When we got our hogs butchered last fall we decided to keep a fresh side to try our hand at curing our own. Well, with the upcoming butchering date for our chickens coming up and 2 more hogs, 1/2 a beef, and a lamb already off to slaughter and needing to be picked up next week, I decided that it was about time I got around to it. I needed to make some room for all the fresh stuff rolling in so I guess now is as good a time as any.
It’s a nice looking fresh side. Not too much fat and I’m excited to get started.
Those pans I got at the restaurant auction are coming in really handy.
I did some research, read some other people’s blogs and decided to jump in. I got a lot of inspiration from all the blogs I read and adapted my “cure” from several that I had seen. I’m using a mixture of real salt, coarsely ground peppercorns, brown sugar, meat curing salt, and real maple syrup. Even the cure smelled delightful.
I rubbed this all into the meat and now it will just have to sit for about a week. I will rub it all over every day and then it will be time for the smoking.
Here is it all rubbed down with the cure:
I’ll update it’s progress as the week goes on so check back!
