Dry cure then brine?


 
J

John Mc.

New member
Hi all, greetings from a new poster. I've entered the (new to me) world of curing.

Last weekend I followed the Loxmania recipe for Nova Lox, which is a dry cure, followed by a brine, then desalinization, pellicle/glaze formation and eventual cold smoking.

The recipe is here - http://www.sausagemania.com/loxmania.html

I am REALLY pleased with how it turned out. Since it was a test run I used the most inexpensive salmon I could find, used lower-end ingredients, etc., and it is still delicious!

I have a question - if I choose to add flavorings during the dry cure ( dill, pepper, & caraway perhaps ) will a later brine step be counterproductive to flavor formation?

My understanding of brining is that the moisture in the meat is replaced by the moisture in the brine + salt. So I'm concerned about replacing my just-flavored moisture with unflavored brine, so it would seem to be a blunder.

So the question might be does a brine replace the moisture and flavor gained during a previous dry curing step?

Thanks, I appreciate any reply!

-John
 
Anyone? I'm monitoring this post as asked.

I don't know how active this kind of topic is here, so maybe the lack of response is normal for this board? I can't find the read or viewed statistics for my post.
 
A later brine step will be mostly counterproductive. However, you can flavor the brine instead. Or you can flavor both processes. Or you can apply your flavor after pellicle formation but before smoking.
 
That is good information, thank you Kevin.

I have been thinking that flavoring the brine would be the right place, so the flavors could be on the meat before forming the pellicle and applying the alcohol/sugar glaze.

I am also going to extend the dry cure portion to 24 hours, and apply pressure during the dry cure. I would like a denser texture.

I will also be able to try out my new ProQ cold smoking apparatus - exciting!

Thanks again,

John
 
Just a follow-up -

I dry-cured with a sugar cure ( canning salt, brown sugar ) for 48 hours under weight, then brined for 12 hours.

The brine had 1 tbsp of dill, and 1 tsp of fennel and tarragon. The flavors were barely discernible, the amount of herb that I used was not enough for a gallon of brine. ( I ground the herbs coarsely, brought to a boil in water and cooled, and added to the brine. )

Next time I'll use caraway instead of tarragon, and more of it.

Even so, the salmon was very good. The longer dry cure along with pressure improved the texture and color quite a bit.

Freshening 90 minutes in cold running water was about right to my taste, maybe too much. I'll try 75 minutes on the next batch sharpen the saltiness a bit.

Oh, the cold smoking - successful. It's quite different than hot smoking, and I think I need to work on a better enclosure than just my gas grill with the lid closed. I'd like to see a higher volume of smoke. I used sugar maple and hickory dust. But it was tasty, and the salmon stayed refrigerator cold the entire time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top