Definitive Book of Curing

[PepperPig]

In the opinion of members which is considered the best book on curing bacon?

[captain wassname]

I dont know of a book devoted solely to bacon curing.I doubt wether you could find in a book better information than you could get on this site.

There are a limited ways of curing bacon
There is as you know Immersion curing and if you are intending to go this route as far as I am concerned the only way to go is an equilibrium cure.

The most common means of bacon curing is to dry cure which involves rubbing your chosen joint with the cure and then wrapping either in a vac pac or in the case of the financially challenged(most of us) wrap in cling film.
The easiest way to dry cure is to buy a ready prepared mix fron somewhere such as this site.It is easily possible to create your own cures using salt petre and/or cure#1.

Another alternative if you want a "wet" cure is to inject and wrap or part inject and then dry rub.
None of these methods are as complex as at first seems.

If you decide to go down any particular route using any particular curing saltd(cure no 1 or salt petre) if you post Im shure that you will get opinions to help you decide witch is prefered.

Jim

[PepperPig]

Hi Jim,
Thanks for your response. I already do dry curing which I am quite comfortable with. I just wondered if there was a definitive book as the subtleties of balancing time/temp/maturing and cure ingredients vary from person to person, whether from this site or from other websites and books!

I think am in agreement with you on Immersion cures. I have tried to take on board Wheels' comments but for some reason reading the USDA manual, equilibrium curing is very simple in my mind, but given that Phil suggests 10-15% salt the product would be inedible if cured to equilibrium, or perhaps I have got this wrong!?

I was planning to do a long term immersion cured ham for christmas, but as yet I'm undecided as to how I shall approach this.


Colin

[wheels]

I don't know of any books specific to just bacon curing.

For curing/sausage making I know I wouldn't be without Rytek Kutak's 'Sausage Making and Meat Curing' (even with its US ingredients that we can't get here), and Ruhlman and Polcyn's 'Charcuterie' (even with its inaccuracies).

As to you subsequent discusion, I dry cure bacon (inc. collar) and injection cure hams. I have nothing against immersion brine curing to equilibrium - it's just a little more difficult to do with accuracy if you're using smaller pieces of meat.

What I can't be bothered with are cures which are so time critical that a day or so too long makes the meat unpalatable.

Oh, and for a good read and a few recipes, Maynard Davies' two autobiographical books.

Phil

[captain wassname]

Hi Colin.I think that what Phil said was that in an immersion cure the brine concertration should be between 10-15 % .I couldnt see where he said that this would be inedible.
If you were to use Oddleys cure you would end up with just below 3%salt (depending on the sugar content)

US guidlines reccomend that you should use a brine concentrate of at least 10% hence in Oddleys cure you should use 1of brine to two of meat as the best practical way of curing to equilibrium.
In the event that you needed a lower level of salt I would personally go for a pump and rub cure.
Hope this makes sense.

Jim

[captain wassname]

Phil and I seem to have crossed.

Jim

[PepperPig]

Hi Guys,

I shall take a look at the books you mentioned Phil, Maynard's books I already have and I have his new book on preorder which I await with baited breath!!

Jim, Sorry if I was unclear in my comments. Phil stated that 10-15% would be needed to protect the meat. I stated that at equilibrium this would be inedible. If 10% concentration using Oddleys 2-1 cure gives 3%? Any higher concentration would therefore require higher than 2-1 meat to brine ratios to maintain edible salt levels which makes covering the meat very difficult.

My signature below says a lot about me

[wheels]

Hence why I find them a pain for smaller pieces of meat!

[PepperPig]

Back to the original question which I guess I shall now answer myself. Just got home from driving London-Scotland with my toddlers and absolutely knackered. But, what do I see on the floor before me!!... A brown package from amazon which can mean only one thing! "Manual of a traditional bacon curer" by Maynard Davies.

I wish I wasn't so tired or I would read for hours. A quick flick through indicates that this will provide many answers for me and possibly many of you!! Although I'm sure it will raise just as many new questions!

I'll let you know if I become an overnight expert!!



Colin

[vagreys]

Cool! It hasn't been released yet, by Amazon US. It will be in a couple of weeks. Pricing is $41, here.

[deeps-23]

got my new maynard book yesterday first look it seems an excellent book