curing meats

[DiverDux]

I use a Bradley smoker. Love anything pork. Also does a great job with chicken.

[THEFERMANATOR]

Just used this link to make homemade canadian bacon, and am very pleased with the results.

I used 6 quarts of water, 13.5 teaspoons of #1 curing salt, 1 cup pickling salt, 1/4 cup light brown sugar, 1/4 cup dark brown sugar, 1/4 cup moalsses, 1/4 cup honey, 2 tablespoons of whole peppercorns, 1 tablespoon prudhomes meat magic, and a whole garlic bulb(probably 12 cloves) cleaned and sliced into 1/8" thick slices.

I put 1 quart of water into a pan, and added my spices, garlic, and sugars into it, and boiled them for about 15 minutes to get the flavors to steep out.
I then took 2 quarts of water in another pan, warmed it until almost boiling, and dissolved the salts in it.
Then finally I mixed the 2 pans, and added the remaining 3 quarts of water to it to finnalize the brine, and put aside to cool to 40 degrees.
I then took 2 whole pork loins, sliced them in half to make them fit in my brining bucket, and trimmed ALL the exterior fat off I could.
Once the brine was chilled I injected each half with roughly 12 onces of brine to get me to a 10-15% injection rate, put into my brining bucket, and poured the remaining brine over them.
Put them aside in a small fridge I have for 5 days at 40 degrees to cure. From what I have read, temp is CRITICAL here. You want to keep them at 38-45 degrees with 40-42 being your target goal here. If you get below 38 degrees, the curing process will cease, if you go over 45 degrees spoiling can occur.
After curing I took them out, and soaked them in clean water for about 30 minutes(I should have soaked them longer as it came out a bit salty still.
I smoked them in my smoker at 200-225 degrees until internal temp was 160 degrees. If you want to cook yours in a pan to sear it like traditional canadian bacon, then you smoke to an internal temp of 140-145, and pull them.

[THEFERMANATOR]

Also adding this link here as well for making corned beef/pastrami.

http://amazingribs.com/recipes/beef/...rned_beef.html