I've got a HOP that I started curing in early December with plans to smoke the week after Christmas. With the brutal cold (-teens and 20s C here) here for the past 2 weeks I didn't venture outside and fire the smoker up.
If the HOP is still refridge in the cure bag (vacuum sealed) will it be OK next week when temps warm up to where salt water doesn't freeze?
Yup! Cured is cured! You can undercure, but pretty hard to "over-cure". You may want to give it a good desalinating soak for an hour before smoking but otherwise you're good to go! Enjoy!
Once the level of salts in the meat are the same as the level of salts in the brine, no more exchange will occur. Since the meat is cured, you should be OK. I see corned beef in brine at the grocery all the time, and no telling how long it has been there.
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It's what I figured. Equilibrium is equilibrium ( I do have some chemistry background). Once things warm up I'll slice off a bit to cook and taste and rinse/soak as needed.
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