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Dry cure calculator?

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    Dry cure calculator?

    I hate messing with wet cures and occasionally I can’t remove it after a set amount of time.

    I’ve used the serious eats method and it’s much easier, but I don’t know how to scale it.



    also it seems like if you have the correct amount of Prague #1 and salt, then you only need to worry about minimum time, avoiding the problem of a wet brine over-curing.

    is there a calculator (by weight for amounts and by thickness for time) to do this? I haven’t been able to find one.
    thanks

    #2
    Meathead does not recommend dry curing. There are a lot of curing recipes out there, many of them dry curing. There are increased risks with dry curing as Meathead explains in his article The Science of Curing Meats Safely. We choose wet curing because it is safer for our readers.

    As we tell people on the free side of the site, we can't comment on curing recipes that come from other websites. We don't feel that most take into account the risks that are involved. (Serious Eats does not suggest how to scale the recipe, nor do they offer a calculator) Please know, I am not attempting to tell you what to do in your own kitchen, but we do want you to know where Amazingribs.com stands on dry curing. This is the main reason why we do not have a dry curing calculator.

    Comment


    • Polarbear777
      Polarbear777 commented
      Editing a comment
      Not referring to that method.

      The serious eats recipe is vacuum sealed and refrigerated the entire time. I shouldn’t have called it dry cure. Maybe it should be called vacuum cure.

      Seems like it avoids the issue of over nitrating something, since, as in a dry brine, you use the amount required in the meat and then it all works its way in.

    #3
    That recipe above is very specific to a weight and that’s it.

    There a so many ways that is very unspecific. They don’t say how thick only 5lbs. "Evenly and sprinkle" are a contradiction.

    I would read that article above. The wet brine is a piece of cake, especially for 5lbs

    Comment


    • Polarbear777
      Polarbear777 commented
      Editing a comment
      Seems like thickness would only matter for minimum absorption time, not the amount of the salts, since there is no water solution and the salt amount is all expected to get into the meat (so it’s based on the final meat concentration needed).

    #4
    Done lots of wet cures.

    My interpretation of the SE one is that all the prescribed salts go in the vacuum bag and are held against the surface. Then allowed enough time to cure in the fridge. Avoids over nitrating because you are using the amount for the meat, not the water so it can’t over absorb too much.

    Comment


      #5
      Of course this isn’t really about a true "dry cure" but I can’t change the thread title to " vacuum cure" or whatever this should be called.

      Comment


      • Steve B
        Steve B commented
        Editing a comment
        Sure you can change it. Just ask one of the moderators to do it.

      #6
      Found my answer, volume measurement though because if the small amount.

      "If you input "0" liquid brine, the calculator spits out the amount of curing salt required to dry brine. At 150ppm, this is 2 TBS of Prague Powder #1 for 25 lbs of meat. You can also select a nitrite level up to 200 ppm, and no lower than the 25 ppm level to color and flavor. (Note different guidelines apply to dry curing ground meats, for shelf-stable deli meats, etc.)"

      invention, future, greg blonder,cBBQ, food science, genuineideas, toys, genes, darwin, growth of internet, venture capital, deep time

      Comment


        #7
        We did tons of those in culinary school and the differences in product were radical.

        Some were really good though. I am seriously not a fan of vac sealing them. I just won’t do it.

        As far as scaling that recipe it’s beyond me.

        Comment


        • Troutman
          Troutman commented
          Editing a comment
          Wow Homes impressive response

        • HouseHomey
          HouseHomey commented
          Editing a comment
          Oh Troutman You a funny guy aintcha?

        #8
        Originally posted by HouseHomey View Post
        We did tons of those in culinary school and the differences in product were radical.

        Some were really good though. I am seriously not a fan of vac sealing them. I just won’t do it.

        As far as scaling that recipe it’s beyond me.
        What’s the reason for not vacuum sealing?

        Comment


        • HouseHomey
          HouseHomey commented
          Editing a comment
          There was no consistency as I mentioned.

        #9
        I would definitely trust seriouseats and Greg Blonder's genuineideas!

        Comment


          #10
          My understanding of the amazing ribs recommended max wet cure time is not about the meat absorbing too much nitrite, it’s about not soaking meat in liquid for much longer than necessary just to be safe. I thought the minimum time was for the nitrite level in the meat to reach equilibrium with the nitrite level in the wet curing solution. I could certainly be wrong about this.

          Comment


          • Polarbear777
            Polarbear777 commented
            Editing a comment
            If it is intended to reach stasis, then the water solution is probably more reliable, though I’ve done a bunch with this method and got reliable results.

          #11
          Not to speak out of turn, but I'd be wary of the recipe you linked. It says to use 10 grams of pink salt (Prague Powder #1) per 2.25 Kg meat.
          Since PP#1 is 1/16 sodium nitrite, that's 0.625 grams sodium nitrite per 2.25 Kg meat = 277 parts per million (ppm) sodium nitrite. In the US, the limit for sodium nitrite is 200ppm. The recipe then says to use 7.5 grams saltpeter (sodium nitrate) per 2.25 Kg meat. That's 3333ppm sodium nitrate. Without looking it up, I don't know what the sodium nitrate limit is, but I doubt its that high.

          The amount of salt is about 1.3% of meat weight which is in the reasonable range. All the other spices are optional flavoring ingredients.

          Dr. Blonder provides a recipe for dry cured corned beef (pastrami) here: https://genuineideas.com/ArticlesIndex/pastrami.html He recommends 140 ppm sodium nitrite. In his recipe, that comes out about 2.25 grams PP#1 per Kg meat and 0.32% salt. For my taste, that amount of salt is not enough, but its a matter of personal taste as salt is pretty much just a flavoring ingredient in corned beef or pastrami.

          The quantity of PP#1 required for a given amount of meat can be calculated as (ppm desired)*16*(Kg meat)/1000.

          If I'm full of it on this, hopefully somebody like docblonder will pipe up and straighten me out.

          PS . . . If you're doing a cure in preparation for an aged product like bresaola or coppa, salt is much more important and should be at least about 2%.

          Comment


          • Polarbear777
            Polarbear777 commented
            Editing a comment
            I think you are right, seems Like about 2X too much.

          • docblonder
            docblonder commented
            Editing a comment
            Aged products really need to use Prague Salt #2. The sodium nitrite in Prague Salt #1 is pretty much used up after a few days- its main purpose is to quickly kill surface bacteria, and you either eat or freeze the meat before it can become re-contaminated. For long, air cured meats the nitrate in PS#1 is converted by safe bacteria into nitrite, so it continues to kill over months. This is long enough for the moisture levels to drop and salt levels to rise to provide long term protection.

          • docblonder
            docblonder commented
            Editing a comment
            I didn't include PS#2 in the calculator because aged meats and sausages are an adventure outside the Amazing Ribs realm. Safe handling goes way beyond brining.

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