curing

A Biltong recipe that produces consistent results with an authentic, traditional spice mix

Perfect Biltong Recipe

kg Beef—silverside

tbsp Brown (malt) or cider vinegar ((approx))

2.5 tbsp Coarse salt

tsp Ground black pepper

Coriander seed

Brown sugar

Toast the coriander seeds in a dry pan, then grind down in a pestle and mortar or spice grinder. It should be mostly powder, with a few pieces of seed shells left in.

Using a sharp knife, following the grain of the meat, cut into 1 inch (2.5cm) thick lengths and place in a non-metallic container.

Combine all the spices and sprinkle into the meat. Sprinkle the vinegar on and rub everything in thoroughly whilst turning the meat with your hands.

Cover the container and let your biltong cure for 24 hours in the fridge, turning and rubbing through the meat occasionally.

Remove the meat from the container and pat dry with kitchen towels, taking care not to remove too much of the spice.

Add a hook to the thickest end of each length. Plastic-covered paper clips make for a cheap solution. Hang in your biltong box, or in a well aired, ventilated space with a fan blowing gently to increase air flow. Do not point a fan directly at the meat (to avoid case hardening). Make sure none of the pieces are touching. Place some newspaper below the meat to catch any liquid.

Drying times will vary with humidity, airflow and temperature. Test the readiness of your biltong every couple of days by squeezing the sides together with clean fingers. If you feel any give in the meat, it’s still ‘wet’ inside.

Once ready, cut into thin slices with a sharp knife and enjoy some of the best meat you’ll ever eat.

This homemade bacon has a great smokiness, intense meatiness, mellow sweetness, and sharp peppery crust that makes it way more complex than what you pull off your grocery store shelf.

Homemade Pepper Bacon

salt

dark brown sugar

paprika

pink curing salt (aka Prague Powder

pork

Mix together salt, dark brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of black pepper, paprika, and pink salt in a small bowl. Coat entire pork belly with the cure and place in a large resealable plastic bag. Place in the coldest part of the refrigerator and cure for 5 days, flipping bag about every 12 hours.

Remove pork belly from bag and wash as much cure off as possible under cold running water. Place pork belly in a large container and fill with water and let soak for 30 minutes, replacing water after 15 minutes. Remove pork belly from water, pat dry with paper towels, and season liberally with remaining black pepper.

Fire up smoker or grill to between 200-225&deg;F, adding 1-2 fist-size chunks of smoking wood on top of the coals when at temperature. When wood is ignited and producing smoke, place pork belly in smoker, fat side up, and smoke until an instant read thermometer registers 150&deg;F when inserted into thickest part of the meat. Remove pork belly from smoker and let cool. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator until completely chilled.

Cut bacon into slices at desired width and cook using your favorite method. Store leftover bacon in Ziploc or vacuum sealed bags in the refrigerator for up to a week, or in the freezer for up to 4 months.

A heavily spiced cure gives this homemade bacon a more robust flavor than your average supermarket strips.

Spice-cured Bacon

black peppercorns

juniper berries

coriander

bay leaves

Place peppercorn, juniper berries,, coriander, and bay leaves in a mortar and pestle and crush until all spices are coarsely ground. Transfer spice mixture to a small bowl, add in kosher salt, sugar, paprika, and pink curing salt; mix to combine. Coat pork belly all over with the cure and place in a large resealable plastic bag. Place in the coldest part of the refrigerator and cure for 5 to 7 days, flipping bag about every 12 hours.

Remove pork belly from bag and wash off any large deposits of salt under cold running water.

Simple is best when it comes to creating a brine, especially since so many of the ingredients people tend to add never make it past the surface of the meat.

The Simple Blonder Brine (6.4%) Recipe

water

salt, any type ((but you don't need a scale))

table sugar

Prep. Add one cup of hot water to a two cup (~500mL) measuring cup. Then pour in salt, any salt, until the water line reaches 1.5 cups. (355mL). The water will swallow up almost exactly 1/2 pound(226.8g) regardless of whether you use table salt, kosher salt, pickling salt, or sea salt.

Pour the slurry into a very clean non-reactive container large enough to hold the meat and 1 gallon (3.8L) of water. Then add the sugar. Chose your container carefully. It needs to be food grade, large enough to hold the meat and the brine with the meat submerged, and it cannot be made of aluminum, copper, or cast iron, all of which can react with the salt. Do not use garbage bags or a garbage can or a bucket from Home Depot. They are not food grade. Do not use a styrofoam cooler. It might give the meat an off flavor and you&#39;ll never get the cooler clean when you&#39;re done.

Zipper bags work fine. For large cuts get Reynolds Brining Bags, Ziploc XL, and XXL bags. If you brine in a zipper bag, periodically grab the bag and squish things around and flip the meat so the brine can get in from all sides. Place the bag in a roasting pan to catch leaks. You can also use bowls, pots, and Tupperware.

A 5 gallon (19L) drink cooler will handle turkeys and whole raw hams. If the cooler is larger, you may need to scale up the brine recipe to make sure the meat is submerged.

The beauty of using a cooler is that you don't need to put it in the fridge. To keep the brine and the meat safe, toss in a gallon zipper bag filled with ice. Or two. The bags should be tight so that when the ice melts it doesn't dilute the brine. Don't use bags of ice from the store because they often have holes and leak and they are dirty. People often walk on them in the factory and on the delivery truck (I know, I worked in and ice factory in college - best job in Gainesville, FL).

Another option is to fill a quart (950mL) juice or soda bottle with water and freeze it. Then screw on the cap. Wait until after the bottle has frozen because water expands when it freezes and it can blow off the cap. Wash off the outside of the bottle thoroughly and toss it in the brine.

Brining. Submerge the meat in the brine and refrigerate. Keep the brine under 40°F (4.4°C), adding more ice when necessary. If you can see unmelted ice, it is probably below 40°F (4.4°C). You may need to weight the meat down to submerge it. If you cannot submerge it, make sure you turn it periodically and extend it&#39;s time in the bath. All you need is 1 to 2 hours for meats 2&quot; (5cm) thick or less. For a piece of meat 3&quot;. (7.5cm) thick or more, go 8 to 24 hours. Brine turkeys breast side down. Move the bird around and get the air bubble out of the cavity. Most of the brine will enter the meat through the cavity, since the skin is like a water-resistant jacket. But keep in mind, brines move very slowly at refrigerator temp. When you cook, they move fast if you cook low and slow.

Prepare to cook. When it is time to cook, remove the meat, rinse with cold water to wash excess salt off the surface, and thoroughly pat dry with paper towels. Patting dry is important or the surface might steam and not brown properly.

Shortcut: Use metrics to make brinesMaking brines is easiest using metrics and a scale.1 liter = 1000 gm = 1 kilogram6% brine: 1 liter water with 60 grams any salt (easy to scale up or down)4% brine: 1 liter water with 40 grams any salt (easy to scale up or down)	 		Wet brine meat in a ratio of 2.5 parts brine to 1 part meat. So for a 3 pound chicken (about 1.4 kg) use 3.5 kg of a brine or: 1/2&quot; (1.3cm) thick meat should be brined for about 1/2 hour in the refrigerator			1&quot; (2.5cm) thick meat should be brined for about 1 hour in the refrigerator			2&quot; (5cm) thick meat should be brined for about 4 hours in the refrigerator			3&quot; (7.5cm) thick meat should be brined for about 12 hours in the refrigerator

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Top 4 curing recipes from across the web

The most viewed curing recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Perfect Biltong Recipe

Homemade Pepper Bacon

Spice-cured Bacon

The Simple Blonder Brine (6.4%) Rec...

The most viewed curing recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 6,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine