Pork Wet Cure

By Dustin

Ingredients

• For each 100 lbs. of meat use:
• 9-10 lbs. of medium grain salt (use more salt in warm weather)
• 2-2 1/2 lbs, brown sugar or 4 lbs. unsulphured molasses or maple syrup
• 2 ounces saltpeter
• 4-4 1/2 gallons of water

Preparation

Step 1

First note the weight of each piece of pork and add the figures to get the total number of pounds of meat so that you can make up the required amount of brine. Pack the pork into crocks and fill them with water. Then remove the meat, pour the water into a kettle, add the preserving ingredients and mix up the curing brine. Ideally, this brine should be prepared a day ahead to insure its complete dissolution. Then the meat is packed in the crocks—with the largest cuts on the bottom—and covered with the brine.

Our instructions said to top each container with a hardwood cover and weight it down with a stone . . . but we didn't have any such lids so we laid a length of 2 by 4 across the top of every crock, weighted it down and wedged bottles between the beam and the chunks of pork in order to keep the meat submerged. Obviously, such an arrangement needs to be checked frequently since the meat mustn't be allowed to rise out of the brine. It's a good idea to pour the solution off about once a week, take the meat out and repack it in a different position.

Try to keep the crocks cool but not cold because, in spite of the large quantity of salt it contains, this solution will freeze if the temperature drops low enough. I'm not sure how cold it got in our spare room last year when the outside temperature fell to zero and below . . . but our brine froze and we had to move the crocks into the kitchen.

If the brine becomes "ropy"—which means that a scurry forms on its top—empty the crocks, wash them out and wash the meat thoroughly. It's then best to repack the pork in fresh brine but-if this isn't possible—you can salvage the original solution by boiling (but not burning!) it and skimming off the impurities.

The large pieces, like the hams, will require four days in cure for each pound of meat . . . thus a 20-pound ham will take 80 days! (Country living builds patience.)

The smaller pieces, like bacon, need only three days in cure per pound . . . so a five-pound piece of bacon will be ready in 15 days. Make yourself a chart showing when each chunk a meat should come out and post it on the wall somewhere. Sow every piece of pork in clean water for half an hour when it's taken out of the brine and — if by chance a chunk has cured too long — leave it an extra three minutes in the water for each day overtime in cure.

If your pieces of meat are all of different sizes, you may find yourself taking each one out at a different time. We tried to group ours by leaving some pieces in a few days extra and soaking them to compensate for the overcure. This way, we could smoke several pieces of meat at a time.



Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/homesteading-and-livestock/pig-farm-zmaz72ndztak.aspx#ixzz2hp4ZZcym