First of all I just found this forum and it has lots of great information which prompted me to registered and ask a question.
I bought a 4 pound Boneless pork shoulder picnic roast (exactly as label read), it is about 4.5 inches thick and is tied and wrapped in cryovac. It is not cured or cooked.
Can this be cured for ham or Canadian bacon?
If so I have Morton Tender Quick and also "pink salt" that I could use.
If it would be good cured could someone advise if dry or wet would be best and how much and how long to cure it for? the thickness makes me not sure.
Should I leave it tied or take the string off it?
I also have a general brine question if you want to make a batch of brine for a smaller piece of meat do you make a large batch of brine and just use a little of it or do you just make enough to cover the meat or do you make a large batch and put the smaller piece of meat in it all? Thanks in advance for any assistance.
Ok as for the meat, that is exactly what you want to make a ham with. As for your other questions I will leave that to the experts that will be along soonere or later.
You can also make what is called Buckboard (Hillbilly) Bacon.
Buckboard Bacon (http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?27-HILLBILLY-BACON-From-Phone-Guy)
To save on salt, cure and other ingredients, for brining I use the smallest container that the meat will loosely fit in. Put the meat in the non-reactive container, and add water to cover one inch above the meat. Remove the meat and measure the water. That is how much liquid you will need, but make sure it is at least 50% of the weight of the meat; if the meat weighs 4 pounds you need at least 2 pounds (1 quart of water). I use this method of measuring, because some cuts of meat are shaped in such a way that you may need more then 50% weight in water. Such as whole chicken, which generally requires more brine per weight, do to it's shape.
An easy conversion is 1 cup of water = 8 ounces; 2 cups = 1 pint = 16 ounces = 1 pound in weight etc. That is how much brine you need, so you will have to calculate the amount of other ingredients in proportion to the amount of water. To make it easier to calculate the ingredients, I will round the amount of water up to the nearest quart.
I've made hillbilly bacon a few times now and I love it. Very easy to do. I just smoked some last night from a wild hog I killed a couple weeks back. I think Habanero Smoker has already hooked you up with the link.
Larry
This buckboard stuff looks like fun. I am going to have to go on a roadtrip Monday to get some tenderquick. I wish this stuff was more readily available. Seems like there is only one place to get in these parts.
Here is a the link for my post on hillbilly(buckboard) bacon. Couple pictures as well.
Larry
http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=15828.0
I made buckborad bacon for the first time with the pork, Thank You. I cooked it to 153 internal so it could be eaten without more cooking. I did not think it was very good cold but warmed up or fried like bacon it was excellant.
Glad to see it turned out well for you.
Larry