The parent article’s dry cure uses 8 lbs of salt and, optionally, 2 lbs of sugar per 100 lbs of meat, rubbed on every surface and held at 35-40°F for 2 days per pound of the thickest piece, so a 15-lb ham needs 1.2 lbs of salt and takes at least 30 days. Weigh the salt against the weight of the meat rather than measuring it by volume, treat the 8 lbs as a minimum rather than a target to trim, and add nothing else to the cure that you cannot source.
Part of Large-Scale Smoking & Curing
A dry cure is a mix of salt, sugar and seasoning rubbed on large cuts of meat in a fixed proportion to the meat’s weight, then held cold while salt moves into the meat.
The Ratio Is Defined By Weight
The parent gives the basic dry cure as 8 lbs salt per 100 lbs of meat (the minimum safe concentration), 2 lbs sugar per 100 lbs (optional), and pepper and herbs as desired. As a ratio that is 8% salt and 2% sugar by weight of the meat. It scales linearly, and the working should be on paper before the salt is weighed:
| Meat | Salt at 8 lbs per 100 | Sugar at 2 lbs per 100 |
|---|---|---|
| 15-lb ham | 15 × 0.08 = 1.2 lbs (19.2 oz) | 15 × 0.02 = 0.3 lbs (4.8 oz) |
| 100 lbs | 8 lbs | 2 lbs |
| 3,750 lbs (a community’s winter meat) | 3,750 × 0.08 = 300 lbs | 3,750 × 0.02 = 75 lbs |
The last line matches the 200-500 lbs of annual meat-curing salt in the salt article’s budget, which is a useful cross-check that the two articles agree (Salt Production & Sourcing).
Weigh, don’t scoop. Salt of different grain sizes weighs different amounts per spoonful or cup, so a volume measure gives a different dose each time. A scale is the one tool the whole cure depends on. The parent’s ratio is for the weight of the meat; a pile of pieces should be weighed piece by piece, or in a batch, and the salt scaled to the total.
One caution about the corpus. Another article in this series, Salt Preservation, gives a dry-curing ratio of one pound of salt per five pounds of meat, which is 20%, two and a half times the 8% here. Different articles are written for different conditions and a different degree of salting, and a heavier salting gives a much saltier product. Do not mix ratios in one batch; follow one source and keep to it.
Rub Formulas Add Flavour, Not Safety
Pepper, bay, juniper, garlic and herbs are matters of taste. The only parts of a rub that affect safety are the salt, the nitrite if one is used, and the cold. The parent says sugar improves flavour and slows salt penetration for a more even cure; I cannot source the second claim, and it is not needed for the safety of the cure. Spices and herbs are dry plant material and can carry spores; they do not preserve.
Which salt. Use salt known to be fit to eat. Table salt with anticaking agents, or salt with added iodine, does no harm in a dry rub but can cloud a brine. Road salt, de-icing salt, water-softener salt and industrial salt can contain additives and insoluble impurities and must not be used on food (Removing impurities and bitter minerals).
What You Need
- A scale that reads to the nearest ounce for the salt and sugar
- Clean, chilled meat, trimmed of damaged tissue and excess external fat
- Food-fit salt and sugar
- A cold place at 35-40°F, with drainage
- Clean vessels or racks for stacking, and a way to turn the pieces
Method: The Parent’s Dry Cure
Step 1: Trim the meat, removing damaged tissue and excess external fat.
Step 2: Weigh the meat; calculate and weigh the salt and sugar; mix with the seasoning thoroughly.
Step 3: Rub the mix into every surface, packing extra into the bone cavity of hams.
Step 4: Stack the pieces in the cold place, at 35-40°F. Above 40°F risks spoilage; below 32°F the salt will not penetrate.
Step 5: Repack and restack every 7 days, re-rubbing any salt that has dissolved or fallen away.
Step 6: Cure for 2 days per pound of the thickest piece: a 15-lb ham is at least 30 days (Curing times by thickness).
Step 7: Rinse the surface and soak in fresh water to reduce saltiness. The parent says 30 minutes per day of cure, which for the 30-day ham works out to 15 hours; treat that as a starting point and fry a test slice to judge, rather than as a fixed rule.
Common Mistakes
- Trimming the salt to make the meat less salty. The soak does that; the cure is a safety measure.
- Measuring by volume.
- Adding a pinch of curing salt “for colour”.
- Curing a thick piece too briefly because the surface feels firm. The centre is the last to cure.
Safety
Weak cure, warm room, nitrite
A dry cure that is under-salted, warm or too short lets Clostridium botulinum grow in the interior of a thick, dense piece; the parent warns against curing large, dense pieces without saltpetre. Sodium nitrite and saltpetre, where used, are poisons whose safety is entirely in the dilution and exact weighing. This article gives no quantity for either, and you should not guess one; see Cold-smoked sausages and bacon. Keep a nitrite premix clearly marked and apart from table salt and sugar.
What’s Next
- Learn next: Curing times by thickness — how long a cure takes and why weight is the wrong measure
- Combine with: Wet brine concentrations — the other cure method