First ham ever, please help!

[greenhome]

Hi, my curing salt (#1) has just arrived and now I'd like to cure a pork loin in brine.

The recipe I was thinking of using says 4 days, but yours (the one that's based on Oddleys original 2:1 cure -- which I will use) says 15 days (for a 3-lb piece).

1. Would 4 days be enough for such a small piece?

2. And could you give me directions for boiling it?

3. What is the difference between UK cure and US cure?

Thank you (and thanks for providing this forum)!

Gina

[NCPaul]

1. No
2. The brine or the ham? For the brine, boil it without the curing salt and add it when cooled. I wouldn't boil the ham.
3. US cure is 6.25 % sodium nitrite, the UK cure is slightly less. If you add your location to your profile it will be easier for people to reply.

Welcome to the forum.

[greenhome]

So you mean I really have to cure it for two weeks?

For the boiling, I meant for cooking the loin after curing it. Maybe not boiling, but simmering?

Thanks again!

[NCPaul]

Yes. We're very patient people. I do these projects on the weekends so that's not too hard. The ham will benefit from a few days out of the brine (but in the fridge) for the salt to equalize through the meat. If you like, you can start this Saturday, cure for 10-11 days, allow to rest for a couple of days, then simmer or braise the ham (I like to cook them while smoking them or cold smoke then bake them). How does that sound?

[DiggingDogFarm]

I combination cure loins and cottage ham in 4 days.
I calculate the appropriate amount of canning/pickling salt, sugar and cure #1 (156 ppm) for a given piece of meat.
I take half of the curing mix and combine that with only enough water to make it injectable...I inject the ice cold solution with an impeccably clean syringe and needle. I them coat the piece of meat with the remaining dry rub. Cure in a fridge for 3-4 days turning a couple times a day.

They can be finished in different ways.
Most recently I cold smoked one and then cooked it by steaming it in the oven (in a covered steamer pan) at 165 degrees F to safe temperature, the steaming avoids the leaching of flavor that sometimes comes with poaching in water.
Finally the loin was chilled and then sliced for use on sandwiches.

[NCPaul]

DiggingDogFarm is exactly right in using a combination curing. Just so you understand the difference between the recipe you've seen for a curing time of 4 days and Oddley's 2:1 cure - commercial processors use a very concentrated brine solution so that they can cure meat as fast as possible. The uptake of the curing salts is quite fast in the first few days of curing and commercial processors have well defined times, temperatures and well defined ratios of curing salts to water to meat. Not all of these scale down or are scaled to the home size properly. All of the conditions must be met to assure safe curing of the meat. Oddley's system of 2:1 takes longer but is far less likely to over or undershoot the target; I like this. DDF's cooking method should work great.

[greenhome]

Thank you so much for the technical information.

Two weeks it is, then. Or eleven days and a few days' rest in the fridge.

I'm sure it will be worth the wait!

I'll post the results in my blog.

Gina

[wnkt]

What I do is when I think its done curing, I rinse all the cure and spices off and cut a piece off to fry up for quality control

if it is really salty I soak it in clean water for a while (several hours at least , or overnight) to get rid of the excess salt, changing the water at least once.

[greenhome]

Great suggestion, wnkt -- I will do that.

I made the brine this morning and put the loin in a ziploc bag. By squeezing out all the air, the meat is completely submerged and there's no need for a weight.

I plan to turn it once a day... is that enough?

Thanks again.

[wnkt]

I am not an expert by any means, but the idea of turning it is so the cure can contact all the meat, not just one side. once a day should be fine just so it gets submerged.

[captain wassname]

wnkt
your cure should be designed so that a given amount of salt is delivering a predetermined amount of nitrite (or nitrate if required}
If you end up with too much salt then you are ending up with too much nitrite or nitrate.

Jim

[greenhome]

Well, it ended up a little too salty but I had followed the instructions here religiously, with respect to the amount of salt for the weight of the piece. I even used the calculator provided.

Maybe it's a matter of taste... as a chef I do have very sensitive tastebuds. Plus the idea here is to get a mild ham, like jambon de paris or jambon cuit.

[BriCan]

Well, it ended up a little too salty but I had followed the instructions here religiously, with respect to the amount of salt for the weight of the piece. I even used the calculator provided.

I will step lightly here as I have come across the too much salt thing as well; I cut back on the salt but made sure that the cure was right (as per ppm) as for days in cure – most know my stand on that but defiantly not fifteen. One way to combat the ‘high’ salt is to soak for four hours in cold water.

Maybe it's a matter of taste... as a chef I do have very sensitive tastebuds. Plus the idea here is to get a mild ham, like jambon de paris or jambon cuit.

I am running a few test as my pork loins come out mild (salt) and tasty

[greenhome]

I soaked it about 8 hours in not a lot of water (just enough to cover) and it's still a little salty, so now I'm wondering: if I boil (simmer) it in water, won't the water remove the extra salt?

Any suggestions/recipes for cooking this lovely loin?

Thanks!

Gina

[wnkt]

wnkt
your cure should be designed so that a given amount of salt is delivering a predetermined amount of nitrite (or nitrate if required}
If you end up with too much salt then you are ending up with too much nitrite or nitrate.

Jim

right now I am only using cure for ham or corned beef, not making anything that is dried for long periods like salami or the like....and what I make doesnt last long
When I add salt, sugar and spices I just eyeball it but I do add the right amount of cure#1 for the size of meat I am curing.
Can the different amount of salt effect the amount of cure that is absorbed?