ANYONE KNOW HOW TO
 

Anyone know how to salt meat to cure it so it well last in summer , as a kid my granpa did so , my dad did , but they past on now an im lost as witch salt you use an the time it take for the meat to cure , i know this well help in a live in hard times that could be coming , as i see no post like this , years go by i know this is how they cure meat for summer , i know of the old timer know how to do this , let us know , im hoping to come to this post with some new thought on things to help us ALL , THANK ALL FOR YOUR THOUGHT ON THIS MICK SILVER

Re: ANYONE KNOW HOW TO
 

There are books around that tell different ways to do this. OTT, I bought the stuff called 'Sugar Cure', it's a mix of salt, sugar and probably other stuff. The bag it come in has directions on it for curing pork. Beef is better soaked in a brine and then jerked or dried - "jerky". About all meats we've processed here at home for one thing or another, we have also canned in 'Mason jars'. Keeps longer than even in a home freezer and is ready to eat in minutes, just heat and serve, just store the jars in a cool dark place.

Re: ANYONE KNOW HOW TO
 

For the dry cure we pack our hams and belly (bacon) in a salt box for 1-2 weeks or longer, "working" the meat every day, (turning, breaking out the hardened salt and repacking). After the salt has sufficiently impregnated the meats, rinse them off and hang in a smokehouse to drain for another two or three days, then "cold" smoke (under 90deg) them for about a week.

We use 3 to 1 salt to sugar ratio, plus whatever spices you like. Coursely ground, non iodized salt is best.
For larger hams, be sure to "break out" the ball joint and pack it well, or it will go through a heat and spoil the entire hindquarter.
Curing times in salt range from 1-2 days per pound for slab bacon and 2-4 days per pound in salt for hams and shoulders, depending on size and thickness.
We smoke with wet hickory, just smoldering, though any "flavored" wood will work.
The meats will still need to be refrigerated or hung in a root cellar (>32deg and <50deg), though I personally wouldn't trust a cellar in this climate for more than a month or so. Humidity is your enemy, more so than temp.
Temps need to be 40deg or lower to properly salt cure meat.

Wet curing in brine is pretty easy too, so long as you maintain temp control (between 36 and 50deg).
We use salt and sugar in about a 2 to 1 ratio, plus spices, with enough of the mixture in the water to float an egg. Dissolve salt/sugar in warm water and infuse spices by tying them in a cheescloth bag and adding to the brine. Again with larger hams, it is critical to break the ball and socket, or you run the risk of spoilage. Soak small cuts of meat for about a week, larger for up to three or four. It's easy enough to cut off a piece, cook and taste to see if it is too salty. The exterior will naturally take up more salt then the center of the meats, so be aware of this. I'll poke the meat with my finger, and when the indention pops back out on its own, and the meat is firm, I take it out. Rinse, wrap and store just like dry-cured.
Overly salted meats can be soaked out or parboiled before cooking to make them more palatable.

We've never done it, but my grandad used to hang meat in a cellar, and he would dip the already cured meats in melted lard before hanging them to give an added layer of protection. Said that's to retard some of the surface mold that forms for awhile, and they could keep cured meat for a few months with no refrigeration.

Canning is a better option for long term storage, but curing and smoking is hard to beat for real flavor.

No warranty on the results, but I hope this helps.

Re: ANYONE KNOW HOW TO
 

Now that's some great info! Thanks from all of us. I'm vegetarian, but I want to learn how to store meats,as I don't think we'll be able to live solely on veggies during the collapse until, I get a homestead and farm land. Also good for a business. Are there nay good books you recommend on the subject.

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I have this one and I'm not too happy with it. I was looking for more recipies and theory. It's still a very good book, just not what I was hoping for.

I'm very interested in this book:

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I'd like to hear more about how this would be accomplished. I have a gratuitous amount of glass quarts with bands and lids and would like to store something more than grains and legumes.

Re: ANYONE KNOW HOW TO
 

I've heard large hams need to be injected with the cure solution. You take a large syringe and infuse the ham through one of the large veins exposed at the hip joint, before submersing it in a container of cure, and leaving it refrigerated for a time. Otherwise they will spoil from the inside out.

Re: ANYONE KNOW HOW TO
 

You're most welcome SS. As I said, no warranty on that info, but we have a hog killin' every year, and that's how we do it, with decent results.

As for books, though I'm sure there are plenty out there, this process is one I learned from my grandfather, and it works well for this area and climate. I would recommed the Foxfire series, for butchering and preserving meats, among many other things, and I know the series (12 books?) can be found easily on Amazon.

For SLV, we can pork, chicken, beef, and wild game by boiling the boned or deboned pieces to about 2/3 done, filling mason jars with the meat to about halfway, adding one tsp salt per quart jar, and filling to about 1/2 inch of the rim with the hot broth. Wipe the rim carefully, apply lid and band and let cool. Make sure the lid "pops" down when cooled, or the jar is not properly sealed.
Ground meat, chopped meat, or sausage can be done the same way, save that you must lightly brown the meats instead of boiling. We do this with meat alone, and also make soups, stews, and chilis' using the same methods, with good success.

Also, you may want to skim off excessively fatty meats before pouring the stock into the jars. Though I've only tried it as a test, we've also had success "waxing" a filled jar, rather than using a lid and band. The melted wax will float on the canned liquid, and as the liquid cools, will harden and form an airtight barrier, sealing the jar as effectively as a lid/band combo. Block canning wax can be reused many times over, and may be an item worthy of stocking if/when manufactured lids become scarce.

There's also a pressure canning method, but we haven't ever done this.

Again, no warranty, but we've had success using these methods.
Hope this info helps.

Re: ANYONE KNOW HOW TO
 

SilverSalmon said:
Do you eat fish? Because fish can be cured, smoked, and dried as well. Your namesake is a very good candidate for it. Also, look up Aquaponics as a possible means of having fresh fish available at all times. Sometimes this is referred to as "Fish in a barrel". Cheese are also good choices for animal proteins that will store well.

Re: ANYONE KNOW HOW TO
 

The Ball Blue Book of Preserving has instructions, which I used for pressure canning ground beef (although you can use the same instructions for lamb, pork or veal.) Basically, you sear the meat in a skillet, add boiling water, broth or tomato juice (1 to 1 1/2 cups for each quart of meat) and salt (1/2 tsp per pint or 1 tsp per quart.) Pack in jars leaving 1 inch of headspace. Remove air bubbles. Process pints 1 hr and 15 min and quarts 1 hr and 30 min at 10 pounds pressure.

Personally, I was a little paranoid about fat, which I drained off completely. You could easily "wash" the browned meat in a strainer with boiling water; but I found that adequate draining of the fat worked fine for me (left maybe 1/8 inch of fat at the top of each canned pint when I was done, which can easily be removed when you open the jar) and I didn't feel that I had washed all the flavor down the drain.

The results are still good 2 years later in spaghetti sauces, sloppy joes, casseroles, etc. I pull a pint off the shelf from time-to-time. Especially if you don't tell anyone in the family that you've used it, no one is the wiser. I have some picky eaters who are opposed to home-canned foods on principle alone, apparently. It's amazing how conditioned people are to expect their food to come in familiar packaging.

Re: ANYONE KNOW HOW TO
 

Good suggestion