I'm going to look REALLY thick but .....

[hmmm sausages]

... I know nothing about curing my own meats but I am very keen to try as I think its a great idea to continue my new found meat making hobbie I have read loads of the threads but would like some clarification on the following points please.

Bacon - To cure bacon, you just need a lump of loin or belly, and come cure, cover meat in cure, leave in a zip-loc bag in fridge for a bit and then its ready? using own flavours with the cure too I take it?

Ham - To cure a piece of ham, do you buy ham to cure or do you cure a piece of pork which turns it into a ham?

Salami - Cure meat, mince and stuff, then dry out and eat?

Please bare with me as I am currently useless at curing, but am getting pretty good at sausages (see "linking" link in techniques)

Any help will be greatly appreciated

Cheers, Rob

[Paul Kribs]

hmmm sausages

I have just finished a bacon making tutorial and it sits on my meagre webspace. It utilises the Organic cure but shows the principle of making bacon. Click the WWW on the bottom of my post an you will find the link in the sausagemaking section.

The ham question is that you buy a piece of pork and then cure it into ham. It all depends what kind of ham you want. Franco sells some ham cures but you can just as well make your own. Use the search facility on this forum to view them.

With regard to salami making. This is a bit more intricate and I am quite new to it. I have done a few succesfully and am currently curing some more. You can also benefit from using the search facility on this forum and reading about it. A good place to start is with Spuddy's Easy Salami Recipe. To get good salami you must adhere to the guidelines regarding temperature and humidity control.

Regards, Paul Kribs

[hmmm sausages]

Cheers Mr Kribs,

You web space is far from meagre, its high quality and has been very useful in my early exploits in the meat world (mainly sausages so far) keep up the good work on it

I am going to order some traditional bacon cure now, this way it will save Franco on postage as I need to get some ox runners anyway for my black puddings
Do you use any extra flavours on your bacon?

Cheers, Rob

[Paul Kribs]

hmmm sausages

The only thing I add to the Organic cure occasionally is some hickory smoke powder, I use it at 3 grms per kilo (I like it smokey).. this equates to about a rounded household teaspoon. I mix it with the cure before applying it. This arrangement suits my requirements for both types of bacon, not over keen on the sweet cure though.

Regards, Paul Kribs

[hmmm sausages]

Just making bacon now, was quite shocked to see it had nipples!! I know its belly but i am so used to processed meat lol

Boning was interesting, defo need a decent knife, do loose flaps of meat make a difference to the bacon?

Any rib suggestions for a tasty snack?

[hmmm sausages]

Just been reading a few other posts on bacon curing, I see treacle is a very popular flavouring, would it hurt my bacon if I take it out the bag tomorrow and give it a bit of treacle??

[Paul Kribs]

hmmm sausages

This marinade recipe is also good for belly pork and chicken. After marinating pat dry and cook on the BBQ. Belly is best sliced thin, about 3/8".

Chinese Style Pork Ribs

Marinade

3 tablespoons of Hoi Sin sauce
3 tablespoons of dark soy sauce
2 teaspoons of salt
1 heaped tablespoon of granulated sugar
1/2 cup of medium sweet white wine
3 bay leaves
1/2 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon of coarsely ground fennel seeds
3 cloves of crushed garlic
1 teaspoon of ground black peppercorns

After sheet boning the ribs, cut between to produce individual ribs. I marinate the mixture on the ribs at least overnight in a tightly sealed plastic bag, but prefer 24 hours. After marinating for 24 hours the whole lot goes into a pan after adding some water, with a lid on and is simmered gently for about 2 hours. If the moisture is evaporating quickly just top up with some water. Mind how you remove the ribs as the meat falls off the bones.

I normally freeze the boned ribs until I have a sizeable batch.

Regards, Paul Kribs

[Heather]

I sometimes cure the ribs taken off the belly for bacon, and then use them in soups (lentil and bacon soup is a favourite).

Also, ribs with soy sauce, sesame oil and honey are delicious.

I do find, though, that I accumulate a large volume of ribs in the freezer as a by-product of bacon-making, but whenever we have friends over for a barbeque the ribs get rolled-out so that gets rid of a few.

I have offered to help a family member with some finger-food for a party - you guessed it, I'll be doing sticky ribs.

[hmmm sausages]

Well, just taken first batch of streaky bacon out of the fridge after curing, tried a little slice, not bad at all! little salty but with a nice egg and some home made black puddings im sure it will be superb!

I think next time I will be using the treacle idea to give it a bit more flavour, or maybe a spot of honey and mustard mmmmm

[Josh]

I tend to use

40 gr salt
25 gr sugar
0.33 gr cure #1

per KG for curing bacon.

It's fairly high on the salt compared to other cures I've seen but no ones complained and it tends to get very good reviews.

I cured some ribs with it though and, I'm guessing because they've got so much surface area to volume, they were a bit on the slaty side.

Haven't built my smoker yet but will do soon and start smoking it.

[Oddley]

Josh do you mean 3.3 gm cure #1 instead of 0.33 gm.

[welsh wizard]

Hi Josh

Do I read you correctly, and you add extra salt to the cure?

Cheers WW

[Wohoki]

You have to add extra salt to Franco's cures (or anyones, for that matter). Franco sell "curing salt" which is used as-is, but the cures #1 and #2 need the salt called for in the recipe. If you're making chorizo, you have to add 0.01% cure #2 and then 2% salt as well.