Let's talk about curing.I love putting things in brine for a few days to bring out that flavour and make it tender. I love when you pull the meat apart and there's that rosy texture inside.Right now, I have 350g of pork neck in a weak brine (<2.5%) with mint, rosemary and garlic.I was thinking of using it in a few days for a potato, cabbage and leek soup/stew, overall roughly 5 pounds, so the meat would not be the main star, but I'd also use some of the brine for the liquid. I'll probably brown the meat in the pot for a good while before the soup gets made. What do you like to cure? Do you think there's any better recipe for this kind of meat cured? Maybe apples with cabbage?
>>22280595>pork neck in a weak brine (<2.5%) with mint, rosemaryShit cut and shit choice of spices. Waste of a thread.
>>22280595Sure brining food is great, but theoretically anything besides salt and acid is too large to penetrate into the food unless cut to slivers. Better off adding the herbs and spices when cooking.
>>22280595>so the meat would not be the main starWhat the hell is the point then?
>>22280662Hey man. How about a little positivity. Maybe you ought take that attitude of yours back to r.eddit
>>22280595What's the difference between curing and brining? I thought curing was more a way of preservation so the meat is technically edible despite not being cooked traditionally, like cold smoke salmon or salt pork? Maybe I'm way off >>22280742America test kitchen just did a short about this, the chunks are fine they'll absorb enough as long as anon used some oil too. The top part of skin will have that flavor none the less and I doubt most palates will be able to tell it's not all the way through the meat.
>>22280662Any cut can be made good if you cook it right. Cured pork knuckle roasted on bone with skin is one of my favourites, a Bavarian classic. If you can't make a cut good, you suck at cooking and probably only make medium rare steaks and thinks thats the peak of cookery. Curing is especially nice with fatty cuts for low&slow because it helps break down long connective tissue even further.>>22280742>anything besides salt and acidThe curing salt is what makes the difference. The herbs are there to dissolve some flavour in the water that I'll use alongside the broth for the stew. It's like a salty marinade. You can also dry cure for more effect, drizzle some extra oil on there then.>>22280791I'll be honest, the difference is lost on me. Some people say curing is using dry salt, brining uses a saltwater solution. Some people say curing uses low concentrations while brining uses a saturated brine that makes it necessary to rinse the meat before cooking. Some people say curing uses curing salt while brining uses normal table salt.I like using curing salt with a thin solution (salt equal to 2-3% of the combined weight of water and meat). Dry curing can be used for when you want to dry, roast or smoke the meat. You either need to keep it in the dry salt for real long or replace the salt regularly or slice it all really thin. Using a watery solution allows it to be more relaxed. I once made stew meat for a camping trip by salting beef roulades and drying them in my oven.If you use normal table salt, be aware that you need fatless cuts (salted fat can still go rancid) and that the meat will take on a grey colour rather than the pleasant pink.
did this about 3.5 years ago. it was a mix of venison & home-raised guinea hog. we still have a guinea ham hanging in the kitchen.shelf stable basically indefinitely. the "family ham" is heirloom status at this point. maybe the nephews will inherit it... unless SHTF then its going in stew, beans and greens. the rest of the cure was amazing.
>>22280595Last week I started a jar of fermented garlic in honey, dunno if that counts
>>22281149Impressive setup
>>22280662There are no shit cuts, only shit cooks
>>22280595Are you using nitrates?
>>22281506>he isn't cancermaxxingNGMI
>>22280662pork neck, also known as pork shoulder is absolutely not a shit cut. what are you talking about retard? do you just like using this board as your toilet and taking a shit in every thread?
>>22281506Nitrites, curing salts, so yes.Nitrates are what goes into gunpowder.Big difference.You can use normal table salt, but that turns the meat gray and fat still goes rancid, so you better buy some proper curing salt.
>>22281149found a photo of the finished products.
>>22280595I've only ever made gravlax and I haven't done it enough times to perfect the outcome but it's definitely my preferred method of preparing big slabs of salmon.
>>22280791wet curing involves prague powder/quick cure #1. you can also use things like celery juice for worse results, haven't played with that.basically it inhibits a bunch of different bacterias from forming like botulism. The cured meat turns red and has a distinct flavor that just brining can't replicate. Just calculate the amount of cure needed in ppm(between 125-200ppm) for your given meat weight and water volume.Curing Salt #2 is for dry curing and hanging meats, different animal entirely.I started wet curing pork because corned beef is expensive, you can cure a whole shoulder for far cheaper and you control almost everything about it.
>>22281723sounds amazing to make yourself. I love smoked and cured salmon cuts.I gotta try grilling salmon on the board one of these days.>>22281720>>22281149Goals, absolutely awesome.I guess if you have separate containers for fire and meat that its coldsmoking, yes?
