A while back I cured some pork loin into Canadian Bacon. Because of a "miscalculation on thickness" on my part I ended up curing it way too long--about 2.5 weeks total. I then smoked it to 150*. It tastes ok just a little salty. My question is, Is it safe to eat? I did use Dr Blonder's calculator with Prague Powder every time and have since corrected my error and my most recent batch has been the best yet. So is my batch that was cured too long safe to eat?
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Skip, Meathead would normally be the expert to ask here, but he's away so I am checking with Dr Blonder docblonder to get his thoughts for you. Hang tight! -
With dry brine you can't over cure- the total amount of curing salt is fixed when you rub on the dry brine. With a wet brine it is possible to go over. But only in the case of a fast brine which starts with a highly salty brine (like 6%), and where you only brine for a couple of hours. This drives salt into the surface, and after you remove from the brine, that trapped salt does its magic. In a liquid "equilibrium" brine where you normally brine for days, if you use the calculator, you won't go over because the calculator presumes a *minimum* cure time, sets the salt level accordingly. Longer time adds very little salt. So you're fine.Comment
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Thank you docblonder. Once again you and the AR site help me get it right!
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