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The following is the recipe for Maynard Davies Dry Cure in a Bag (taken from and article in the September 2004 issue of Country Smallholding magazine). It is not the full article as I no longer have a scanner and it was quite a lot to type. It seems to have all the relevent info as far as I can tell (at least all the info that was in the article, some things seem a little patchy here and there to me).

BASIC CURING MIX
8lb salt
2oz saltpetre
2lb sugar (use whatever you fancy, different sugar, different taste)Mix this all together well

Use 1�oz of the cure to each pound of meat. As far as curing time, use the inch theory: 7 days for each inch thickness of meat i.e. 21 days for 3 inches of meat. Might need longer, might be shorter, a matter of experience and taste.
Get together the appropriate weight of cure, use half for the first part of the process, rub in well. Put the meat into a good quality plastic bag. Put a layer of mix in the bottom of the bag then place the meat on top of this, tie the bag up tightly, making sure all the air is excluded. Keep the curing temperature around 40/42F.
After about four days a lot of body fluids will have leached out, so undo the bag(s), drain the fluid off, remove and re-salt the meat. DO NOT overdo this, just a light covering, return to the bag and retie.
When the meat has finished it�s curing time, remove it from the bag, wash thoroughly in clean water, put string through one end and hang it up to dry. The temperature should be around 50F, there should be a through current and not in direct sunlight. This should take about one week* to dry off and equalise.
After about a week, put 4oz of olive oil in a saucepan, heat gently, but don�t overheat. Add to this 2oz of good malt vinegar, 4oz of finely ground black pepper corns, remove from the heat and let the mixture infuse and cool. Apply this to the cured meat with a clean paint brush making sure all surfaces are well covered. This keeps flies away and stops mould growth. After about a day, when the meat is dry, wrap tightly in muslin and
tie with string on the outside. This protects the bacon and looks nice when hung up. Back and streaky should be ready in about another week and bigger pieces (e.g. shoulder or hams) will take longer.


Some notes which may help: (not part of the article)

*This seems to be refering to the streaky, but it is not all that clear if other cuts take longer to dry and equalise.

This cure can be used for ham as well as bacon and in Maynard Davies instructions it says to lay the meat for streaky and back rind side down. No instructions regarding this are given for any other cut of meat.

First of all deb, thank you for taking the time to type at least the main part out.

Oddley wrote

Yes you are right it is a bit sketchy. Especially the contradiction below. when Maynard Davis says.

Use 1�oz of the cure to each pound of meat.

What he is saying is weigh the meat out for example 20 lbs then use 1 � ozs. of the cure (8-2-2) for every pound of meat. In this example 20 x 1.5 = 30 ozs. (1 lb 14 oz) of cure

Oddley wrote

He then goes on to say.

remove and re-salt the meat. DO NOT overdo this, just a light covering, return to the bag and retie

The piece of information that is missing here is when he states

Get together the appropriate weight of cure, use half for the first part of the process, rub in well.

The cure required has been divided into two equal parts and takes into account the fact that the exuded liquids will reduce the cure.
Maynard Davies stated

After about four days a lot of body fluids will have leached out, so undo the bag(s), drain the fluid off, remove and re-salt the meat. DO NOT overdo this, just a light covering, return to the bag and retie.

Maynard Davies also wrote

Apply this to the cured meat with a clean paint brush making sure all surfaces are well covered. This keeps flies away and stops mould growth. After about a day, when the meat is dry, wrap tightly in muslin and tie with string on the outside.

You can also use brown paper/kraft paper as shown below to achieve the same purpose. This would then be placed into a clean/dry brown paper bag the neck would be tied and the bag hung up.



I hope that this makes it a little clearer

kind regards

Parson Snows

The way I read it, a 1 inch thick piece of belly would take 3 weeks from start to finish. Sounds a bit OTT to me.

Aris wrote

a 1 inch thick piece of belly would take 3 weeks from start to finish. Sounds a bit OTT to me.

I think your maths are off a tad. For all of the older methods (which the 8-2-2 method is, circa 1949) typically 7 days per inch of thickness was common, even today Morton's; one of the larger companies offering meat cures such as Tender Quick etc.; STILL recommends this figure.

kind regards

Parson Snows

The way I read this, it says:

1) 7 days in cure.

2) 7 days to dry and 'equalise'

3) another week coated with this olive oil mixture and hung to dry outside.

Oddley wrote

I understand what you are saying parson, what I don't understand is If the cure is pre measured at 1 1/2 oz per 1 lb and split in half why would Maynard Davis say.

remove and re-salt the meat. DO NOT overdo this, just a light covering, return to the bag and retie

From what I read into this he is stating that you have made a mix/cure suitable for curing 100 lbs of meat (though deb's input never actually mentions this figure... deb please confirm if possible) you now have a piece of meat of X weight and an amount of cure of Y based on the X weight. As nitrates are dangerous/deadly don't use more cure from what was pre-made and don't mix any more up just because you think that it isn't properly/sufficiently covered. Stick exactly to the figures.

As to the second question, off the top of my head I can't think of any, though I will check my files for you.

kind regards

Parson Snows

Aris wrote

The way I read this, it says:
1) 7 days in cure.

For all of the older methods (which the 8-2-2 method is, typically 7 days per inch of thickness was common, even today Morton's; one of the larger companies offering meat cures such as Tender Quick etc.; STILL recommends this figure. This cure is using saltpetre (potassium nitrate) as opposed to nitrites and will take longer than nitrites to work.

Aris wrote
2) 7 days to dry and 'equalise'

Typically in the past the curing of bacon would have been done with the rind/skin left on (Deb�s actual posting doesn�t mention this, though if possible I ask that she confirm it). As very little cure will actually penetrate through the skin the salt content; which is what the �equalise� in this case is referring to; would take longer than if the rind/skin had been removed. Refer to my sketches below.

Aris wrote
3) another week coated with this olive oil mixture and hung to dry outside.

This is the aging process which was very popular in the past as it allowed the bacon flavour to mature. As I mentioned previously these cures are based on �old-timer� methods in the days; not so long ago; when refrigerators were a luxury and not every household and/or farm had one. Though at this time most houses/farms did have pantries and/or larders with a through flow of air which is where the bacon would have been kept which is why it was treated against insects/flys/pests etc., rather than in the fridge as common today.

Aris wrote
Sounds a bit OTT to me.

As mentioned above this cure is using saltpetre (potassium nitrate) as opposed to nitrites and will take longer than nitrites to work.

The cure mentioned above is referred to in the U.S. as the �classic 8-2-2 mixture�. It was recommended in 1949 by the United States Department of Agriculture for use by farmers (Warner, K.F. Pork on the Farm, Farmers� Bulletin No. 1186) and is suitable for curing 100 lbs of meat.

NOTE:
It should be noted that based on 100 lbs of meat this works out to a nitrate figure of 1 250 ppm which far exceeds the current 300 ppm recommended by the UK government.

Kind regards

Parson Snows

Parson, I have had a look through the article and nowhere does it say how much meat the full recipe of dry cure will actually cure.

As far as the skin on/off it doesn't say at any point to remove it. I put the following note on the bottom of the recipe and as it refers to the rind side down I would take it to mean the skin is left on.

deb wrote:This cure can be used for ham as well as bacon and in Maynard Davies instructions it says to lay the meat for streaky and back rind side down. No instructions regarding this are given for any other cut of meat.

Thanks for the response Deb.. Maybe TobyB can help clear things up as to the quantity of meat as he has a copy of Maynard Davies' book, and as it's such a common cure mix I would guess that it will probably be included in it.

deb wrote

I put the following note on the bottom of the recipe and as it refers to the rind side down I would take it to mean the skin is left on.

Then that accounts for why the equalisation period is given as one week or thereabouts.
Maynard Davies wrote

This should take about one week* to dry off and equalise

kind regards

Parson Snows

Sorry no mention in the book and as we discussed the ref in the book to curing 1000lbs of meat seem to be too high and should probably be references to 100lbs