Using Bradley Maple Cure.

[Divey]

I have had a search around to see if anyone uses the Bradley Maple Flavour Cure and I can't find too much on the subject. I'm going to try some of this on a boned Short Loin of Pork and see how the Bacon turns out.

It does not say on the can of what ratio should be injected, so, I'm thinking of going the standard 20% that most other cures suggest

Has anyone tried this? If so, I'd like a little feedback before I inject the Pork.

[rexster]

http://www.north-america.bradleysmoker.com/recipe/maple-cured-bacon/

[Divey]

Thanks for that rexster, after reading that, I find that's one sure way to confuse a bloke. It says on the container that I have.....

"Wet Application. Use 1¼ Cups of Cure to 10 cups of water per 5lbs/2.27kg of meat. Use as injection or cover brine over meat and refrigerate. Rinse before smoking.

As I said, I want to inject the Pork as I do have an injection system and like using it.

[Habanero Smoker]

I don't feel it is necessary to inject small pieces, but it doesn't hurt and the meat will cure faster. Their instructions are confusing, and to my knowledge; when curing just using injection by its self to cure meat is not done. The standard amount of brine I've seen used and have used to inject is 10% of the weight of the meat. After injecting, you then cover the meat with the rest of the brine, or you could use a dry cure application to the surface of the meat. From my experience you are not going to be able to inject more than 10%. In processing plants, when the meat is freshly cut and they can get to the main artery, they can inject about 15%.

Bradley has a recipe book for their cures. I had downloaded it some time ago. I quickly scanned through it, and from what I caught during a quick scan, there is not further clarification in their book. You can download their cure reicpes by clicking on the link below, towards the bottom of the page, click on the tab "Curing Recipes". You will then see a link for the recipes. WARNING it is a 57mg pdf file.
Bradley Cures

[Divey]

Thanks for that Habanero Smoker.  :)

I have two Butcher Supply companies within a very short distance from my home. Both companies have cures for Ham and Bacon, one company is owned by a German chap who has an incredible range of Butchering Equipment. Here is a photograph of a packet of his cure which is for Ham and Bacon showing the dosage rate and also the injection rate of 20%. You also add salt and Sodium Nitrite to this cure.




Last Christmas, I injected a whole Pork Leg with this cure and smoked it in a gas fired smoker as I did not have a Bradley then. I weighed the pork prior to injecting, recorded the weight and kept injecting until I reached the 20% extra weight of the pork. I could have more, however, a butcher friend told me that if you over inject you will get pockets of 'jelly' withing the Ham.
Family and friends were extremely happy with this cure for the Ham and Bacon. I injected the Bacon at the same rate

Once the pork is injected with the cure, it is then brined in a solution of salt and water (which gives a reading of 36 on a Salinometer) until you decide when to smoke your product.

The main reason for my post on this subject of Bradley Maple Cure, was to get a little feedback on it's performance by folks who have used it, whether it is Good, Bad or Indifferent. It's just a shame I can't find and injection rate.  :(

I'll download and have a read of their Curing Recipes.  ;)

Edited....double typing of a word. >:(

[Divey]

I downloaded their Curing Recipes and read quite a bit.

The first thing that I did notice is that the person who has written that or their proof reader does not know the difference between Imperial Measurements and Metric. Being an aging Aussie I had the pleasure or displeasure in some cases of switching from Imperial to Metric in 1966. Anyway, I'll just say this, 1 teaspoon does not equal 5mls of White Pepper, on the other hand, 1 teaspoon does measure 5ml of water. I guess I'm being a little pedantic.  ;)

Now back on subject..... there is nothing, absolutely nothing about injecting any of their cures. I find this a little disappointing.  :(

[Divey]

Oh, I nearly forgot, there is no mention of any final internal temperatures of any smoked products.

I like to smoke my Hams till they have and internal temperature of 66°C (150.8°F) and Bacon to 56°C (132.8°F) the Bacon temperature is lower as the meat is going to be cooked at a later date.


http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety-education/get-answers/food-safety-fact-sheets/meat-preparation/ham-and-food-safety/ct_index

[Habanero Smoker]

My quick scan did not turn up any additional information on their injection method. I don't use Bradley Cures, and have not taken a very close look at their recipes.

Your original post was not clear, if you were going to use an injection only, or inject then submerge in a brining solution. I'm  familiar with most curing methods, but injecting with a brine (salt/nitrite) solution and placing it in an only salt water solution, is a new method for me. It looks like it is a curing method to obtain maximum color with a minimal amount of "ham-like" taste. The salt brine solution (36°) is a safe salt only curing solution that will prevent the growth of  Clostridium botulinum bacteria.

How are you calculating and injecting? Are you injecting while the meat is submerged in the brine? It is obvious we calculate differently.

....... I weighed the pork prior to injecting, recorded the weight and kept injecting until I reached the 20% extra weight of the pork.

I can only say, I barely get close to getting 10% injection, before the brine will start squirting out. When I refer to a 10% injection, the way that is calculated is taking 10% of the total weight of the meat, multiply that by .10, and that is how much brine by weight you will add to the meat. The formula is ounces (weight of meat) x .10 = ounces (weight of brine). You can use a measuring cup to measure the brine, and that would be close enough; since water by weight and volume are very close, but for best results the brine is weighted after the ingredients are added which will come to less then the volume measurement.
80 ounces (5 pounds of meat) x .10 (10%) = 8 ounce of brine.

If you can inject 20% it is not harmful, though you will increase the nitrite ppm, but they will be at safe levels.

For hams that are USDA approved, I will only take them to 145°, the newest USDA temperature guideline for pork.

[Divey]

How are you calculating and injecting? Are you injecting while the meat is submerged in the brine? It is obvious we calculate differently.

....... I weighed the pork prior to injecting, recorded the weight and kept injecting until I reached the 20% extra weight of the pork.

No, I don't inject the meat whilst it is submerged. I think we are calculating the same. I'll keep this simple as I like things being simple. If I have a 10kg leg of Pork and want to inject at the rate of 20%, I divide the 10kg by 5 (20%) which gives me 2kg. I add the 2kgs to the 10kgs and then I inject until the leg of pork weighs 12 kgs.

Its the same as your calculation using 10%. 80 ozs divided by 10 (10%) which would give me 8 ozs. Inject until the meat weighs 88 ozs.

[Habanero Smoker]

No, I don't inject the meat whilst it is submerged. I think we are calculating the same. I'll keep this simple as I like things being simple. If I have a 10kg leg of Pork and want to inject at the rate of 20%, I divide the 10kg by 5 (20%) which gives me 2kg. I add the 2kgs to the 10kgs and then I inject until the leg of pork weighs 12 kgs.

Its the same as your calculation using 10%. 80 ozs divided by 10 (10%) which would give me 8 ozs. Inject until the meat weighs 88 ozs.

Thanks for the clarification, and simplifying. The way it read in our previous post, it looked like you didn't premeasure, and would inject, weigh, inject again etc, until you got to 20% extra weight. I had to ask if you inject while the meat was submerged, because I have come across some people that inject while the meat is submerged, and not being aware that some of their injection is not going into the meat.

[Smoker John]

I use this cure for my bacon and use the measurements from the pdf that Habs mentions. I usually add some more spices for more of a savoury flavour. Bacon has always turned out great, haven't used it for injection though.

[Dano]

I can vouch for the maple cure as I use it for bacon and wet curing other meats - but never injecting. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread for sure. 

[Divey]

I finally got around to smoking my Bacon yesterday.  :)

Two days ago I made up the Bradley Maple Flavor Cure as per the instructions on the canister for the injection method, 1¼ cups of the dry cure to 10 cups of water. The cure was stirred until all the dry ingredients were taken up. I was a little surprised with the color of the Cure as all the commercial cures I have used in the past have been nearly clear. I then placed the bucket of cure into the cool room as I did not want to inject ambient temperature cure into the pork.



After the cure was cooled down,  the Pork Short Loin was weighed and it weighed a tad less than 2.7kg (6lbs). The weight was recorded.



The cure was poured into my injection system which is a modified pressurized Garden Sprayer. It could be a much better modification as the needle is rather large at 6.37mm (¼ inch) diameter with 10 small holes drilled into the end , however, if the needle was much finer I'm sure you would be able inject the meat more than what you can with this bigger needle.




The pork was then injected with Maple Flavor Cure until I was happy with the amount of cure that was injected. As it turned out, the amount of cure injected was just shy of 10%. I am sure if I had a purpose built injection system, the percentage could have been much higher.

A brine solution of table salt and water was then made up to a reading of 36 of the salinometer, the pork was placed in a cooler skin side up and covered with the brine solution. A clean cloth was placed over the pork so it did not dry out in the cool room.

The day before smoking, I rinsed the pork with clean fresh water and hung it in the cool room to dry off a little overnight . It's the first time I've done this and I'm really not too sure what prompted me to do this. Anyway, if you don't try different things you never learn.



The brand new Bradley Smoker was then set up with the pork hanging by the use of a bacon hook. A remote temperature probe (Weber Style brand) was inserted into the thickest part of the pork as I wanted to cook until I achieved an internal temperature of 56°C (133°F), loaded the smoke generator up with Hickory Flavor Bisquettes, set the oven temperature 93°C (200°F). I have heard that the temperature within the Bradly Smoker can fluctuate a fair bit so I set up a Digital Multimeter so I could monitor the temperature as I wanted to cook at 85°C (185°F). I could not believe that the oven temperature fluctuated between 94°C (201.2°F) and 72°C (161.6°F). This is a massive difference and really not good enough.
I used five of the bisquettes before I stopped smoking and then when the internal temperature reached 56°C (133°F) all was done. I am of the opinion that I made a mistake by not putting the thickest part of the pork at the top of the oven. Always next time.



I will be slicing up some of the Bacon this morning and I shall report back on flavor and texture.

[Divey]

Excellent flavour. Will definitely do this again, however, having said that, I will reduce the amount of cure to be injected to 1 cup of Bradley Maple Flavor Cure as this Bacon is ever so slightly too salty. Considering that the instructions for dry application for 2.27kgs (5lbs) meat only uses a maximum of 3 tablespoons of cure and the injected method uses 1¼ cups with the 10 cups of water.

[piratey]

Nice pictures, showing everything step by step.  That may give other people ideas.  Thanks!