Schedule curing and smoking backward from the date you want them finished: the latest start is the finish date minus the cure time minus the smoking time. A 15 lb ham cured at 2 days per pound needs 30 days in the cure, so with up to 4 weeks of cold smoking after it, hams must go into cure by about 3 October to be done by 30 November.
A smoking and curing schedule fixes the start and finish dates of salting, smoking and storing meat so the work fits the kill dates, the cure space and the smokehouse.
This Article Schedules; The Smoking Guide Sets The Method
The recipes, salt amounts and temperatures are in Large-Scale Smoking & Curing and the Phase 0 and Phase 2 guides (Smoking Techniques, Smoke Houses). This article uses only the durations those sources give. Do not change a cure amount or time to fit a schedule.
The Chain Of Stages
- Kill and chill (Butchering and Processing Days).
- Cure: dry cure takes the carrier’s 2 days per pound of the thickest piece; wet brine takes 3-4 days per pound for large pieces and 1-2 days per pound for pieces under 3 lb. The cure room holds 35-40 °F; the pieces are repacked every 7 days.
- Rinse and soak, to remove surface salt.
- Dry, so the surface forms a skin that takes smoke.
- Smoke: cold smoking at 20-30 °C for 1 to 4 weeks on salted or brined meat, according to the Phase 2 smokehouse guide, or hot smoking in hours.
- Hang to rest and store.
The carrier’s season runs from September, when pigs are killed, through October, when “smoking and curing are in full operation”, to November, when meat curing and smoking are completed (July-September, October-December).
Worked Example: Latest Start For A Ham
Finish date: 30 November. A 15 lb ham:
- Cure: 2 days × 15 lb = 30 days.
- Smoke: up to 4 weeks = 28 days.
- Total = 30 + 28 = 58 days.
- Latest start = 30 November minus 58 days. Counting back: 30 days reach 31 October, a further 28 days reach 3 October.
So hams must go into cure on or before about 3 October. A 25 lb piece takes 50 days of cure, and starts 20 days earlier, around mid-September. Larger pieces start first.
Cure Space Is The Real Limit
Little’s law says that the average number of pieces under cure is the rate at which you start them times the cure time. If M pieces are started evenly over S days (S at least the cure time D), the cure room needs about M × D ÷ S places.
Worked example (invented numbers to show the sum): 24 hams, each cured for 30 days. Started all within 30 days, the room needs 24 places at once. Started evenly over 60 days, it needs 24 × 30 ÷ 60 = 12 places. The second plan needs half the space and spreads the work, but it needs the kills to be spread too, and the last hams then start 30 days after the first, which pushes the finish date out. Check both.
Smokehouse Load
The community smokehouse holds 200-500 lb a batch (carrier). The smoke time sets how many batches fit in the season: if each batch occupies the smokehouse for the full cold-smoke period, the season allows only a few batches, and hot smoking or canning is used for the rest. Count batches per week and compare with the pieces ready.
Fit It To The Labour Calendar
Curing and smoking compete with canning and cellar loading in September and October (Canning Production Timeline). The skilled core is small (see Skill-Based Task Assignment), so stagger the work. Cure racking and repacking each week takes little labour but must not be forgotten; put it on the rota.
Do not shorten a cure to catch a deadline
Botulism is the main risk in badly cured meat, and the cure temperature, salt amount and time are safety limits, not preferences. Smokehouses also bring fire and carbon monoxide: never smoke in a closed room where people sleep, keep fat from dripping onto the fire, and keep a water source near. If a cure runs late, extend the schedule or change the method; do not hurry the cure.
Common Mistakes
- Starting all hams on the same day, which overruns the cure space.
- Counting smoke time only. The cure is the longer step.
- Forgetting the repack day.
- Choosing the finish date by the calendar and not the weather. Cool weather ends.
What’s Next
- Learn next: Spoilage Monitoring and Response — checking cured meat in store
- Combine with: Preservation Schedule — all streams on one calendar