Pre curing meat

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Leesel
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Pre curing meat

Post by Leesel » Thu Apr 21, 2022 10:03

I have read a lot recently on the board about the precuring of meat. It’s seems to be both beneficial for safety and also members seem to report it gives a better texture to their Salami.
For these reasons I would like to incorporate it into my working practice.

I just have one small question.

A little back information first though.
I usually buy a whole pig, it ends up butchered for various things, roasts, hams, salami, sausage, fermented sausage etc, portioned up vac packed and frozen.

Usually I separate the leg meat and back fat for salami and vac pack into 800/200g portions and freeze so I have it on hand when I have time to make.

So I if were to precure meat before freezing would I.

1 Cure lean meat with salt, cure 2, sugar, dextrose and ascorbate at the correct percentages and the fat separately with just salt.

2 Cure lean meat with salt, cure 2, sugar, dextrose and ascorbate at the correct percentages and the fat separately with salt, cure 2, sugar, dextrose and ascorbate.

3 Cure lean meat with salt, cure 2, sugar, dextrose and ascorbate at the correct percentages and the fat separately with salt, dextrose, sugar.

4 or cure all together and vac seal with salt, cure 2, sugar, dextrose and ascorbate are the correct percentage.

I usually only make a hand full of salami recipes that my family enjoy which are made from a basic recipe of

Salt 2.5%
Cure 2 0.25%
Sugar 0.2%
Dextrose 0.2%
Then any other herbs/spices it requires

That are also packed in 55-62mm beef middles too hence the cure 2.

From what I have read here and else where cure 2 and ascorbate will have no effect on the fat due to the lack of myoglobin so it seem sensible no to cure the fat with them pre freezing but I am unsure about the sugars and dextrose needed for the fermentation stage.
I appreciate this method may seem limiting as different recipes may require slight tweaks but this baseline has worked for me and the recipes I do for a few years.

Thanks in advance for any advice.
Lee
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Bob K
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Re: Pre curing meat

Post by Bob K » Sat Apr 23, 2022 19:16

Lee-
You would be better off just freezing the cubed meat without the salt/cure /spices. Freezing salted cured meat can change the texture and it also decreases the amount of time they should be frozen.
jym571
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Re: Pre curing meat

Post by jym571 » Sun Apr 24, 2022 17:22

Bob


very good contribution for all of us who are rookies greetings thanks
Leesel
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Re: Pre curing meat

Post by Leesel » Sun Apr 24, 2022 20:03

Thanks Bob that’s great info, probably saved me wasting a batch.
Do you mean cured meat cannot be frozen for as long as fresh meat?
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Bob K
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Re: Pre curing meat

Post by Bob K » Mon Apr 25, 2022 12:37

According to the FDA guidelines No. But they have very conservative "best by" times for frozen foods
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