No-salt curing (No, really. No salt.)

[Oddwookiee]

First off, yes, I know it's probably not a 'cured' product without salt, but I'm a custom shop, and it's an experiment for a customer. I'm dispensing with the terminology and calling it cured for my purposes.

So, I have a fellow who brings me whole boneless pork loins regularly who likes a low-salt cure. Normally I do a brine pump and a curing salt rub on my items. His, I just brine pump and leave the outside alone. It's low, but he asked if I can do a no salt cure. Being an experimenter at heart, I said sure.

My plan is to dissolve some of the pure sodium nitrite I have for curing sausage (6.22%) in water with some brown sugar and 1/4 to 1/3 teaspoon vanilla, then pump the loin and leave it alone for a few days. It'll be smoked with a regular smokehouse load of curing (cold smoked for color for 4-7 hours, depending how the color looks) then cooked in smoke to 140F.

It won't be 100% salt free, obviously, but pretty close. Has anyone tried this? I know the color will be fine, but flavor is going to be my worry.

[crustyo44]

Oddwookie,
You really have me interested and worried as well. A loin, sort of cured with out the proper amount of salt amount, will make it taste like a lollie, especially with vanilla.
Is your customer going to serve it as a sweet with icecream? and just before the port and cigars.
All bullsh-t aside, we might all learn something new and wonderful.
Good Luck,
Jan.

[Oddwookiee]

You've got a point there about the vanilla. I use it in salt cures as a depth to back up the ite of the salt, I may be better leaving it out completely and sticking with the brown sugar.

In fact, I think I will do that. Use this as a start point for it, without getting fancy and see how it goes.

[DiggingDogFarm]

I know a guy who has done exactly what you're proposing to do.
Sometimes it worked, sometimes it ended in spoilage.



~Martin

[vagreys]

Usually, low salt diets are to reduce sodium. You might consider using potassium nitrite for a no-added-sodium approach (vs. sodium nitrite). Good luck with it. I'm dubious about the complete lack of salinity, but I'll be interested to hear how it goes.

[Oddwookiee]

Vagreys: I thought about it and read up on the potassium vs sodium, but in an area where I'm wandering way out of my comfort zone I want to really minimize the variables. I have no experience with the potassium, and have been using sodium nitrite from the same source for years, so I know exactly how it'll act in a given use.

Digging- In light of your comment, I called my customer and told him this is going to have to be treated as a fresh product- used within a couple days, or frozen. It turns out that whenever we finish up a loin for him (he brings us one to cure every month to 6 weeks) he has friends over and makes an occasion of it. Thanks for the comment though, I wasn't sure on that front either.

Experimenting on my own nickel, I can live with. 65% of what I come up with is tasty and sells. The other 35% means the dogs eat like kings for a couple days. Experimenting on the customer's nickel though.....that sound you hear is my knees knocking together!

[Oddwookiee]

I'm happy to report the loin was a definite success. Flavor wasn't quite what you'd expect from a cured item, but not so far off that I'd be hesitant to call it a cured item. In fact, I'm willing to bet my customer who brought me the loin won't be able to tell the difference, it's so slight. I mixed the pure sodium nitrite cure that I use for all the smoked items with water, injected it into the trimmed loin, then put the loin in a big vacuum bag, poured all the excess cure into the bag and sealed it up under vacuum (if the seal bar in a chamber machine is a few inches above the liquid level, you can do it without it sucking the bag dry).

I left it in the cooler for about 10 days, flipping the bag over and massaging it daily, then went ahead and smoked it as normal. It took on a really nice dark color, about the same as a normal smoked loin, but that's more a function of the smoke generator and smokehouse. It was not as sweet as normal, but had a good smoky pork flavor. The only downside (if you can call it that) is the moisture level. It was considerably juicier then normal, I'm sure due to sitting in the liquid. Seeing as how the customer takes the loin home and warms is like a big pork roast, I'm going to call it a win- the higher moisture content will buy him a little cushion in reheating to keep it from drying out.

I think next time I will put 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon vanilla into the nitrite mixture to spoof the sweetness normally present in my salt-brown sugar curing salt. I'd probably cut the water level down if I'm going to do a retail product, but for a custom item I'll leave it up- they pay on the weight in, not the weight out. Other then that, I'm calling this one a success.

[captain wassname]

Nice job.Could you be a bit more specific regarding amounts of nitrite and brine?
Nice to know the method works.

Jim

[DanMcG]

Any chance you weighed it before and after the vacuum brine? just curious as to the amount of liquid pick-up.
Glad it worked out for ya, and your customer.

[Oddwookiee]

CW: .5oz 6.22% sodium nitrite dissolved in 2 quarts of water. Pumped about half into the loin, then dumped the rest (and the stuff that leaked back out) on top.

Dan: nope. But this a pretty regular customer, so I'll make sure to weight the next one when it comes in.

[captain wassname]

many thanks.

Jim