For this method, you'll only want to use the amount of salt that is equivalent to 3% of the weight of the meat. Good things come to those who wait. Equilibrium Curing for Whole Muscles. As long as you have a minimum percentage of salt and follow the process it creates solid outcomes. Ideally, the cure will lose about 30% of its original weight, so my 300-gram duck breast should yield about 200 grams of finished duck breast prosciutto. . Brining takes several days, and it’s essential to the process of making a good ham. The composition of the casing is tailored to the sausage-maker’s processing and/or drying conditions, to help the finished product achieve the desired qualities in appearance and taste. Important: we need your support! Silicon “cooking” bags, put them in the oven, boiling water, freezer or sous vide styles. Alternatively, an equilibrium curing method can be used, salt cure the prosciutto for 7 days, then use an equilibrium cure with 3.5% salt and 0.025% nitrates, in a zip lock bag. Unlike my previous batches (where I used the salt box method) this will be an equilibrium cure. Have one question: do you have an article which discribes the differences between curing salt #1 and#2? I am fascinated with how meat curing techniques are changing due to refrigeration which really has nothing to do with why the techniques were originally developed. I use a spice grinder, like one of these (electric or manual) – it makes quick work of any salt or spice mix – and a kind of powder I find preferable for equilibrium curing my meat. Is there a guide that has weight to cure time while using the equilibrium method. With salt, for instance, all the different brands and types take up different amounts of volume and therefore can weigh different amounts. As long as, you have cured the meat for long enough, then you will consistently have great results. Time to deal with the breasts. I’m going to test different percentage of salt for equilibrium, but I do not no how long the curing process should be. Transforming ham into prosciutto is a time-intensive process. If you would rather do excess curing for prosciutto, cure the prosciutto in excess sea salt for 1 day per kg of meat. Using the metric system with grams and kilograms is much easier than using the Imperial system. I do equilibrium cures myself, and agree on the advantages. Equilibrium cure – seasoned and vaccuum sealed on 8/24. Just be careful around the decimals when calculating, that’s also why the calc link is good to use. Equilibrium Curing for Dry Curing & Smoking. Non-iodized salt or any other thing like an anti-caking agent, which is pretty common should definitely be avoided.” Should it read “Iodized salt”. Prosciutto. In this duck version, Chef Roberto Leoci spins the story a little differently by using a fresh duck breast and a few simple ingredients. No excuse for the bad butchering job. It’s kind of weird, with saltbox and saturation methods your drawing or pulling moisture out of the meat, sometimes disposing of the excess slurry water mixture as part of the process. dry cured pork, Semi-Dry & Cured Products We supply Sewn Beef Middles and Sewn Hog Afterends for use in semi-dry and dry (cured) products. Protein Wizards, a dark, ancient group of wisemen, have… Take your passion for food to the next level with these skills! You can do so much more with the silicon bags too! There is actually a method of using a reusable silicon bag inside another larger reusable silicon bag and sucking the air out of the primary bag. Key Point: There are many different ways to use prosciutto. ‘Prosciutto cotto’ is cooked and ‘prosciutto crudo’ is raw (although safe and ready to eat thanks to the curing process).If for you will be ordinary healthy food, then the surrounding around will also come to is prosciutto healthy. Powered by WordPress. Alternatively, an equilibrium curing method can be used, salt cure the prosciutto for 7 days, then use an equilibrium cure with 3.5% salt and 0.025% nitrates, in a zip lock bag. The Chamber. Dry curing I find creates a deeper and more pronounced taste from spices and aromatics. Complete Guide to Equilibrium Curing Meat, Whole Muscle Charcuterie Online Meat Curing Course - Click Here, 23 Videos, docs, recipes, and cheat sheets, Calculate the salt (and nitrates if applicable), Calculate the water for the brine (if applicable), Use accurate scales to measure all ingredients, Use bowl or container to massage and rub cure mix completely into meat (no leftover cure ideally), Place meat in a bag and remove air/oxygen (using reusable silicone bags is better than single-use plastic – but you need to invest). This video shows you how I made my duck prosciutto. Once the meat has had ample time to sit, you’ll notice that the texture will change dramatically. Equilibrium Curing Bacon Calculator Tool (or any Meat Curing) I created an equilibrium curing calculator to make it simple for anyone. I want to make my next batch using equilibrium cure as the prosciutto was quite salty for my taste. Sewn Fabric Lined Hog Bungs Note 1: The weight of meat plus fat is 100%. 25” x 1. Pastrami. Prosciutto, made with either duck or goose breast, is a gate-way, entry level charcuterie project and one of the easiest to do at home. Its easy to get a 10# brisket or loin that is thin and has little fat on it, so it will soak up the cure so much faster than say a hind leg ham for prscuitto that is covered in skin and fat (they do these in Italy at 2#/day, and that works). I promise), but I guarantee that curing your own meats at home will make you a hit at any party — and will make your grandparents proud. Your EQ is a great article. Pretty simple! Now for Salt Box or Saturation Curing (with or without wait). Although the entire process only takes a few weeks, curing your own prosciutto is a lot easier than you might think and is basically fool proof. I am fascinated with how meat curing techniques are changing due to refrigeration which really has nothing to do with why the techniques were originally developed. Culatello and Fiocco di Prosciutto (…plus the Rumpetto) ... 2- I like to use equilibrium curing. From the community and those groups I’m part of, dry curing using equilibrium curing seems much more popular then wet brine equilibrium curing. But when it comes to curing meat, you always want to have salt that doesn’t have any additives. We put a small net out from the jetty and catch a bucket of fish overnight. Instead of dipping whole leg or a neck in salt, counting the days per diameter of the cut, rinsing and resting the meat, some smart guys have developed a simple and bulletproof technique, generally known as the “Equilibrium Curing” method. Cheers Kjell, I enjoy harvesting a few animals too! Simple bacon can take a week and large meats like hams can take months. Method #1: Equilibrium Curing Deciding on a spice cure for a duck prosciutto is 100% personal preference after the necessary additional of salt, and in my opinion, nitrates or cure #2 as I will refer to it from here on out. I am trying something new!!! One like this work really well for most of the meat curing projects I do. For the numbers – Equilibrium Curing is about precisely inhibiting the meat with salt, reducing water activity inside the meat by using salt to meld with the meat molecules. Dry cured meats you are familiar with include prosciutto, an Italian cured meat that is made from pork thigh. Most guys that are equilibrium curing, use a a ziploc bag and rolling out as much air and oxygen as they can. Although the entire process only takes a few weeks, curing your own prosciutto is a lot easier than you might think and is basically fool proof. . These four meats have one thing in common; they're all cured. Why Duck Prosciutto? If you would rather do excess curing for prosciutto, cure the prosciutto in excess sea salt for 1 day per kg of meat. My general rule is 1 week per 1 inch of meat for Equilibrium Curing. Here are a few recommendations I wrote about for spice grinders & scales to do the job. Prosciutto is of course traditionally from the hind leg of a pig; duck prosciutto, however, comes from the breast of the duck. I'm curious as well, I mainly just go off recipes. Another option and I’ve had some good success at, is based really on the size of the meat with equilibrium curing in a regular kitchen fridge, If you want to full guide a rundown of this please find a post here. Normally, when you do an EQ cure, you use 2.5-3% of the weight of the meat in salt. Called Equilibrium Curing, or EQ Curing, it allows the meat to cure perfectly without the fear of over salting. As long as, you have cured the meat for long enough, then you will consistently have great results. prosciutto, parma and country hams as well as pancetta, cappocola, coppa, bresaola, etc. At its core, meat curation is simply the process of removing water from meat. I read a 1970s book on curing & smoking. Curing ham in some countries, like Italy for example, where making prosciutto is as normal to them as home butchering. For Original Video with commentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt1Kcp6mK88Prosciutto preparation from raw meat / leg. Equilibrium curing is a modern dry cure method. 23 Videos, docs, recipes, and cheat sheets - The platform podia is ad-free and has an instant messaging service built-in, I'm here for you 1-on-1 as well. Equilibrium Curing - Our preferred and most accurate method of curing. Typically, it designated in recipes as a “EQ” method. As a bonus, you get a 40-page booklet on the theory, equipment & process of cold smoking all sorts of food (this ties in with meat curing as well). Equilibrium cure for duck prosciutto - am I doing this right? How To Make Duck Breast Prosciutto. 0.x or 0.xx). The story of cured meats begins a long, long time ago. Curing is the process of adding a mixture of salt, sugar, and nitrite/nitrates to meat, fish, and even vegetables to preserve and infuse flavor and color. I think that the saturation methods of salt curing make a lot of sense if you’re using the whole leg for something like prosciutto or multiple 20lb slabs of pork belly for bacon, for instance – I’m talking huge muscles. So let’s build you a curing chamber and give you a recipe to get started! I will keep harping on about it, but this its really important for equilibrium curing and pretty much an essential. “Whole muscle” meat snacks are mostly beef jerky products (which are usually made from strips of whole muscle), but also include size and form variations such as “steak bites,” “beef bites,” “beef nuggets,” etc. TIP – if you have a small grinder, you can place this on your scales and just TARE Zero In, as you add the ingredients. Here is my curing calculator page. There are a number of ways to cure ham, including dry curing which involves leaving it to cure by air, sugar curing, or brine curing where you use a lot of salt. So whether you want to wet brine cure or dry cure is up to you of course. Thanks! Thank you for sharing. For the better part of my life, this was charcuterie to me. These four meats have one thing in common; they're all cured. Apply 3% of that weight’s worth of salt onto the meat, covering evenly and thoroughly, then use a vacuum sealer to seal everything up and let it sit in the refrigerator for about 5 days. Best to dedicate a spice grinder to meat curing, coffee beans can linger in the grinder! One you weigh your meat and figure out how much salt to use, evenly coat the surface of the meat in salt Then place the meat in a vacuum bag and seal. Apply a cure of 3% salt to the weight of the meat, along with the seasoning mix and sodium nitrate. Meat curing is a useful skill to lean and part of homesteading and self sufficient living. Here is another page (with same tool but other info) on equilibrium curing here. I will be linking to this post from my webpage for those who are curious about EQ. One question though, the equilibrium cured piece seems to have lost moisture a WHOLE lot faster than the excess salt cured. This site is about sharing my passion for the craft of charcuterie, cold smoking, low & slow BBQ, wild game and meat curing. This site is owned by eatcuredmeat.com, it participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This seems pretty basic, but getting the right size container or bowl for your piece of meat really helps. Good luck with the curing! Just Prosciutto: Prosciutto tastes delicious just eating it by the slice, and it also makes an excellent pairing with wine. No excuse for the bad butchering job. If you’re worried about wasting so much salt, there is another (more modern) method you can try. Bacon. Jason Molinari Then we make up a heavy 80° degree brine, which is quite a huge amount of salt to dilute. Hey James, Cassandra, Thanks! For me, the minimum I like to use for dry curing whole muscle meat like salumi would be 2.25% salt. Cold Smoking and Whole Muscle Charcuterie! All ingredients to be added are expressed as a percentage of the weight of meat plus fat. The story of cured meats begins a long, long time ago. As long as you have a minimum percentage of salt and follow the process it creates solid outcomes. True prosciutto comes from Italy, but versions are now produced elsewhere. 12- 14 days curing. When you use 2.5% salt, you ensure that the maximum saltiness of the meat is at a concentration of salt that won't exceed 2.5%. However, some people don’t do this type of curing and use excess curing instead. Duck makes great charcuterie and is a wonderful pork alternative. This “drying out” process removes the much-needed water … The beauty of equilibrium curing with either wet brine or dry cure is consistent salt flavor levels. Place in the fridge or in a similar temperature for an allotted time depending on weight/size. Initially, they cost more to invest in, but having something that’s reusable better for the environment makes me feel a lot better about what I’m using. The salt will draw moisture out of the meat and then the meat will re-absorb some salty brine. I've made an online video course on 'whole muscle meat curing', it's rich in detail. A bit of mystery, especially if you have used the precise temp/humidity in a chamber. The salt in the cure is typically balanced out with an equal weight of sugar. For many meat curing projects a finer powder which can be done in seconds with an electric spice (coffee) grinder make quick work of the job. Its a type of precision salt brine surrounding the meat – in my opinion (because a lot of misinformation is out there which says salt draws moisture out which leads to curing and drying and this is a yes/no kinda answer). Most people will buy these items in a store or a restaurant, but they do not have to be exclusive to the professionals! Excess salt cure: packed in salt 8/24, left for 36 hrs, hung on 8/25. My favorite is to use a stainless steel mixing bowl which is rather rounded which means I can use the meat to wipe up every last bit of equilibrium cure from the bowl. Equilibrium Curing. Why Duck Prosciutto? Starting weight at hang – 107 g; target weight – 70 g. Thanks, I find 2.25% (2% salt + 0.25% cure) produces a salty product. True prosciutto comes from Italy, but versions are now produced elsewhere. I personally like this prosciutto very much. 25” x 8. Having tried duck and goose breast several times… The cure is added to the meat at the desired concentrations, and the meat is allowed to equalize in the cure for a number of weeks. This is my first attempt at Charcuterie, and while I've done a ton of research and prep and I think I'm doing it right, I want to be sure I haven't missed anything. One week is enough, probably for a pound or so of pork belly. 3. Vac Pac Set & Hand Pump (largest bag I could find – 13.4″ x 11.8″), Stasher Bag – Half-Gallon or other size (size 10. Allow the duck breast, completely surrounded in … And when you look at things like Parma ham and prosciutto this is still the main method used throughout the classic Italian producers. I really wished that this guide existed when I started, would have made things a lot easier. Starting weight at hang – 87 g; target weight – 57 g. So I’m going to really dive into the what, how, why, process, equipment and anything else I can think of when it comes to equilibrium curing. Tom, Hi Tom, Thanks for a good overview of the options and for sharing your methods. T, Hi Tom, Im a novice for sausage making. For the better part of my life, this was charcuterie to me. Traditionally, prosciutto is a salt cured and dry aged Italian ham with a delicate buttery texture. I still use this method, but for large meat muscles or making something like salt pork. For me personally when I make dry-cured salamis I use the appropriate 0.25% pink curing salt due to the slightly higher chance of issues with ground/minced meat. Check out a little video I did and more info on the course page. Feedback for the course has been overwhelmingly positive. Pastrami. In a way it’s a wet brine (but done with precision), the internal fat could also effect it, fat is slower to ‘dry’ out. Things like salt beef, salt fish & salt pork fall into this category. To dry cure, you mix up your salt and spice mix, coat the meat, and store it in a temperature and humidity controlled space. But you can study at your own pace with lifetime access- it's packed with content both theory and process I've learned over 15+ years of doing this. I did a quite pork belly to make a little bit of cold-smoked bacon last week using equilibrium curing. It should become tougher and dryer. Sometimes it feels like you don’t have enough cure volume when equilibrium cure. Equilibrium curing is using exact amounts needed for the cure. There are affiliate programs and is compensated for referring traffic and business to these companies. Dry curing is slow. Equilibrium Curing – The curing will wait for you, not the other way around like with traditional saturation or excess salt methods, which always creates some unknowns for me. How To Make Duck Breast Prosciutto. 5). Pulled out of bag on 9/1 (7 days), rinsed and hung same day. In excess curing, it is the time that the meat is left in the cure that matters. Basically it’s all equilibrium cured unless it’s huge. Equilibrium cure for duck prosciutto - am I doing this right? Typically, it designated in recipes as a “EQ” method. Seems that it's an "industry standard" now...called prosciutto despite being made from the breast. It isn’t that much of a secret these days – but I want to expand on it. Making, cutting, curing. Excess Salt / Saturation / Saltbox method = yes your drawing moisture out during the curing phase. To brine a ham is basically to wet cure a ham. Your are only putting the amount of cure required and letting it come to an equilibrium throughout your cut of meat. Protein Wizards, a dark, ancient group of wisemen, have… Prosciutto, salami, chorizo, pepperoni, bacon, and pastrami are some of the most common types of cured meats. During dry-curing, moisture, in which bacteria and mold thrive, is drawn out of the protein cells and microbes in meat and replaced with salt -- a process known as plasmolysis. My friend’s property up a brackish /salty / river which gets quite a lot of sea fish. T his just helps to push the cure into the meat, often I just used cans of food as well. There is significant evidence that the Greeks were curing meat before 850 BC. Unlike my previous batches (where I used the salt box method) this will be an equilibrium cure. In one of my past Blogs I wrote about Duck Prosciutto and how wonderful it was. To dry cure, you mix up your salt and spice mix, coat the meat, and store it in a temperature and humidity controlled space. Duck prosciutto was one of our first home curing projects and we were amazed by the quality of charcuterie that could be achieved in the home fridge. Today I got my stuffer and last couple of days Im only busy with reading all in and outs. The Chamber. I do no that time in cure for equilibrium curing doesn't matter as much, which is the point. Because equilibrium curing is about the precise salt to cure and achieve the taste you want the scales make a huge difference getting it right. I promise), but I guarantee that curing your own meats at home will make you a hit at any party — and will make your grandparents proud. Curing is any of various food preservation and flavoring processes of foods such as meat, fish and vegetables, by the addition of salt, with the aim of drawing moisture out of the food by the process of osmosis.Because curing increases the solute concentration in the food and hence decreases its water potential, the food becomes inhospitable for the microbe growth that causes food spoilage. This is really probably the most exciting part of meat curing, The sweet smell of bay (leaf) laurel or the pungent flavors of juniper berries maybe the various paprika’s of the world – they can create entirely new flavor angles. The only thing you may find difficult with his technique…is the waiting. It’s kind of funny as well because so many recipes in just about all my cooking books have a volume amount. Equilibrium Curing. For this method, you'll only want to use the amount of salt that is equivalent to 3% of the weight of the meat. You can get away with a mortar and pestle for crushing/mixing the cure, just a little arm workout needed. The old method of saltbox or saturation is to cover the meat completely with salt. Equipment needed, having precise accurate scales so you can measure out the amount is crucial. This will take add an extra week onto the curing but is more accurate. Equilibrium curing is a modern dry cure method. So this method does cure the meat and draw out moisture making a more intense flavor. Furthermore, this discussion of equilibrium curing really only became possible with the advent of refrigeration. This often includes the 0.25% of pink curing salt 1 or 2 – for dry curing. However, I think it is better just eating it by the slice to get the full flavor. All the best, Tom, Great writeup and intro to EQ. The only thing you may find difficult with his technique…is the waiting. “But when it comes to curing meat, you always want to have salt that doesn’t have any additives. Rock salt verse fine sea salt measured by the cup will be a completely different weight, therefore, saltiness will vary greatly. Equilibrium cure: Equilibrium curing is a newer curing method, which uses the scientifically determined minimum safe values for salt and nitrates. Equilibrium Curing for Whole Muscles. Seems that it's an "industry standard" now...called prosciutto despite being made from the breast. Equilibrium curing – using a percentage of salt to the weight of the meat. Thinking and typing too fast sometimes! (Note this isn’t equilibrium brine curing, but I thought I would highlight how I use non-equilibrium cure wet brine personally). I used equilibrium curing instead of excess salt curing. This technique is called “equilibrium curing.” No matter which method you choose, the basic result should be pretty much the same. Here is a bit more about equilibrium curing before jumping into the calculator. If you’re new to bacon making or equilibrium curing, please read the rest of this post. If it was me, I would just trust the weight lost target fo sure. Dry curing is how they make prosciutto, Iberico ham, Serrano ham, and American Country ham. First, weigh the meat. You just have to trust the calculations you have performed.