The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Food & crafts => Food processing => Topic started by: cloddopper on December 26, 2013, 11:12:21 pm

Title: table /charts for various cures
Post by: cloddopper on December 26, 2013, 11:12:21 pm
Santa in fishnets gave me a small smoker kit . It's some thing I've often wnted to have a go at.
 
The trouble  is I find most of the books on smoking cold or hot rather wishey washey .. do any of you know if there are any places online where I can find a chart with cure recipes in metric measures ?

 Do any of you  know if there is a percentage weight loss recommended list so I can judge how well I've got the cure right .
My first cure before smoking will be farmed salmon I've got a 50/50 cure of cooking salt and light brown sugar weighing in at 466 gram .... some figures I've found suggested a 13 % reduction in weight which would run to 400 gram  when correctly finished ready for cold smoking .

 All comments most welcome ..

Tomorrow I hope  I'll be doing my first ever  8 hour or so long  smoke ,  using four pounds of cheese cut up into in 1& 1/8 inch  ( 30mm) thick slabs laid on racks in my purpose constructed smoke cupboard thing.
Title: Re: table /charts for various cures
Post by: bloomer on December 26, 2013, 11:32:59 pm
cant help with cures but have to say yum!!!


i am available for product testing on request  :excited: :excited: :excited:
Title: Re: table /charts for various cures
Post by: Bodger on December 27, 2013, 12:28:29 pm
Would you like to borrow my copy of this book?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=keith+erlandson+home+smoking+and+curing&tag=googhydr-21&index=stripbooks&hvadid=31454230880&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1951384029476837798&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_2rbshr4gfn_b (http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=keith+erlandson+home+smoking+and+curing&tag=googhydr-21&index=stripbooks&hvadid=31454230880&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1951384029476837798&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_2rbshr4gfn_b)
Title: Re: table /charts for various cures
Post by: ZacB on December 27, 2013, 12:45:15 pm
We used this article as a guide for home smoked salmon.

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/jul/16/how-to-smoke-salmon-at-home (http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/jul/16/how-to-smoke-salmon-at-home)

After smoking thinly sliced, ate a load, vac packed and froze remainder  :yum:
Great results and can happily recommend.
Title: Re: table /charts for various cures
Post by: cloddopper on January 02, 2014, 02:39:52 am
Would you like to borrow my copy of this book?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=keith+erlandson+home+smoking+and+curing&tag=googhydr-21&index=stripbooks&hvadid=31454230880&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1951384029476837798&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_2rbshr4gfn_b (http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=keith+erlandson+home+smoking+and+curing&tag=googhydr-21&index=stripbooks&hvadid=31454230880&hvpos=1t1&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1951384029476837798&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_2rbshr4gfn_b)

 Thanks Bodger I ended up getting it and another smoking book on my Kindle-lite .. it certainly beats the old Mrs Beeton  era books we have on the subject that my parents used. 
Title: Re: table /charts for various cures
Post by: Bodger on January 02, 2014, 08:15:45 am
Happy smoking Clodders. :farmer:
Title: Re: table /charts for various cures
Post by: cloddopper on January 30, 2014, 10:14:42 pm
Thankeee Kind Sir,

The first cheeses & salmon went down a treat
 Second batch of cheese is a couple of pounds of softish Red Leicester cut into 1" thick slabs ..smoked for 7 hours over night and taken out the ice cold smoker this morning at 07.30hrs. & brought inside then wrapped in tin foil then put in the fridge to mature.

I've just made 4.5 litres of pork cure. ( Page 23 of Dick Sawbridge's , "Made at home curing & smoking "  book)  ( )

I've boiled it all up and then simmered it for 10 min ,  now it's cooled I can taste the seasonings & spices in it despite the salt ..it smells good as well )

 Should I have boiled & simmered it ???? It wasn't 100% clear in the book.

 I'm going to use some to cure and then smoke local butchers shop made pork & beef sausages which we will eat the same day cooked in the " George "  the infrared griller .
 I'm also going to try curing and smoke chicken breasts in a separate lidded Pyrex dish  but after curing them I'm leaving then in the fridge @ 3 oC for 24 hrs before smoking them  ,
After smoking them I hope we can use a breast straight away in a sticky sauce so we can have cooked sticky smoked chicken & fine cut salad stuff in pitta's bread.

What we don't use there & then will be frozen in heat sealed vac packs and used within 6 months ..

Can anyone see any problems with what I propose ?