# Salt Curing?



## rubicon_in_ga (Oct 2, 2010)

In the history books I read in elementary and middleschool (about 20 years ago...lol) I learned that without refridgeration, access to year round ice, and especially in the cases of long voyages across the oceans by sailing ships....  meat, especially pork, beef, and fish, was often salt cured and air dried to remove moisture and prevent spoilage for longer storage.  

Does anybody know the proper procedure for salt curing meat like this?  I'd like to try it, I just don't know how much salt to use, how long to hang/dry the meat, how to properly use/eat the meat after it's been salted (I assume you'd have to boil the meat to remove some of the salt?) and if there are any meats that specifically don't work well with salt curing (deer? squirrel? turkey, chicken, or other poultry?).  If you could point me in the direction of a website with good directions that would be great, or even just some general advice to get started and experiment with.  

Thanks!

Jeremy


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## RUTTNBUCK (Oct 4, 2010)

Here is a good resource to get the supplies you need!!

http://www.alliedkenco.com/catalog/index.php


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## rubicon_in_ga (Oct 4, 2010)

I finally got a chance to do some serious digging on the net, and found quite alot about modern 'dry curing' (salt and sugar cures are the most common, ie "country ham" or "city ham"), and turns out Morton Salt has several types of premade cure mixes that you can order online if you can't find in store, and also a booklet all about curing.  I would love to find out more about historic salt curing, storage, and use, like in the pioneer days, but I haven't found much useable info on the subject yet.


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## NCHillbilly (Oct 4, 2010)

We used to cure pork in salt when I was growing up-we had a big box of salt in the smokehouse and just buried the hams and shoulders in the salt. We eventually smoked it, but that was more for taste than preservation-it would keep fine with just the salt cure after it built up a rind. We usually soaked the sliced ham in water overnight to get some of the salt out before cooking it.


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## Vernon Holt (Oct 4, 2010)

I grew up on a GA farm in the 30's and 40's when "hog killing and curing" was essential to the well being of farm families.

The killin', cleaning, and butchering was reserved for a morning of hard frost, usually by mid-November.

The hams, shoulders, and "middlings" were reserved for dry salt curing.  The ribs, loins, brains, backbones, and "chittlins" were utilized while fresh.  The head, the feet, the liver, and "lights" (the lungs) were processed into "souce meat", liver pudding, pickled pig feet, sausage, and lard.

The Salt Curing:  Most families had a salt box with a cover.  My family's box was about the size of an adult burial casket, indicating that it would hold two or three large hogs.

Plain salt, (non-iodized) is used as the curing agent.  It is often referred to as pickling salt, sold in 25 lb. bags.

A two inch layer of salt is spread evenly over the bottom of the box.  The larger pieces (hams and shoulders) are rubbed thoroughly with salt until completely covered with a thin layer of salt.  The heavy pieces are then placed in the bottom of the box, taking care that they are placed closely to each other.  As a new layer is completed, loose salt is placed in all of the spaces between pieces of meat.  Caution: The individual pieces are always placed skin side down.

As the layer is complete, add another 2 inch layer of salt then repeat the process until all of the heavy pieces are packed in salt.

The thinner pieces of meat (the streak O lean & fatback) earlier called "middlings", are then rubbed in salt and placed on top of the hams and shoulders.  The reason for placing the thinner pieces on top is simple, it takes less time to cure.   After 3 weeks the middlings can be taken out of the salt then washed in fresh, warm water to remove the excess salt.

The hams and shoulders take longer for the salt to penetrate.  They should remain in the salt for at least 30 days.  They should then be washed in warm water to remove excess salt.

My Father would then rub a generous amount of black pepper into each individual piece of meat (hams, shoulders, bacon, and fat back).  The individual pieces were then placed in clean cloth bags (feed sacks) and hung in the smoke house to go through the curing process.  This process was simply the drying process that the meat goes through over a period of time.  Of course the meat will drip a liquid, so provision must be made to catch the drip in pans.

Purpose of the black pepper rub is to prevent any insect from contaminating the meat.  The cloth bag assists in this.

The meat can then be smoked or eaten as is.  It is best if allowed to cure (drip) for one or two months.

Most of the families that I knew while growing up followed this  same scheme when curing meat.


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## Twenty five ought six (Oct 4, 2010)

There's a good bit of information on the internet.  

Go to the library, and more than likely it will have the Foxfire series of books.  Those books have some good articles on curing and smoking meat the old time way.

Here are the two best on-line articles that I have found.

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/cure_smoke/curing_pork.pdf

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/cure_smoke/virginia_ham.pdf

I've been very satisfied with the service I've received from Allied Kenco mentioned in ruttingbuck's post.

FWIW, a "country ham" is dry cured, as described in NCHillbilly and Vernon Holt's posts and is raw (but edible), a "city ham" is wet cured (and usually injected) in a "pickle", then cooked.

Many people don't believe that you can eat salt cured ham uncooked, but other versions of country ham that are traditionally eaten in thin slices and uncooked are the French Bayonne, Italian Prosciutto and the Spanish Serrano, possibly the most expensive ham in the world.


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## dpoole (Oct 4, 2010)

get you the foxfire books !!!!


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## rubicon_in_ga (Oct 4, 2010)

Hoooooly Cow!!  Thanks for all the info guys!!  Especially your post Vernon Holt!  That's exactly the info I was looking for!  dpoole, I actually had an original set of all the Foxfire books, which my grandfather individually autographed for me as an heirloom from him... unfortunately about three years ago when my wife and I split up, and we lost the house to foreclosure in the process, they either got misplaced or taken by the ex or one of her family members when they moved her stuff out, and I haven't seen them since.  I'm gonna order the complete set again soon.  Thanks again guys!


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