The Meat Curing Thread

[kantuckid]

My wife's Mamaw's house built in 1924 by her farmer, livestock trader, store and post office husband had a smokehouse built onto the house. It later became my MIL's washroom with a freezer, washer/dryer and a bathroom. Below it was what they called the wash house which was an old time laundry room like in my own childhood. They killed hogs in the fall, smoked lots of hams and bacon and sold down the lane in the old country store still there.
That home and one beside it built for my wife's aunt are now sold as of mid Nov. Some heirs resisted, most did not as nobody wanted to live there. Her Mamaw also made souse at home along with butter and everything you can think of. We made it my meatpacking plant where we called it headcheese and/or souse. There it was sold in old style stoneware mixing bowls full, in chunks wrapped and sliced as lunchmeat.  That plant didn't include some of the "stuff from the hog" that her Mamaw put in her souse! I gotta say I have no appetite for souse.  

[mike_belben]

Thanks for the memories!

[WV Sawmiller]

   Not exactly what you seem to be asking but I corn my backstraps, tenderloins, and briskets off my deer. The recipe calls for Tender quick, mixed pickling spices, brown sugar, ground garlic powder and water and I soak the meat in the solution in the downstairs fridge for 5-7 days then we drain package and freeze them in packages to match our eating habits. It is very good. I put a batch on last night from a young doe that expired suddenly on Saturday. I'll be glad to send you the recipe if you want to try it. Just PM me an e-mail address as I can't attach to a PM.

 I'd like to figure how to make canned corned deer. I think it is a matter of adding the spice to the raw meat then cooking in the canning jars on pressure. If anybody does that and has a good recipe please send it to me.

   Canning meat is easy too. We do deer regularly but would be the same for beef or pork or other meat. I just pack pint canning jars tightly with raw meat, put the lids on and pressure cook it. I think we cook it on 15 lbs pressure for 75 minutes for pints or 90 minutes for quarts then remove and tighten the rings and they seal and the meat is ready to use. Great for BBQ (Just add Sauce and a little onion) or hash (Add to fried diced taters and onion & season with Worchester sauce) or add mushroom soup, heat and serve over rice.

   I may do some half pints next time as it is getting to where a pint is more than we use at one time.

[mike_belben]

Id love to try corning and canning it actually.  Email is my screen name @yahoo.  Thanks howard

[mike_belben]

I forgot to update this.  Out of microbial concern i put plenty of salt on.  I gave everything a quick rinse to get the white crust off then got to thinking wait a minute, i just dehydrated this meat.. Now im adding water back in, thats gonna harbor bacteria so i stopped at a light rinse and towel dried.   Then i smoked it for a few hours over the lowest smolder of hickory nut shells.  shaved it with the cheapest slicer available which sucked..  Its a lincoln outfitter chicom slicer from rural king.  Ive looked for a used real deal unit for years with no luck and i felt that was enough diligence, its time to buy something while i have a pig all apart. 


The sliding table is way to far away from the blade so the low power blade tries to pull the whole piece of meat down and jam it between the table and the wheel face.  I did the best i could and will relocate 2 holes for the slidebar to bring it in closer.  It will still be size limited but i think itll be a good enough tool for thick cut slices which is waaay thinner and faster than i can cut freehand.  It will be useful but not great.


First try was bacon and it didnt look at all like store bought bacon.  It was ham flavor with 10,000 X too much salt. Unbearably salty but i toughed it out like a man of coarse.  I killed this awful creature and im gonna eat it!   ;)


So next attempt to eat shaved miss piggy  ...i decided i need to boil that salt off and get it softened up.  I started simmering pork slices in a pot of water and it started smelling really good so i thought hey, we got the stuff, i will do a stew instead of just ham. 

I added water and a hodgepodge of this and thats for a hearty stew and it was good, it was unique but man.. Mega salt and tremendous hickory.  I cannot believe how salty and potent a small bit of salted meat is. 

I have since learned curing salts use nitrites and nitrates which are pretty bad for you.  I will definitely go way lighter on the salt and way heavier on the wash in the future.  


Whatever oscar meyer is doing to make that bacon its not just salt cure and slice.  You will get something much closer to a pre cut spiral ham by doing pork belly at home yourself. Lot of work but a good experience.

[Mooseherder]

I've had this site book marked for years on my PC but couldn't find it for you while I was in Maine with other devices.  I'm back home now and here it is.  What I think is the most informative Meat, Sausage and Curing information available.

curing means saving or preserving meat (meatsandsausages.com)

[Raider Bill]

I've had this site book marked for years on my PC but couldn't find it for you while I was in Maine with other devices.  I'm back home now and here it is.  What I think is the most informative Meat, Sausage and Curing information available.

curing means saving or preserving meat (meatsandsausages.com)

Thanks for that link! Very informative.