# Dry Curing Meat Experiment



## Davarm (Oct 22, 2011)

On occasion, I have experimented with dry curing different types of meats, Briskets(pastromi 
and corned beef), hams and ham hocks. I decided it was time to start "experimenting" in
ernest to come up a workable process.

I have read numerous recipes/directions for curing meats and decided to put together
a combination of those and try to come up with a process of my own. I dont have a
smoke house(yet) so I modified an old dehydrator I have to use as a substitute. I attached
a cardboard "tube" to a dehydrator tray, about 2 1/2 feet tall, tall enough to keep the
hocks in a warm, not hot, zone of the air from the dehydrator. The lid could then be placed on
top of the tube.

Cure
For the cure, I mixed 50/50 salt/brown sugar with 1/2 teaspoon of saltpeter per
gallon of brine. The saltpeter can be omitted, it just helps to give the meat the
"Red" color that storebought cured meats have.

I chose "Fresh Ham Hocks" to use for the test, they are fairly cheap, small and easy
to find.

I put the hocks in a bowl and poured enough brine to cover and put them in the fridge for
24 hours. Each day for 3 days I changed the brine and allowed them to soak for another 
24 hours..

At the end of the third soak, I dried them thoroughly and set them aside for the next step.


Drying

Using a large sewing needle and dental floss, I made a string to hang the hock by while 
in the dehydrator. I "poked" bamboo skewers through the top of the cardboard tube,hung the 
pieces from the skewers, put on the lid and turned the dehydrator on to allowed the Ham
Hocks to dry. 

I allowed the hocks to dry for 24 hours, turned the dehydrator off long enough for the dehydrator
to "rest" and return to ambient temperature and then repeated the process for 6 days. 

The result was a dry dessicated hock that "SHOULD" be storable. I prepared 3 hocks and 
I am going to vacuum seal 2 and allow 1 to remain in open air to test for longevity.

When "I get around to" building a smokehouse, the process should easily transfer to a larger scale.


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