution containing salt and water. Once you add other ingredients the salinometer will measure the density of a solution and not the salinity of the brine.

Brine testers
2. Learn how to use brine tables. The advantages of using tables are many:

you can calculate the strength of any recipe you come across you can find out how much salt to add to 1 gallon of water to create a particular brine strength you dont have to worry whether you use table salt, Morton kosher salt or Diamond kosher salt. Brine Tables are especially useful when making a large volume of brine.

Sodium Chloride (Salt) Brine Tables for Brine at 60 F (15 C) in US Gallons

Salometer Degrees 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Percent of Sodium Chloride (Salt) by Weight 0.000 0.264 0.526 0.792 1.056 1.320 1.584 1.848 2.112 2.376 Pounds of Salt per Gallon of Water 0.000 0.022 0.044 0.066 0.089 0.111 0.134 0.157 0.180 0.203 Pounds of Salt per Gallon of Brine 0.000 0.022 0.044 0.066 0.089 0.111 0.133 0.156 0.178 0.201 Pounds of Water per Gallon of Brine 8.328 8.323 8.317 8.307 8.298 8.292 8.286 8.280 8.274 8.268

Salometer Degrees 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48

Percent of Sodium Chloride (Salt) by Weight 2.640 2.903 3.167 3.431 3.695 3.959 4.223 4.487 4.751 5.015 5.279 5.543 5.807 6.071 6.335 6.599 6.863 7.127 7.391 7.655 7.919 8.162 8.446 8.710 8.974 9.238 9.502 9.766 10.030 10.294 10.558 10.822 11.086 11.350 11.614 11.878 12.142 12.406 12.670

Pounds of Salt per Gallon of Water 0.226 0.249 0.272 0.296 0.320 0.343 0.367 0.391 0.415 0.440 0.464 0.489 0.513 0.538 0.563 0.588 0.614 0.639 0.665 0.690 0.716 0.742 0.768 0.795 0.821 0.848 0.874 0.901 0.928 0.956 0.983 1.011 1.038 1.066 1.094 1.123 1.151 1.179 1.208

Pounds of Salt per Gallon of Brine 0.224 0.247 0.270 0.293 0.316 0.339 0.362 0.386 0.409 0.433 0.456 0.480 0.504 0.528 0.552 0.576 0.600 0.624 0.649 0.673 0.698 0.722 0.747 0.772 0.797 0.822 0.847 0.872 0.897 0.922 0.948 0.973 0.999 1.025 1.050 1.076 1.102 1.128 1.154

Pounds of Water per Gallon of Brine 8.262 8.256 8.250 8.239 8.229 8.222 8.216 8.209 8.202 8.195 8.188 8.181 8.174 8.167 8.159 8.152 8.144 8.137 8.129 8.121 8.113 8.105 8.097 8.089 8.081 8.073 8.064 8.056 8.047 8.038 8.030 8.021 8.012 8.003 7.994 7.985 7.975 7.966 7.957

Salometer Degrees 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87

Percent of Sodium Chloride (Salt) by Weight 12.934 13.198 13.461 13.725 13.989 14.253 14.517 14.781 15.045 15.309 15.573 15.837 16.101 16.365 16.629 16.893 17.157 17.421 17.685 17.949 18.213 18.477 18.740 19.004 19.268 19.532 19.796 20.060 20.324 20.588 20.852 21.116 21.380 21.644 21.908 22.172 22.436 22.700 22.964

Pounds of Salt per Gallon of Water 1.237 1.266 1.295 1.325 1.355 1.384 1.414 1.444 1.475 1.505 1.536 1.567 1.598 1.630 1.661 1.693 1.725 1.757 1.789 1.822 1.854 1.887 1.921 1.954 1.988 2.021 2.056 2.090 2.124 2.159 2.194 2.229 2.265 2.300 2.336 2.372 2.409 2.446 2.482

Pounds of Salt per Gallon of Brine 1.181 1.207 1.233 1.260 1.286 1.313 1.340 1.368 1.393 1.420 1.447 1.475 1.502 1.529 1.557 1.584 1.612 1.639 1.668 1.697 1.725 1.753 1.781 1.809 1.837 1.866 1.895 1.925 1.953 1.982 2.011 2.040 2.069 2.098 2.128 2.159 2.188 2.217 2.248

Pounds of Water per Gallon of Brine 7.947 7.937 7.928 7.918 7.908 7.898 7.888 7.878 7.867 7.857 7.847 7.836 7.826 7.815 7.804 7.793 7.782 7.771 7.764 7.756 7.744 7.733 7.721 7.710 7.698 7.686 7.678 7.669 7.657 7.645 7.633 7.621 7.608 7.596 7.586 7.577 7.584 7.551 7.542

Salometer Degrees 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 99.6 100

Percent of Sodium Chloride (Salt) by Weight 23.228 23.492 23.756 24.019 24.283 24.547 24.811 25.075 25.339 25.603 25.867 26.131 26.289 26.395

Pounds of Salt per Gallon of Water 2.520 2.557 2.595 2.633 2.671 2.709 2.748 2.787 2.826 2.866 2.908 2.948 2.970 2.986

Pounds of Salt per Gallon of Brine 2.279 2.309 2.338 2.368 2.398 2.430 2.461 2.491 2.522 2.552 2.570 2.616 2.634 2.647

Pounds of Water per Gallon of Brine 7.532 7.519 7.505 7.492 7.479 7.468 7.458 7.444 7.430 7.416 7.409 7.394 7.385 7.380

Seawater contains approximately 3.695 % of salt which corresponds to 14 degrees salometer. At 100 degrees brine is fully saturated and contains 26.395 % of salt. 1 US gallon of water weighs 8.33 lbs 1 US gallon = 3.8 liters = 3.8 kilograms

If you come across a recipe and you would like to determine what is the strength of the brine, just follow two steps:
1. Find percent of salt by weight in the solution: weight of salt/(weight of salt plus weight of water), then multiply the result by 100% 2. Look up the tables and find the corresponding salometer degree For example, lets find the strength of the brine that is mentioned in many recipes and calls for adding 1 pound of salt to 1 gallon of water (8.33 pounds) % salt by weight = 1lb of salt/1 lb of salt + 8.33 lbs (1 gallon) of water = 1/9.33 = 0.1071 0.1071 x 100 % = 10.71 % of salt Looking in the table at Column 2 (percent sodium chloride by weight) we can see that 10.71 % corresponds to 40 degrees.

Another popular brine is made by adding 3/4 cup of salt (219 g) to 1 gallon (3.8 liters)of water 219g / 219 + 3800 g = 0.05 0.05 x 100 = 5 % of salt Looking in the table at Column 2 (percent sodium chloride by weight) we can see that 5 % corresponds to 19 degrees. Basic brine has always been salt and water and all other ingredients are extras. You can prepare your basic brine using the brine tester then adding all other remaining ingredients, mix them well and check your reading again to have a reference for the future. Salinometer readings are calibrated to give a correct indication when the brine is at 60 F temperature. Each brine tester will have its own instructions for temperature compensation but the basic rule of thumb says that for every 10 F the brine is above 60 F, one degree should be added to the reading before using table. If the brine is below 60 F subtract 1 degree for each 10 F from the observed salinometer reading before using table. For example, if a salinometer indicates 70 degrees brine and the brines temperature is 40 F, the corrected salinometer reading would be 68 degrees (for each 10 F below 60 F, one salinometer degree is substracted). If the brine temperature is 80 F and the salinometer indicates 40 degrees, the corrected reading would be 82 degrees SAL (for each 10 F above 60 F, one salinometer degree is added)These are very small differences which are of bigger importance for a meat plant curing huge amounts of meat at one time. Needless to say a thermometer is needed too.

The Easiest Way to Make Brine

Basically you have to answer yourself a few questions: 1. How much brine - depends on the weight of your meat 2. How strong brine - depends on a kind of meat and the curing time you wish to employ 3. Do you need nitrate/nitrite (Cure1/Cure2) 4. Do you need sugar Let's look at these one at a time:

How Much Brine

The easiest way is to estimate the needed amount of brine. You have to cover the meats and a lot of brine will be wasted if you cure 1 chicken in a filled to the top 55 gallon drum. A basic rule of thumb dictates that the amount of brine should come to 50 % in relation to the weight of the meat. For 2 lbs of meat use 1 pound of brine. Try to use a container whose

size and shape will accomodate best the meat piece to use as little brine as possible. In Poland where people have smoked meats for hundreds of years, almost everybody (meats plants included) uses the following weight ratio: from 30 % to 40 % of water to 100 % of meat. That means that for 1 kg (2.2 lbs) of meat we add 0.4 liters (400 mg) of water. Keep in mind that 1 liter of water weighs exactly 1 kg. Then you choose the strength of the brine and keep on adding salt checking the reading with a salometer. This is a rather time consumming method and you can make brine much faster by using tables, the way professionals do. To make brine we need to use only three columns of the table and they are shaded in yellow color. For example we want 22 degrees brine to cure chicken. If you follow the 22 degree row to the right you will see in Column 3 that 0.513 lb of salt has to be added to 1 gallon of water to make 22 degree brine. Or to make 80 degree brine we need to mix 2.229 lbs of salt with 1 gallon of water. Then check it with your salinometer and you can add a cup of water or a tablespoon of salt to get a perfect reading. If you end up with not enough brine, make some more. If you think you may need just 1/2 gallon more of 80 degree brine, take 1/2 gallon of water and add 1/2 of salt that the table asks for. In this case looking at 80 degree brine (Column 1), going to the right you can see that in Column 3 the amount of the needed salt is 2.229 lbs. Yes, but this amount is added to 1 gallon of water to create 80 degree brine. Because we use only 1/2 gallon now, this amount of salt nedds to be halved: 2.229lbs/2 = 1.11 lbs. In other words if we add 1.11 lbs of salt to 1/2 gallon of water we will also create 80 degree brine. Lets say you need about 10 gallons of 60 degrees SAL brine (15.8% salt) to cure ham. Locate 60 degrees SAL in Column 1 and then go across to Column 3 where it is stated that 1.567 pounds salt/gallon of water is needed. Multiplying 1.567 (pounds salt/gallon of water x 10 gallons of water gives us 15.67 lbs of salt. This is how much salt needs to be added to 10 gallons of water to make 60 degrees SAL brine. Note that you have an increased volume of the solution and it will need a bigger tank than 10 gallons that will hold more than 10 gallons of brine. When making brine this way we end up with more brine that can be fitted inside of a 1 gallon container (1 gal of water + salt). There are instances that we may need to make a precised amount of brine that would exactly fit into a certain capacity container. To make excact amounts of brine use Columns 4 and 5 which are shaded pink in color. The two columns shaded in pink are used by commercial establishments to make up exact amounts of a particular brine. Let's say that we have a 10 gallon container and before we go fishing we would like to fill it up with 60 degree brine. Go to the Column 5 (pounds per gallon of brine) which reads that 1.475 pounds of salt are needed to make exactly 1 gallon of brine at 60 degrees. Column 7 says that 0.941 gallon of water is needed.These readings now have to be multiplied by 10 gallons: 1.475 lbs salt x 10 = 14.75 lbs salt

0.941 gallon of water x 10 = 9.41 gallons If we add now 14.75 lbs of salt to 9.41 gallons of water we would obtain excactly 10 gallons of 60 degrees brine.

Strength of the Brine

There is no universal brine and its strength (amount of salt in water) will be up to you. Brine tester is a must and a notebook for future reference will be of invaluable help. You can use stronger brine and your curing time will be shorter or you can use a milder brine and the curing time can be longer. Some typical brines are given below: Brine Strength 0 - 20, brines too weak 20 30 40 50 60 60 - 80 80 80 -100, brines seldom used Product chicken poultry, fish chicken spareribs bacon, loins hams, shoulders fish

Note:if you add sugar into your brine it will be heavier. For example if we add 8 lbs of salt to 5 gallons of water we obtain 61 degree brine but if we add 8 lbs of salt plus 3 lbs of sugar to 5 gallons of water, we get 75 degree brine. All our calculations are based on salt and water only. Curing method used, curing times and brine strength all depends on each other:

The strength of the brine the stronger the brine the faster curing action The size of the cured meat a whole turkey requires more brining time than a shrimp The method used pumping and brining or just brining. Pumping meat shortens curing time.

Make sure you don't brine meats that have already been brined before you buy them, such as supermarket stocked pork, which has been treated with sodium phosphate and water to make it juicier. Notice that sugar, though added to brine after it is made, does not participate in calculation for making brine of particular strength. That is due to the following reasons:

A lot of brines do not call for sugar at all A lot of brines call for different amounts of sugar (more sugar for a bacon, less sugar for a ham)

People use different sugars, dextrose, maple syrup or honey

Most meats like 70 75 degrees brine, poultry likes weaker solution 21 degrees and most fish are cured at 80 degrees brine. Of course there are small diameter meat cuts and big ones (loins, butts, hams), chicken breasts, whole chickens and turkeys, and fish fillets, small fish and big fish and all these different meats and cuts will have different curing times. Products like loins, hams, poultry, and spareribs taste good when more sugar is applied. Sugar is not a curing agent and it has very little effect on the curing process. Think of sugar more like a flavoring. A rule of thumb for curing times estimates for the traditional wet cure method (brine strength 50 65 degrees)

11 days per inch of thickness of the meat About 3 to 4 days per pound for 20 lbs. hams and picnics 3 days per pound for smaller cuts.

The following brine strengths are for orientation purpose only and feel free to improvise your own brines. Meat Type Meat (ham, shoulders) Bacon Loins Spareribs Poultry Fish Brine Strength in SAL degrees 65 - 75 degrees 55 - 65 degrees 55 - 65 50 -55 21 degrees 80 Time 4 days per pound 1 - 2 days per pound 3 weeks 1 week overnight -2 hours

Brine with Nitrates/Nitrites

The USA regulations permit the following amounts of nitrates/nitrites for wet cure: 7 lbs. of sodium or potassium nitrate (saltpeter) to 100 gallon pickle 2 lbs. of sodium or potassium nitrite to 100 gallon pickle @ 10 % pump level. To stay within established nitrite limits (200 ppm) our brine looks as follows: 1 gal of water, 5 oz Cure 1 (144 g = 0.31 lb) which corresponds to 1 gal of water and 8 flat Tablespoons of Cure 1.

If we used only 5 oz of Cure 1 (there is 93.75 % salt in it) and 1 gal of water it will give us 14 degree brine which is an approximate strength of seawater. This is too weak a brine for any practical purpose and more salt has to be added. The first question to be answered is whether Cure 1 will be used. If you are going to smoke or cook your meats at 190 F or higher you dont need to worry about botulism (food poisoning). Remember that nitrates/nitrites (Cure 1 and Cure 2) besides preventing botulism impart a characteristic flavor and color associated with smoked meats. The amount of Cure 1 always stays the same (5 oz or 144 g or 8 Tbs) at different brine strengths as long as 1 gallon of water is used and conforms to the government established 200 ppm maximum limit. By using the above table you can not only control yourself making the brine but you can check whether other recipes conform to the government standards. You should be aware that the table is for maximum amount of nitrites (Cure 1) in the brine. The easiest way to make a curing solution (water, salt, nitrite) is to add 5 oz Cure 1 to one gallon of water and then add more salt until the desired salinometer reading (brine strength) is obtained. Bear in mind that when you add Cure 1 to your solution (it contains 93.75 % salt) you will be changing the strength of the brine, especially at higher degrees. Simply subtract this amount from the salt given by the tables. The amount of Cure 1 that we add to 1 gal of water remains the same (144 g = 0.31 lb) regardless of the strength of the brine we are making. For example, to make 60 degree brine Column 3 asks for 1.567 lbs of salt to be added to 1 gallon of water. But because we are adding 0.31 lb (144 g) of salt that is inside of Cure 1, we have to subtract that from the salt the table calls for. The result is: 1.567 - 0.310 = 1.257. To make 1 gal 60 degree brine with nitrite we need: 0.310 lb (144 g or 5 oz) of Cure 1 1.257 lb of salt 1 gal of water And if we need 5 gallons of the above brine, we simply multiply all ingredients by 5. Note: Nitrites are not allowed in all species of fish used for smoking. The Food and Drug Administration currently allows nitrites to be used in salmon, sablefish, shad, chubs, and tuna. The standard traditional curing brine for each 100 lbs. of meat has been: 8 lbs. salt, 3 lbs. sugar, 3 oz. saltpeter (potassium nitrate) and 4 to 6 gals. of water. This is exactly the same mixture as used for dry curing except for the addition of water. Hundreds of recipes that can be found in books or on the Internet will conform to this formula. This is basically the standard 8:3:3 dry cure mix that is added to 4 - 6 gallons of water. Nowadays it is

almost impossible to obtain pure nitrates/nitrites and premixed nitrite cures (Cure 1, Cure 2) are offered instead. 8 lbs. of salt/4 gallon of water = 66 degrees brine. Best for hams and shoulders. 8 lbs. of salt/5 gallons of water = 61 degrees brine. Loins and bacon 8 lbs. of salt/5 gallon of water = 57 degrees brine. Loins, bacon, spareribs 8 lbs of water/6 gallons of water = 52 degrees brine. Spareribs 4 lbs. of salt/6 gal of water = 26 degrees brine. Poultry Curing times: 11 to 13 days per inch of maximum thickness As meat may be immersed in brine for quite a long time, sometimes even up to 6 weeks, it goes without saying that we want our brine to be very clean, otherwise we may introduce some bacteria to it and that will spoil the brine. That is why it is a good idea to pre-cure your meat as it was done in dry curing. Take the part of the dry mix before it is dissolved in water and rub it in into the meat. Let it sit overnight in a cool place (preferably in a refrigerator) to allow blood to be drawn out. Then rinse it and immerse in a wet brine. Required amount of salt should be dissolved in water, brought to a boil and boiled for about one hour (prolonged boiling kills all bacteria). Depending on the quality of salt we may have some impurities that will gather on the surface and they shall be scooped up and discarded. Some of the brine shall be transferred to a smaller container and the remaining ingredients (nitrite, sugar, spices and if used the chemical ingredients) shall be added and mixed. Then it should be added to the main portion of brine and the solution should be checked with a brine tester (salinometer) for proper strength. After that it should be left for 24-48 hours for the impurities to settle down at the bottom. Then the solution should be siphoned off through a filter (fine cloth, paper towel, gauze) to a different container without stirring the sediment. The brine should not be stored at temperatures higher than 4 C. Although the above procedure sounds a bit complicated it definitely should be used when preparing large amounts of brine (25 US gallons, 95 liters). In such cases we will be curing 200 kg (450 lbs) of meat or more and we cannot take a risk of contaminating the brine. For a home sausage maker curing small amounts of meat, mixing all ingredients in tap water will be fine, though the solution should be checked with a brine tester and kept in a refrigerator until further use. There are bacteria present in a tap water although they are harmless to us. Whether they will spoil the brine is anybodys guess and you can not go wrong by boiling water for 10 minutes first.

Brine injecting machine. Courtesy Koch Equipment, Kansas City MO

Adding sugar
Sugar is NOT a curing agent and its main use is to offset the harshness of salt and to further improve flavor and final color. It is well known that fruits preserved with sugar keep well for a long time when sealed in jars (canning). In meat curing, sugar is in rather low concentration to prevent the growth of bacteria. When added to brine it becomes food for numerous bacteria that prefer it as a food. With no sugar present those bacteria will feed on protein. Another benefit is that sugar helps to develop the color. It does that indirectly by providing food (sugar) to those bacteria that react with nitrate which in turn release nitrite. It acts also as anti-oxidant. What it means is that it reacts easily with oxygen and prevents the latter from changing the color of the meat. Sugar added to brine becomes an additional food for many bacteria. Now our brine or sweet pickle goes into a complicated but quiet fermentation process. Many other technologies rely on the fermentation process (baking bread, making wine) and curing is somewhat similar. When making wine we mix yeast (bacteria) with water and we add sugar (food for yeast) to start fermentation. Curing solution should remain at temperatures no higher than 41 F (5 C) otherwise sugar will facilitate rapid fermentation and the development of meat spoiling microorganisms which is what we are trying to avoid in the first place. Even at low temperatures the addition of sugar to wet cure should be limited to 2 % (in relation to salt) or less as it may

start rapid fermentation which in turn may affect the quality of the product. Normally it is accepted to use between 1-2 % of sugar in a wet curing solution and 2-2.5 % of sugar in a dry cure mix. It does not really matter much whether white or brown sugar is used. Sugars commonly used in meat curing are beet, cane and corn. Molasses and syrups have also been used. Keep in mind that different sugars will have different degrees of sweetness. Honey is often added to lean meats (ham) or even bacon for a distinctive flavor. 3 % of sugar in relation to salt is the commonly accepted figure. We have looked at a number of professionally written Meat Technology books by notable experts in the field and we have found that very little sugar (below 3 % in relation to salt) is used in curing solutions. For example, in American classical dry mix mixture: 8 lbs salt : 3 lbs sugar : 3 ozs potassium nitrate the percentage of sugar in relation to salt is: 3 lb sugar/8 lb salt and that comes to 37%. The books we have examined were:

Meat Product Technology by M.D. Ranken (English Book) Meat Technology and Making Meat Products (Technologia Misa i Produktw Misnych) A.A. Manergerger and E.J. Mirkin (Russian Book) Meat Technology (Technologia Misa) Adam Olszowski, Ph.D (Polish Book) Meat Technology (Przetwrstwo Misa) Wadysaw Poszczepczyski Polish Book Meat Through the Microscope C. Robert Moulton, Ph.D and W. Lee Lewis, Ph.D, The University of Chicago

In all those professional books the amount of sugar in relation to salt was always below 5%. In Polish and Russian books the percentage of salt was below 3% or less. As you can see adding sugar will be a matter of your personal choice, many curing solutions dont employ sugar at all. The sugar commonly used in curing is cane or beet sugar also known as sucrose. Sometimes other sugars, syrups, and molasses are used and they all have a different chemical composition. Very popular is light-colored and well refined sugar called dextrose, also known as cerelose. Keep in mind that dextrose (corn sugar) contains less sugar than cane or beet sugar and obviously tastes less sweet. A sugar found in raisin syrup and in honey is known as fructose , sometimes called levulose. There is a sugar called luctose in powdered milk products. Under certain conditions the sucrose (common sugar) can be split into two sugars of equal proportions: Sucrose (12 carbon atoms) = dextrose (6 carbon atoms) and levulose (6 carbon atoms).

Which Sugar is the Best?

The answer is very simple: there is no significant difference. There is no difference between cane and beet sugar when used for curing. Dextrose (corn sugar) is a reducing sugar and it is most effective in cures calling for short curing times (up to 15 days) as it

reduces undesirable pigments in the meat. It reacts with those pigments and prevents them from changing the color of the meat. As it contains less sugar than other types, less of it remains in brine after 10 days and its curing properties are somewhat inhibited. Fructose sugar (honey) is also a reducing sugar and exibits the same properties. Unfortunately it is too expensive to be of practical use. It is sometimes used by home sausagemakers to make a dry cured bacon as it imparts a peculiar flavor. Sucrose (common cane and beet sugar) is not a reducing sugar but after about 10 days in a pickle it starts to break down into dextrose and fructose (levulose) and is most effective at long curing times. For all purpose curing and sweetening the common refined sugar is the best choice. Partially refined sugar (Grade 2) will cure meats as good as others and may be of interest to commercial establishments as its price will be lower. Note: dextrose is much heavier than plain sugar and is only 70 % as sweet as regular sugar. It is a good choice when curing solutions contain potassium nitrate or when making fermented sausages. How Much Sugar? If we decide to choose 3 % sugar in relation to salt, all we need is a calculator. For example, we choose 60 degree brine and in the table Column 3 calls for 1.567 lbs of salt to be added to 1 gallon of water. All we have to do is to multiply 1.567 by 0.03 (3 %) and the result is: 1.567 x 0.03 = 0.047 lbs of sugar = 0.752 oz = 21 g = 4 tsp. Oversalting can easily make a product not edible but sugar is very forgiving and you can always eat your meat-cake. The percentage used (3 %) is ten times smaller than amount of sugar (37 %) that has been present in American mix (8:3:3) for 100 years. Customers prefer many products on the sweet side: honey flavored ham, honey flavored bacon or poultry and ribs. Sugar is a flavoring agent, it does not cure meat directly and the amount you want to use is up to you.

Spices and Vinegar

Spices are used in curing meats for the flavor they impart. It is known that the oils contained in spices can inhibit bacterial browth. To be of any use they will have to be in very high concentration and even then they can not be used alone in curing. There was a myth a few centuries ago (no refrigeration) that when some highly flavored spices like saffron, marjoram, curry and others were added to recipes, the meats kept well. The fact is that they helped to mask the ordor of the slowly decomposing meats making them acceptable for consumption. It is like putting on perfume instead taking a shower. Now you know why some countries like to use a lot of strong spices. In hot climate people use a lot of hot peppers not even knowing why. Eating hot food (peppers) make your body sweat all over and it gets cooled at the same time. For a guy sitting under a palm tree and without access to electricity and the air conditioning, the only means to cool down is to keep on eating hot peppers and drinking cold beer.

Pepper is basically added for flavor. It has no value as a preservative and has little efect when added to brine cures since it can not dissolve in water. But it can be rubbed on the meat after curing or smoking, adding some flavor. Vinegar is very effective in preventing the growth of bacteria as most bacteria do not like acidy environment. Vinegar also adds flavor to the product and is commonly used in marinades and barbecue sauces. It is also used in Mexican Chorizo Sausage.

Bad brine symptoms

White slime and foam on top Milky color and foul odor Brine turns blue in color Brine becomes very tacky (gluey) to touch

It is normal for a thin scum or white mold to accumulate on top of the brine. This white foam should be periodically removed. In case the foam starts to give a foul odor, turn blue in color, or becomes much thicker slime we will have to remove the ham, wash it in cool water and place it again in freshly made brine. At the first suspicion of brine spoilage it should be replaced with a fresh one, in most cases there is nothing wrong with the meat itself which should be just rinsed. Bad brine was nicknamed Ropy pickle and was stringy, sticky or slimy dripping from the fingers like syrup. Cured meats should be completely immersed in brine and weighted down when necessary. Most important no meat should protrude from the brine as it may get spoiled and then ruin the whole brine. If brining a large amount of meat, pack them together in a barrel without using excessive force. Heavy pieces like hams and shoulders on the bottom, lighter ones like bacon on the top. Then you can pour in the prepared solution covering all pieces. As the meats will start to shift and will come to the surface, place a suitable clean weight on top to prevent meat from contact with the air as this can spoil the brine. Pack meats the skin side down. The container should be placed preferably in a refrigerator or in a cool, well ventilated place.

Reusing brine
Reusing brine at home conditions is a bad idea as the old brine could have some bacteria in it from the previous use. Besides, cure mixes are so inexpensive that it makes no sense to take a risk of meat contamination. We would like to mention that in the past re-using properly prepared curing solutions was very popular and helped to acquire the cured color, the great taste and flavor much faster. It also helped to prevent a loss of meat juices and minerals that occurred during curing. The previously used curing solution was much weaker and more salt and nitrites had to be added. That requires professional testing and even if used should be reserved for commercial meat plants.

Baum Scale

You may come accross a scale in Baum degrees that is based on the specific gravity of the brine measured with a hydrometer. It is a popular scale in metric countries and you can often find reference given in Baum degrees. One can measure the gravity of the brine with a specially designed float (like a brine tester) and one can refer to the table and look up the % NaCl (salt) by weight. We have compiled a table that compares brine strength degree with Baum scale. Specific Gravity 1.007 1.014 1.022 1.029 1.037 1.044 1.051 1.058 1.066 1.073 1.081 1.089 1.096 1.104 1.112 1.119 1.127 1.135 1.143 1.151 1.159 1.168 1.176 1.184 1.192 1.201 % NaCl (Salt) by Weight 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 Baum Degrees 1.0 2.0 3.1 4.1 5.2 6.1 7.0 7.9 8.9 9.8 10.9 11.9 12.7 13.7 14.6 15.4 16.3 17.2 18.1 19.0 19.9 20.9 21.7 22.5 23.4 24.3 Salometer Degrees 4 8 1 1 1 2 2 3 3 3 4 4 5 5 5 6 6 6 7 7 8 8 8 9 9 9

Salt Tables for UK gallons - UK gallon holds 4.54 liters One Baum degree corresponds to 10 g of salt in 1 liter of water.

Making brine by using floating egg method

Floating egg is an old traditional trick to measure the strenghth of the brine. Why people make brine using egg as a meausuring device ? In some countries it is not an easily obtainable item, some people does not know it exists and others don't want to buy it. Salinometer is made of glass and can break at any time. Though an egg does not provide accurate readings it at least can help in case of an emergency. As there is no reliable information on how the egg behaves when immersed in brine and we have seen some sources saying that 80 degrees brine is achieved when the solution will just float an egg, we have decided to research the matter ourselves.

Conclusion Between 10 and 20 degrees the eggs layed prety much on the bottom. At 30 degrees they tried to float when touched with fingers. The first ones to raise of the bottom were X-Large White and Large-Brown at 35 degrees. They were also the first ones to break the surface at 40 degrees. The most defined point 45 degrees when all eggs swam to the surface. To calculate the strength of the brine using the floating egg or potato method makes very little sense as the readings are not reliable. There are books that advocate this method and each of them give different readings. The egg sinks in clean water and as the salt is added it should start lifting to the surface. Well, they do but in a very unpredictable manner. We have checked the floating egg method using five different size fresh eggs and the results were inconclusive. More information on making brine can be found in hams.

Useful Information

The 100 degrees brine (saturated) equals 26.4 % salt and a useful formula for calculating percent salt in a brine is to multiply the salimeter (brine tester) reading by 26.4 percent. For exammple the percent salt in 60 degrees brine is: 60 x 26.4 percent (0.264) = 15.84 percent salt in brine. When doing those calculations we can ignore the influence of the water temperature on salt. The reason being the fact that there is very little difference for the amount of salt to dissolve at different temperatures, for example at 32 F (0 C) 26.2 % of salt makes a saturated solution, and at 212 F (100 C) about 28.9 % salt will dissolve in water. Baking soda was sometimes used in small quantities to sweeten brine, or to recondition it. Adding a small amount of baking soda (1 Tbs to 25 lbs of meat) to brine in warm weather was known to prevent it from spoiling. For pumping solution it is advisable to have reading of 70 85, quite salty. For cover solution the solution might be reduced to 55 65 as the meat will be immersed in it for longer time. Pumped at 10% of meats weight means a 10 lbs. ham requires 1 lb. of brine solution. Amount of water needed for making brine about 40% of the meat weight. Recommended wet curing temperatures 36 40 F ( 2 5 C) at 90 95 % humidity. Salt dissolves much faster in hot water and that is why some people boil wet brine, then clarify it, and refrigerate it one day before intended use. It is advisable to place meat on a scale when pumping to control amount of pumped in brine.

Nitrates
In the past when we used salt with a higher nitrate content, we discovered that the meat had a different taste and color. Rock salts were mined in different areas of the world and exhibited different properties which depended mainly on impurities contained within. Take for example Himalayan salt that is sold on the Internet for cooking - it is pink. Potassium Nitrate was the main ingredient for making gun powder and its commercial name was saltpeter, still used today. Potassium Nitrate (KNO3-Bengal saltpetre) or sodium Nitrate (NaNO3- Chile saltpetre) were even added to water causing the temperature to drop and that method was used to cool wine in the XVI century. Nitrates and nitrites are powerful poisons and that is why the Food and Drug Administration established limits for their use. So why do we use them? The simple answer is that after testing and experiments, our modern science has not come up with a better solution to cure meats and prevent food poisoning. Only in the XIX century a German fellow Justinus Kemer linked food poisoning to contaminated sausages. It took another 80 years to discover botulinum bacteria by Emile Pierre van Ermengem, Professor of bacteriology at the University of Ghent in 1895. The first scientific papers that

explained the behavior of Nitrates were published only in the XX century so why had we been using Nitrates so much? Not to prevent botulism of which we had never even heard of before. We had been and still are using Nitrates because:

Nitrates can preserve meats natural color. The same piece of ham when roasted will have a light brown color and is known as roasted leg of pork. Add some nitrates to it, cook it and it becomes ham with its characteristic flavor and pink color. Nitrates impart a characteristic cured flavor to meat. Nitrates prevent the transformation of botulinum spores into toxins thus eliminating the possibility of food poisoning. Nitrates prevent rancidity of fats.

Whats Better, Nitrate or Nitrite?

Both Nitrates and nitrites are permitted to be used in curing meat and poultry with the exception of bacon, where Nitrate use is prohibited. Sodium nitrite is commonly used in the USA (Cure #1) and everywhere else in the world. To add to the confusion our commonly available cures contain both nitrite and Nitrate. Many commercial meat plants prepare their own cures where both nitrite and Nitrate are used. All original European sausage recipes include Nitrate and now have to be converted to nitrite. So what is the big difference? Almost no difference at all. Whether we use Nitrate or nitrite, the final result is basically the same. The difference between Nitrate and nitrite is as big as the difference between wheat flour and the bread that was baked from it. The Nitrate is the Mother that gives birth to the Baby (nitrite). Pure sodium nitrite is an even more powerful poison than Nitrate as you need only about of a tea-spoon to put your life in danger, where in a case of Nitrate you may need 1 tea-spoon or more. So all these explanations that nitrite is safer for you make absolutely no sense at all. Replacing Nitrate with nitrite eliminates questions like: Do I have enough nitrite to cure the meat? In other words, it is more predictable and it is easier to control the dosage. Another good reason for using nitrite is that it is effective at low temperatures 36-40 F, (2-4 C), where Nitrate likes temperatures a bit higher 46-50 F, (8-10 C). By curing meats at lower temperatures we slow down the growth of bacteria and we extend the shelf life of a product. When Nitrates were used alone, salt penetration was usually ahead of color development. As a result large pieces of meat were too salty when fully colored and had to be soaked in water. This problem has been eliminated when using nitrite. Nitrite works much faster and the color is fixed well before salt can fully penetrate the meat. Estimating the required amount of Nitrate is harder as it is dependent on:

Temperature (with higher temperature more nitrite is released from Nitrate). Amount of bacteria present in meat that is needed for Nitrate to produce nitrite and here we do not have any control. The more bacteria present, the more nitrite

released. Adding sugar may be beneficial as it provides food for bacteria to grow faster.

Nitrates And The Law

Maximum in-going Nitrite and Nitrate Limits in PPM (parts per million) for Meat and Poultry Products as required by the U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service Curing Method Curing Agent Immersion Cured Sodium Nitrite Potassium Nitrite Sodium Nitrate Potassium Nitrate 200 200 700 700 Massaged or Pumped 200 200 700 700 Comminuted (Sausages) 156 156 1718 1718 Dry Cured 625 625 2187 2187

The European Directive 95/2/CE (1995) allows 150 ppm of nitrite (if alone) or 300 ppm when combined (nitrite plus Nitrate), and the residual values should be less than 50 ppm (if alone) or 250 ppm (if combined). There are more stringent limits for curing agents in bacon to reduce the formation of nitrosamines. For this reason, Nitrate is no longer permitted in any bacon (pumped and/or massaged, dry cured, or immersion cured). As a matter of policy, the Agency requires a minimum of 120 ppm of ingoing nitrite in all cured Keep Refrigerated products, unless the establishment can demonstrate that safety is assured by some other preservation process, such as thermal processing, pH or moisture control. This 120 ppm policy for in going nitrite is based on safety data reviewed when the bacon standard was developed. Take note that nitrosamines can only be formed when products are heated above 266 F (130 C). This can only happen when cured bacon is fried or cured sausage is grilled. The majority of cured and smoked meats never reach such high temperatures. There is no regulatory minimum in-going nitrite level for cured products that have been processed to ensure their shelf stability (such as having undergone a complete thermal process, or having been subjected to adequate pH controls, and/or moisture controls in combination with appropriate packaging). However, 40-50 ppm nitrite is useful in that it has some preservative effect. This amount has also been shown to be sufficient for colorfixing purposes and to achieve the expected cured meat or poultry appearance. Some thermally processed shelf-stable (canned) products have a minimum in-going nitrite level that must be monitored because it is specified as a critical factor in the products process schedule. By the time meats are consumed, they contain less then 50 parts per million of nitrite. It is said that commercially prepared meats in the USA contain about 10 ppm of nitrite when bought in a supermarket. Nitrite and Nitrate are not permitted in baby, junior or toddler foods.

Nitrate Safety Concerns

There has been much concern over the consumption of Nitrates by the general public. Studies have shown that when nitrites combine with by-products of protein (amines in the stomach), that leads to the formation of nitrosamines which are carcinogenic (cancer causing) in laboratory animals. There was also a link that when Nitrates were used to cure bacon and the latter one was fried until crispy, it helped to create nitrosamines. In order to accomplish that the required temperatures had to be in the 600 F (315 C) range. Most meats are smoked and cooked well below 200 F (93 C) so they are not affected. Those findings started a lot of unnecessary panic in the 1970s about the harmful effects of nitrates on our health. Millions of dollars were spent, a lot of research was done, many researchers had spent long sleepless nights seeking fame and glory, but no evidence was found that when Nitrates are used within the established limits they can pose any danger to our health. A review of all scientific literature on nitrite by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences indicates that nitrite does not directly harm us in any way. All this talk about the danger of nitrite in our meats pales in comparison with the amounts of Nitrates that are found in vegetables that we consume every day. The Nitrates get to them from the fertilizers which are used in agriculture. Dont blame sausages for the Nitrates you consume, blame the farmer. It is more dangerous to ones health to eat vegetables on a regular basis than a sausage.

Nitrates in Vegetables
The following information about Nitrates in vegetables was published by MAFF, Department of Health and the Scottish Executive before April 1st 2000 when the Food Standards Agency was established. Number 158, September 1998. MAFF UK - NITRATE IN VEGETABLES: Vegetables contain higher concentrations of Nitrate than other foods and make a major contribution to dietary intake. A survey of vegetables for sale in supermarkets was carried out in 1997 and 1998 to provide up-to-date information on Nitrate concentrations, to assess the health implications for UK consumers and also to inform negotiations on a review of the European Commission Regulation (EC) No. 194/97 (which sets maximum levels for Nitrate in lettuce and spinach). A study on the effects of cooking on Nitrate concentrations in vegetables was also carried out to provide further refinements for estimating dietary exposure. The vegetables were tested and the mean Nitrate concentrations found were as listed in the table on the right. For comparison the permissible amount of Nitrate in comminuted meat products (sausages) is 1718 mg/kg. If one ate 1/4 lb smoked sausage, the ingoing Nitrate would be 430 ppm. That would probably account for less Nitrates than a dinner served with potatoes and spinach. In the 1920s, the government allowed the addition of 10 lbs. of Nitrate to 100 gallons of water (7 lbs. allowed today). The problem was that only about one quarter of the meat plants adhered to those limits and many plants added much more, even between 70 and 90 pounds. There was no control and as a result the customer was eating a lot of Nitrates.

Vegatable

Nitrate in mg/kg

spinach beetroot lettuces cabbages potatoes swedes carrots califlowers brussel sprouts onions tomatoes

1631 1211 1051 338 155 118 97 86 59 48 17

Cooking by boiling reduced Nitrate concentrations in most of the vegetables tested by up to 75 percent. Frying and baking did not affectNitrate concentrations in potatoes but frying caused increases in levels in onions. Dietary intakes of mean and upper range (97.5 percentile) consumers of these vegetables are 104 mg/day and 151 mg/day, respectively. These are below the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) for nitrate of 219 mg/day for a 60 kg adult set by the European Commissions Scientific Committee for Food (SCF). There are therefore no health concerns for consumers. Ten years later in 2008 another British study concluded: Our research suggests that drinking beetroot juice, or consuming other Nitraterich vegetables, might be a simple way to maintain a healthy cardiovascular system, and might also be an additional approach that one could take in the modern-day battle against rising blood pressure, says Amrita Ahluwalia, PhD, one of the studys researchers. Ahluwalia is a professor at the William Harvey Research Institute at Barts and The London School of Medicine.

How Much Nitrite is Dangerous

According to the report prepared in 1972 for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) by Battele-Columbus Laboratories and Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA 22151 the fatal dose of potassium Nitrate for humans is in the range of 30 to 35 grams (about two tablespoons) consumed as a single dose; the fatal dose of sodium nitrite is in the range of 22 to 23 milligrams per kilogram of body weight. A 156 lbs adult (71 kg) would have to consume 14.3 pounds (6.5 kg) of cured meat containing 200 ppm of sodium nitrite at one time. Taking into consideration that nitrite is rapidly converted to nitric oxide during the curing process, the 14.3 lbs amount will have to be doubled or even tripled. The equivalent amount of pure sodium nitrite consumed will be 1.3 g. One gram (1 ppm) of pure sodium nitrite is generally accepted as a life threatening dose.

As nitrite is mixed with large amounts of salt, it would be impossible to swallow it at least from a culinary point of view. Besides, our cures are pink and it would be very hard to mistake them for common salt. The following information comes from the book Meat Through the Microscope written by C.Robert Moulton, Ph.D. and W.Lee Lewis, Ph.D. and published by Institute of Meat Packing, The University of Chicago: Soaking reduced the curing agents in most of the sub-sections (sliced ham-our note) but especially in the butt and face sections. Smoking had little effect on the salt, nitrate and sugar content but the nitrite content was decreased. Baking reduced the percentages of all curing ingredients but the nitrite was so greatly reduced that the highest value found was only 11 parts per million. Table 66 gives the average composition of the five whole hams and shows clearly the effects of soaking, smoking and baking.

Effect of Operations on Composition of Hams

Nitrite Stage Out of cure Soaked Smoked Baked Salt % 4.93 4.60 5.15 4.30 Sugar % 0.79 0.72 0.76 0.63 Nitrate % p.p.m. 0.057 0.048 0.060 0.050 138 115 80 2 65 67 65 56 Water %

To emphasize the importance of these results, and especially of the very great destruction of nitrite by baking, one should remember in contrast that sweet-pickle solutions will contain from 500 to 1000 parts of nitrite per million and that the surface of hams removed from such pickles, especially at the ragged edges of the butt, will most certainly contain over 200 p.p.m. However, after soaking and smoking the average nitrite content is well within the prescribed limits. In the survey summarized above only two out of 10 surface sections showed over 200 p.p.m. of nitrite. In spite of the figures given in the first part of this paragraph, no subsection of surface meat showed more than 11 p.p.m. after baking. By the time meats are consumed, they contain less then 50 parts per million of nitrite. It is said that commercially prepared meats in the USA contain about 10 ppm of nitrite when bought in a supermarket. If we follow USDA recommendations, nitrates/nitrites are perfectly safe.