Dry-curing meat, step by step
Interactive lesson: salt, cold and the scales — preparing the meat, equilibrium curing, days by thickness, the salting tub, pastrma and poultry.
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The whole lesson as text
1. The meat before salting
Dry-curing is always the same: cold meat, enough salt, time and air.
- Trichinella test — Pork from your own pigs, wild boar and bear are not salted until a negative test has come back. Until then the meat stays cold and labelled. In the US and Canada ask your state or provincial agency or Extension office.
- Cold to the bone — Below 4 °C (39 °F) in the centre, roughly 24 hours after slaughter in the cold.
- Trimming — Remove bloody parts, bruises, places where the knife went in and thin flaps. Cut ribs into pieces of 3–4 ribs; leave the skin on the hock.
- Weigh and label — Weigh every piece and mark it with a number or a tag on a string. Write the weight in the log.
Why: A warm piece salted “while it's still soft” spoils from the inside, along the bone. Salt, smoke and drying don't kill Trichinella, and without the starting weight you can't work out either the salt or the loss.
- Meat of unknown origin, with no inspection mark or test, is not cured for eating without cooking.
- If you can't keep the meat at 2–5 °C (36–41 °F), choose brining in the fridge or freezing instead.
2. Equilibrium curing
The salt is measured exactly for the weight of the meat: the meat takes it all up, so it can't end up too salty.
- Weigh the mix — Per kg of meat: 13 g of nitrite curing salt and 15 g of plain non-iodised salt (or 1.3 g of Cure #1 and 27 g of plain salt), 2–5 g of sugar or dextrose and spices: pepper 2–4 g, garlic 3–5 g, bay.
- Rub in on every side — Rub the mix into every side, into cracks, along the bone and into the skin.
- Seal it in a bag — Tip what's left of the mix into the bag. Seal a zip-lock or vacuum bag, or pack tightly into a container and cover.
- Cold, and turn it — Leave at 2–5 °C and turn the bag every day so the liquid washes over every side. Put the thermometer in the container with the bags, not on the wall.
Why: Per 1 kg of meat, 13 g of nitrite curing salt (0.6 %) and 15 g of plain salt give 80 mg of nitrite per kg. With Cure #1 (6.25 %) it's 1.3 g plus 27 g of plain salt. The nitrite is exactly what's needed, and the salt works its way to the centre while the meat stays cold.
- Fresh garlic in the bag adds moisture; crush it or use dried.
- A fridge that shows 4 °C on the door can be 8 °C on the top shelf and 1 °C at the back.
3. Days and equalising · Locked
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4. Tub salting · Locked
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5. Pastrma · Locked
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6. Poultry and keeping · Locked
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