Curing other meats

[FLBentRider]

Now that I have made some bitchin' Canadian bacon (Thanks to all Y'all that helped with that Project) , It occurred to me to consider what would happen to Turkey or Chicken given the same treatment.

Has anyone experimented with this ?

[Gizmo]

I think Habs has done an experiment or two with the birds.  I would say it sounds like you are ready to do the Pastrami.   :P

[Bad Flynch]

Years ago, I made cured, smoked turkey. IIRC, it took a lighter brine, i.e., less salt. IIRC, it took less time, too, in the cure. It really helped when I used a meat pump and pumped along the leg bones and along the "keel bone" of the breast on either side (sternum).

I used frozen turkeys, but many of the turkeys nowadays are pumped up with "10% of a special solution" to increase profit margins. Hunt for a bird that is minimally processed and do you own pumping to aid the cure. Some of the turkeys around here have so many holes in them from being pumped up with salt water, one could play connect the dots on them.

The brining water should be cold and the bird should be kept totally immersed, even weighted down. It seems to me that 3 days for a 10-lb bird was adequate, but you need to check it out with someone that has done this recently.

Cook your bird to a proper temperature and enjoy it. This was a rare treat.

[La Quinta]

The pastrami is awesome!!!

[Habanero Smoker]

I have wet and dry brined poultry, but I rarely use a nitrite based cure. I am one of those strange people that do not like my poultry tasting like ham, and adding a nitrite (InstaCure #1, Pink Salt etc) will change the flavor. If you are going to do so, follow the brining (pickling) instructions that either come with the cure mix or the recipe you are using and follow Bad Flynch instructions. If you don't have a pump or injector, just placing it in the brine mixture will work. If there are no brining times noted on the cure or recipe, for turkey a good rule of thumb is 1 hour/pound to start with. In these days you are not brining to preserve, but to add moisture and flavor.

The recipe site has a lot of brines recipes that you can look at and get an idea of some of the recipes.
http://www.susanminor.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=13

I do have a few recipes that have a nitrite base for poultry. I could post one latter. Also look in the "Curing" Topic, you will get an idea of what members are curing. If you don't have it yet; good book to purchase about meat curing and sausage making is "Charcuterie" by Michael Ruhlman & Brian Polcyn.