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
Pre curing meat
Re: Pre curing meat
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.
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.
Re: Pre curing meat
Bob
very good contribution for all of us who are rookies greetings thanks
very good contribution for all of us who are rookies greetings thanks
Re: Pre curing meat
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?
Do you mean cured meat cannot be frozen for as long as fresh meat?
Re: Pre curing meat
According to the FDA guidelines No. But they have very conservative "best by" times for frozen foods