my first smoked pork loin. Looks great. But SOOOOO salty. An

ursula · Post by **ursula** » Fri Aug 03, 2012 09:41

Hi all. Have flicked through previous posts but found little to address my problem. I brine cured a beautiful pork loin (my first) for 8 days in 60% wet brine. Soaked and washed for two hours. Cold smoked for 4 days, then cooked to IT of 152 degrees.
It looked fantastic.
But oh so salty.
I tried poaching it in water to remove the salt, but would like to know if I could prevent this in future, either by using a less salty brine/ curing shorter or any other way you more experienced guys could suggest.
It'll still be a fantastic addition to a bean soup, or cooked in sauerkraut, but I'm not into salty meat!

Post by **Butterbean** » Fri Aug 03, 2012 14:23

Keep the brine the same next time but after 3 days take a test slice off the loin and see if its cured through. If it has, rinse the piece of meat and cook it in the pan and see what it tastes like. If it hasn't cured through, just leave it another day and repeat the test. If the first test has the saltiness where you want it and it still hasn't cured through remove from brine and place in a plastic bag and leave in the fridge for a day or so.

If you are having trouble with it not curing through, take a bit of the brine and dilute with about 30% sterile water and inject the center portion to speed the cure of the center portion. (a 40% brine is optimal for the injection)

crustyo44 · Post by **crustyo44** » Fri Aug 03, 2012 19:54

Hi Ursula,
Your problem is well known by many curers/smokers. Now I always inject a little brine/cure mix into the thicker part to speed things up and I still soak in water before smoking.
Just keep up the experimenting cycle.
Butterbeans advise is 100%.
Regards,
Jan.

ursula · Post by **ursula** » Wed Aug 08, 2012 05:27

Thanks for your advice. I rebrined at a lower salinity for the last days of curing, and also found soaking the smoked meats has continued to reduce the saltiness of the pieces for which your advice was too late.
Next time will shorten curing time but use the same brine. So much to learn!

Chuckwagon · Post by **Chuckwagon** » Wed Aug 08, 2012 08:42

Hi Ursula,
Crusty and Butterbean are both "old hands" at this craft and you can depend upon their wisdom. You wrote:

So much to learn!

Don't be afraid to ask any of these ol' timers around here to help you learn. I can think of a bunch of them who would jump at the chance to help you with any question. The combined amount of knowledge on this forum just astounds me.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon