Curing and Drying

Below you’ll find how to’s on the process of dry curing (it’s curing then drying in a meta sense). Explanation articles about the category of cured meats that’s often misunderstood are also important reads below. If it was a recipes it could just be salt plus meat – however, for dry cured meats factors of meat quality, spice blends, curing process, drying environments, aspects of cold smoking and troubleshooting are covered below.

(as I’ve eluded to, we can not compare this craft to making cupcakes)

Base Knowledge and Curing Articles

The first three articles below are guides on the main ways to approach meat curing, and a solid starting point.

  • Equilibrium Curing is the modern technique, where the salt cure is calculated based on the weight of the meat.
  • Regular Fridge Cure is about using smaller cuts for equilibrium curing to complete projects short-term (under 1 month) in your regular kitchen fridge
  • A guide on Salt Box / Saturation curing is about the ‘time’ the meat is surrounded by the salt cure, which can lead to some variations in outcomes from experience.

Drying – DIY, Areas, and Chambers

Various cured sausages are hanging inside a modified refrigerator, equipped with an INKBIRD ITC-308 Temperature Controller, for drying and aging.
Converting old second-hand fridges is one way to create the right conditions for this craft.

Meat Curing Equipment

Slicing through layers of flavor: a hand carefully cuts thin slices of pancetta on a wooden board.

Dry Curing Craft Recipes

Charcuterie 101 and General Knowledge

Common Questions

Here are some questions often asked about exploring this new culinary craft and hobby

Quality meat, salt and the patience to make something. Other basics that can make more consistent craft projects – accurate digital scales, sous vide bags (curing), You do not need a dry curing fridge (investment ++) to begin with. Your regular kitchen fridge can suffice.

Small chunks, satured cured – under a week (although no flavor development). Regular kitchen fridge dry curing (see above) 3-4 weeks. Whole muscle meat curing 1 month to 2+ years (for ultimate complex flavors). On average, most projects 1-4 months.

Flavor complexity, challenging, engaging, slow food rather then fast food – that’s a start. Also, you learn some ancient preserving techniques along the way, which my prove useful for many reasons. It’s nice to have cured meats that aren’t frozen and can hang around for months – potentially years.