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Mastering Meat 2

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An introduction to curing

What is curing?
Curing is an ancient meat preservation technique that involves drawing liquid from a cut of
meat or whole bird using salt. Before refrigeration was invented, curing was the primary
way that people – especially travellers – could extend the shelf life of meat. There are two
main methods used for curing meat with salt: dry curing and wet curing. Smoking is also a
technique commonly used in the curing process, but we’ll cover this a little later in the

course notes.

More about dry curing
With a dry cure, the cut of meat is either very heavily seasoned or completely covered in
salt.

The length of time it takes to dry cure the meat depends on the size of the cut as well as
your desired end goal. For example, a duck breast used to make duck ham can be salted
overnight and then hung for 4-5 days, whereas a whole leg of pork can take up to six weeks
in salt. In the case of prosciutto, it can hang for a further two years.

More about wet curing
Wet curing is when the cut of meat is completely submerged in a salt solution or brine,
which makes this a faster process than dry curing. Wet curing is used to produce things like
salt beef, pastrami, cooked hams and gammons. As with dry curing, the time it takes to wet

cure meat depends on the size of the cut as well as the end result you want to achieve.

Five top tips for making brine

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