www.sausagemaking.org

Hi all, what a brilliant site, wish I'd found it and you years ago!
Anyway My first of many questions;
I have been given a brine recipe by my local butcher, who uses it all the time but it seems to go against any brine recipes I have found on this site.

She has given me 500g of curing salt that contains salt petre, add this to a gallon of water, 200g of brown sugar, pickling spices and 3.5kg boned out pork leg (the size I had already, not her suggestion), mix together, pop the pork in the brine, leave for at least 10 days in the fridge, then cook. Does this sound safe/right?
I'm new to this (obviously) and would appreciate any suggestions.

G'day
Just calculated out your recipe the salt seems a little high to me but other than that the recipe and method seems sound. (Not sure about this curing salt you may have to use at instructed levels to get the amount of cure right)
If I were you before cooking I would cook a small piece in the microwave taste it if it is not to salty, then smoke and cook. If it is to salty I would soak in water for a couple of hours then try again.
Good luck
Damo

G'day Damo, thanks for the reply, will do as suggested. I was a bit worried that I would poison everyone with the stuff in the cure at 500gms.

Steve

oggi! oggi! oggi! oy! oy! oy!

It depends on the % of active cure (sodium nitrite or saltpetre etc) in the 500gm curing salt. Without knowing that, it's not possible to say whether it's definitely safe or not.

Damo's assumption, that if the salt's correct then the curing salt will also be, is a pretty safe one though with most commercial cures.

Phil