Salt Curing Meat

Salting is the oldest way to preserve meat and fish: salt pulls water out of the flesh and out of any bacteria, leaving an environment too dry and too salty for spoilage. Done cold and with the right salt, a cure keeps meat safe for weeks to months and is the foundation for dried, smoked and jerked meats. This is a food-safety-critical process — follow the temperatures and salt amounts exactly.

中级

1-7 days

说明

Prepare the meat (and freeze pork/game first)

Use fresh meat or fish (pork, beef, salmon, cod). Trim and pat completely dry. IMPORTANT: if you use pork or wild game and the cured meat will NOT be cooked, first freeze it at −18 °C for at least 20 days to kill Trichinella parasites. Work clean — curing does not rescue spoiled meat.

此步骤所需材料：

Pork Shoulder (Bone-In)1 公斤

Mix the cure

Base cure = coarse salt at about 2.5–3 % of the meat's weight (25–30 g per kg) for a measured equilibrium cure, or a heavy all-over coating for a traditional salt-box pack. For anything that will be air-dried, stored, or not cooked, ADD curing salt (sodium nitrite — e.g. 2.5 g Prague Powder #1 per kg of meat): it prevents botulism and fixes the cured colour. Optional brown sugar rounds the flavour. Curing salt is toxic in excess — weigh it precisely, keep it away from children, and never exceed the dose.

此步骤所需材料：

Coarse Sea Salt30 克

Curing Salt3 克

Pack and cure COLD (2–4 °C)

Rub the cure over every surface, pack the meat in a non-reactive container (glass or food-grade plastic), and cure in the FRIDGE or a cold cellar at 2–4 °C — NEVER at room temperature, where raw meat grows dangerous bacteria. Cure roughly 1 day per 5 mm of thickness (thin fish 12–24 h; a thick cut several days). Pour off the brine drawn out each day and re-rub if needed.

此步骤所需材料：

Glass Storage Jar Set1 套

Rinse, then use or dry

When the meat is firm all the way through, rinse off the surface salt and pat dry. The cure is now the foundation for the next step — air-drying, smoking, or making jerky. Raw-cured meat must stay refrigerated; heavily-salted dried products (like salt cod) keep for months in a cool, dry place.