Salt/Meat Preservation

[Mark Ducati]

When salting meat, is the meat generally cut up into steaks then buried in salt for storage? What I'm getting at is how thick can you cut the meat and store it in salt? I've got 20lbs bags of food grade salt for my swimming pool and thought if I ever shot a deer in SHTF that I'd put the meat in big rubbermaid tubs and fill them with salt.

[stinker]

It's a coating job more than burying i think. Salt will dehydrate the meat and serves as an antimicrobial preservative i think. Not sure how long it will store like that. Amature hour info on my part.

You could hang thin strips from strings and air dry it into jerky too. Marinate in a salt water solution before hanging it to extend the meats storage life. Soy sauce is better tasting though..jerky i can do.

[Infidelski]

Both sides of grandparents salt cured pork and had tub/barrels of salt to cover the meat thoroughly rubbing in real good, never saw them bury it. They both dried the ham with a towel real good before salting and would resalt a few weeks/months later and rehang.
The polish ham didn't cure as long but wasn't served until after it soaked in water to rehydrate and take the salt out like a baked ham. The poles had a little wood shed in the back yard with a sawdust floor. All sorts of little nasties would hang/grow off that meat.

The italians did it all next to the wine in the cellar. The italian ham was more like prosciutto and hung in the cellar for a long time, grandpa Leonelli did some beef and lamb too. I remember one way to do the beef was with the flank or skirt cut of meat, they would season it good with a fair amount of italian seasoning and salt then roll it long ways then tying it up real good before salting and hanging. I forget what that skirt steak roll was called but good God it was delicious, the salted lamb leg (could have been goat) was out of this world even with its furry ankle and hooves in place.

I have had real good luck with Springfield Hams out of Springfield, NC

[old Grump]

I can't link you to my bookshelf but this will give you an idea to start with.

http://www.6thtx.org/Salting%20Meat.htm

[O.S.O.K.]

Mark, the biltong thread is basically about preserving meat.

It's a simple way to salt-cure the meat and tastes good too. The vinegar is also a germacide. The pepper and corriander are to keep the bugs away.

Your salt stores will go a long long way if you simply sprinkle the meat with it - don't really need that much.

[Mark Ducati]

I saw a show on the Discovery Channel a long time ago where I swear they took Cod Fish right from the sea, gutted them on deck and then simply covered them with salt down in the ship's hold... it was probably ice, I know that sounds naive, but I could have sworn it was salt because I remember thinking how "salty" the fish would be???

Anyways,

I found some info on salt-curing:

General Directions for "Morton's Sugar Cure":

Complete ready-to-use meat cure for home use for dry curing hams, bacon and small cuts. Package comes with chart (transcribed below) and a packet of spices to be mixed with main contents prior to use. 7-1/2 lb. Net Weight.

Directions:

Note amount of cure to use from chart below. Rub cure in well, especially around shank and aitch bone of the ham. Place meat in clean refrigerator between 36-40 deg F. At seven-day intervals, remove from refrigerator and make second and third application of cure. Return to refrigerator. When curing is complete, soak hams and bacon in lukewarm water for one hour to remove excess surface salt. Pay try and return to refrigerator for equilibration. Equilibrate hams for 20 days, bacon for 2 days. After equilibration, full cure long cut hams may be aged at 70-85 deg F. Cook pork to 160 deg F.

Curing time is seven (7) days per inch of thickness.

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Make your own Canadian Bacon:

You can use this old fashioned product to make your own "knock your socks off" Canadian style Bacon. It's really simple, even though it takes 6 days and a little room in you fridge. First requirement is, you must have a smoker/grill. I use a large Big Green Egg. The recipe and instructions follow: For each one pound of Pork Loin (boneless) 1 tbs of Morton Sugar Cure, 1 tsp of white granulated sugar, 1 tsp of Dark Brown Sugar. Add sugars to a small bowl and mix well by hand. Don't use the smoke flavored cure as it can be awfully tricky to get it right. The regular cure is a great product and easy to use.
Prep the Pork loin: most pork loins average 9-10 lbs, this is good size to use. I like to cut them into thirds, approximately 3 lbs or so each as this size fits perfectly into 1 gallon freezer bags. Cut, rinse under running water, then pat dry using paper towles and place one pc in a bag.
Back to cure mix, I like to mix the sugars for 3 lbs each in smaLL bowls and mix, this way I'm sure I get the right amount on each pc of meat. Pour the cure mix into the bags, then using one hand reach into each bag and knead the mix into and all over the meat. When finished mixing the bags, wash hands and fold over top of bag squeezing out all air, then zip close. Place bags flat on a shelf in your fridge. Once every 24 hoursflip the bags ( keeping closure folded over the top)The cure will draw moisture and create a brine (this is good, do not drain) Do the flip routine for 5 days. On the 6th day remove from fidge, rinse off, then place the meat in a bowl of clean cool water and let soak for an hour to remove part of the salt. Will be too salty if you don't do this. Dry meat put meat back into fridge, covered to chill down while you prep your smoker/grill. Get your smoker to 225-250 degrees, steady,throw in a pc of hickory wood, then place the 3 pcs of cured loin into your smoker with a temp. probe in one pc. Slow cook until the temp. of the meat reaches 160-165, then remove immedialtely. Any higher will dry out the meat (160 is best). Let meat cool down, then wrap and put in fridge over night. Remove next day, slice about 1/8" thick and enjoy the best darn Canadian Bacon you ever eaten. Canadian bacon in the stores is $8-$10 a lb and nowhere near this good.
If you enjoy grilling/smoking, you'll enjoy this. A little time consuming but by no means is it hard to do. This Morton's Sugar Cure is a great product that makes it all easy.

Seems like this stuff goes a long way... I bought a few bags from this place:

http://www.sausagesource.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?