British BBQ Society Forums

I've dry cured beef for pastrami before. The basic cure I use is 3% of the meat's weight in salt, 1% in sugar and 0.25% in cure #1 - no need to soak when using this cure as you want the meat to absorb everything. Takes a little longer than excess salt cures (where you'd have to soak) but imho it works out better as you're not soaking out the flavour of any extra seasoning

YetiDave wrote:I've dry cured beef for pastrami before. The basic cure I use is 3% of the meat's weight in salt, 1% in sugar and 0.25% in cure #1 - no need to soak when using this cure as you want the meat to absorb everything. Takes a little longer than excess salt cures (where you'd have to soak) but imho it works out better as you're not soaking out the flavour of any extra seasoning

Not sure dave but think its already cured

YetiDave wrote:I've dry cured beef for pastrami before. The basic cure I use is 3% of the meat's weight in salt, 1% in sugar and 0.25% in cure #1 - no need to soak when using this cure as you want the meat to absorb everything. Takes a little longer than excess salt cures (where you'd have to soak) but imho it works out better as you're not soaking out the flavour of any extra seasoning

How long do you let it cure for?

Sorry yeah, of course that one's already cured. They do tend to need a bit of a soak (never bought pre-cured brisket, but bacon ribs sure are salty)

As for how long.. I'd give it 10 days or so. Really it depends on the thickness of the meat, but again if you're using those measurements you can't over-cure the meat either, so there's no harm done in giving it an extra day or two just to be on the safe side as it won't end up too salty

A few pics of the pastrami cook:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/728 ... G_0915.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/728 ... G_0919.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/728 ... G_0920.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/728 ... G_0922.JPG
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/728 ... 5B1%5D.JPG

I think i'm going to try Len Poli's recipe. His recipes are spot on and always 100% tested.

http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Pastrami.pdf

I will inject too.

fitasc - your pastrami looks 100% spot on! Salivating!

Daaaamn that's a lot of curing salt, I wouldn't let it go more than a few days. There's literally enough in there to cure 16kg of meat

YetiDave wrote:Daaaamn that's a lot of curing salt, I wouldn't let it go more than a few days. There's literally enough in there to cure 16kg of meat

It's a wet cure tho yours isnt is it? Recipe in salt sugar smoke book says 350g salt(+55g saltpetre) for a 2.5kg brisket for the brine and leave it in there for 7 days

TakingtheBrisket wrote:

YetiDave wrote:Daaaamn that's a lot of curing salt, I wouldn't let it go more than a few days. There's literally enough in there to cure 16kg of meat

It's a wet cure tho yours isnt is it? Recipe in salt sugar smoke book says 350g salt(+55g saltpetre) for a 2.5kg brisket for the brine and leave it in there for 7 days

Please don't do this. 55g of pure saltpetre? You will probably poison yourself! Seriously. Spend the money and get some prague cure #1 and don't risk your health.

Check out the Len Poli recipe above.

aris wrote: Please don't do this. 55g of pure saltpetre? You will probably poison yourself! Seriously. Spend the money and get some prague cure #1 and don't risk your health.

Check out the Len Poli recipe above.

Yeah apparently it's a component in gunpowder wasnt making any just saying about salt levels are higher in wet brine than dry cure