Unit 4. Salting, Curing, and Smoking

Salt

is a crystalline mineral made of two elements, sodium (Na) and chlorine (Cl). Most of the world’s salt is harvested from salt mines or by evaporating seawater and other mineral-rich waters.

Types of Salt

• Table Salt

• Himalayan Pink Salt

• Kosher Salt

• Sea Salt

• Celtic Salt

Refined Salt

• Most common type of salt

• Highly refined

• Sodium Chloride - 97% or higher

• Added iodine

Table Salt

• typically mined from underground salt deposits.

• More heavily processed to eliminate minerals and usually contains an additive to prevent clumping.

• Also has added iodine, an essential nutrient that helps maintain a healthy thyroid.

Sea Salt

• evaporating seawater

• Coarse, less ground

• mostly just sodium chloride + trace minerals like potassium, iron and zinc

• Darker sea salt = higher concentration impurities and trace nutrients

• Microplastics

Himalayan Salt

• Mined in Pakistan

• Khewra Salt Mine

• Iron oxide (rust)

• Slightly lower in sodium than regular table salt

Kosher Salt

• is a naturally occurring mineral that is coarse grained

• historically used for removing surface blood from meats

• Large flake structure/size

Celtic Salt

• Type of sea salt (France)

• Grayish color and contains a bit of water, which makes it quite moist

• Lower in sodium than plain table salt (trace amounts of minerals)

Salting

the process of preserving food by applying dry salt or a brine (saltwater solution) to inhibit bacterial growth.

Curing

• A broader preservation method that typically includes salt, but may also involve sugar, nitrates/nitrites, and other ingredients to enhance preservation, flavor, and color

• The cure ingredients can be rubbed on to the food surface, mixed into foods dry, or dissolved in water (brine, wet, or pickle curing).

Salting/Corning

• Salting can be accomplished by adding dry salt or in brine to meats. Dry salting, also called corning originated in Anglo-Saxon cultures. Meat was dry-cured with coarse "corns" or pellets of salt.

• A common method of treating freshly cut meat is the addition of salt, this process of corning inhibits the growth of bacteria and other microorganisms keeping the meat odor less and reduces the water retention.

Brine Curing

• usually produces an end product that is less salty compared to dry curing. Injection of brine into the meat can also speed the curing process.

• involves the creation of containing salt, water and other ingredients such as sugar, erythorbate, or nitrites.

Nitrate/Nitrite Curing

• was found to inhibit growth and survival of Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes.

• Most salt cures do not contain sufficient levels of salt to preserve meats at room temperature and Clostridium botulinum spores can survive.

• used as additives to improve food quality and protect against microbial contamination and are sources of N nitroso compounds (NOCs) which are known carcinogens.

Smoke Curing

• In this method of meat curing the meat is directly exposed to smoke from burning or smouldering plants or wood, if the smoke is persistent and hot enough to slow-cook, it keeps the meat tender.

• Common methods of include hot smoking, roasting, smoke roasting and cold smoking.

• It can be combined with other methods such as salting, this creates a layer above the meat sealing any entry for bacteria.

Prague Powder #1, Insta Cure, or Modern Cure

This cure contains sodium nitrite (6.25%) mixed with salt (93.75%). Consumers are recommended to use 1 oz. for every 25 lb. of meat or one level teaspoon of cure for 5 lb. of meat.

Prague Powder #2

• This mix is used for dry cured meats that require long (weeks to months) cures. It contains 1 oz. of sodium nitrite and 0.64 oz. of sodium nitrate. It is recommended that this cure be combined with each 1 lb. of salt and for products that do not require cooking, smoking, or refrigeration.

• This cure, which contains sodium nitrate, acts like a time-release cure, slowly breaking down into sodium nitrite, then into nitric oxide. The manufacturer recommends using 1 oz. of cure for 25 lbs. of meat or one level teaspoon of cure for 5 lbs. of meat

Saltpeter, Sodium, or Potassium Nitrate

• Commercially, nitrate is no longer allowed for use in curing of smoked and cooked meats, non-smoked and cooked meats, or sausages.

• However, nitrate is still allowed in small amounts in the making of dry cured uncooked products. Home food preservers should avoid the direct use of this chemical and opt for the mixtures described above

Combination Curing

• Some current recipes for curing have vinegar, citrus juice, or alcohol as ingredients for flavor.

• Addition of these chemicals in sufficient quantities can contribute to the preservation of the food being cured.

Color of Cured Meats

A high concentration of salt promotes the formation of an unattractive gray color within some meat. Nitrate when used for some dry-cured, non-cooked meats is reduced to nitrite then to nitric oxide, which reacts with myoglobin (muscle pigment) to produce the red or pink cured color. If nitrite is used as the curing agent, there is no need for the nitrate reduction step, and the development of the cure color is much more rapid.

Dry Curing

rubbing the mixture directly on the meat

Wet Curing

soaking food in a flavored salt solution

Post Processing of Cured Meat (Smoking)

It both preserves and flavors food. Hams, bacon, salmon, herring, and oysters are frequently smoked. It is important to make a distinction between smoking for preservation (smoke cooking) and smoking for texture and flavor.

Hot Smoking

It is done in the smokehouse or more modern electric kilns, usually over a short period of time, just until the meat is cooked. The meat is cooked and smoked at the same time over a burning fire or electric elements of a kiln.

Cold Smoking

It is done over a much longer period of time. Since foods are held in the temperature danger zone, rapid microbial growth [(40-140°F (4 60°C)] could occur. Therefore, only those meat products that have been fermented, salted, or cured, should be cold-smoked. The temperature does not exceed 29 °C (85 °F), and the food is not cooked during the process.

Liquid Smoking

It is used to add smoke flavor to their foods. It has advantages over traditional smoking in that it can be more precisely controlled and the smoke flavor is instantaneous.

Lactic Acid Bacteria

Are frequent spoilage organisms on cured/smoked meats. They are tolerant of some of the conditions in the curing/smoking process or are contaminates after processing. They grow slowly but eventually spoil the food by producing organic acids.