questions on curing a brisket for pastrami

Hey my friend, Meat has a calculator here is the link:
https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/salting-brining-curing-and-injecting/science-curing-meats-safely

@Poster I made a calculator a week or so back.  It takes into account the solution brine and meat weight in grams to give the proper ppm of Prague Powder #1, which is 93.75 % NaCl and 6.25% Sodium Nitrate (sorry don’t remember the chemical formula).  It’s used for a wet brine.

if you are using Prague Powder #2, you’ll need a totally different calculator.  PP#2 is used for dry curing, i.e. sausage.

@poster You can definitely over cure, but only if you put too much curing salt in from the beginning (or add more later).  If you add time, 14 days vs. 7 for example, the max it can cure is due to the concentration of brine achieving equalibrium with the meat.  

Too much salt = over cure.
Too much time = just delaying your cook.  

Once equalibrium is achieved you won’t be curing the meat any further.

The FDA limits the amount of sodium nitrate to 200 ppm for brisket and less for other meats.  

I don't consider Meathead an anonymous source.  I also put him on my list of trusted sources.

jtcBoynton said:

I don't consider Meathead an anonymous source.  I also put him on my list of trusted sources.

I would beg to differ, not sure you followed the link but the salt and cure calculator is based off recommended salt and cure ratio citing the USDA as "THE" authoritative standard. An excerpt:

 It is widely believed that USDA has set the limit of 200 ppm for cured meats, but this is a myth. USDA has established regulatory limits for the addition of sodium nitrite at 120 ppm (0.012%) in wet cured bacon, 200 ppm (0.02%) for dry cured bacon, 156 ppm (0.0156%) for products such as frankfurters or cured sausages, 200 ppm (0.02%) in wet cured or injected products such as ham or pastrami, and up to 625 ppm (0.0625%) of sodium nitrite in dry-cured meat products such as country hams. These are initial levels at the end of the cure. Dry cured meats may sit for months at room temperature exposed to fresh microbes in the air and oxygen. Plus they are often consumed raw, like prosciutto, as opposed to cooked for bacon. Because nitrites decrease during curing, the residual levels, after a few days or weeks, are often 10x lower.

People often ask if they can cure meats without nitrites and just increase the salt. Salt inhibits bot's growth, but won't kill it. Neither will vinegar. You should not attempt to cure meat at home without a curing salt.

There are some "natural" or "no nitrite" cured meats on the market, but if you look closely at the label, they often have some sort of extract of celery in them because it contains nitrate which can convert to nitrite. There are recipes for "curing" that don't use nitrites, so technically they are not really cures, and they cannot kill bot so they must never be submerged in wet cures. I consider them risky.

That's why you must resist the temptation to improvise in a few key areas. But if you stick to my recipes, you can make absolutely mindblowing pastrami, bacon, and more. I'll discuss below where you can improvise.

Wish I'd read this before I bought the Bradley Cold Smoking attachment and A Maze N smoking tray.

RedSkip Thanks for the encouragement. I have the Prague Powder already bookmarked on Amazon. I want to try cold smoking some bacon.

jtcBoynton said:

Carefully read and understand the info linked by @BGEChicago.  For safety reasons you need to follow proper procedures from a trusted source.  Anonymous internet sources are not what I trust with the health of my family.  Going freeform and experimenting are not wise moves for curing.

jtcBoynton said:

I am confused.  What to you differ with?  Do you consider "Meathead" Goldwyn (Craig Goldwyn) to be anonymous?  Do you not trust his information? If you do not, could you help me understand why not?

I read red you post... I misread it the first time, please accept my sincere apology my good man!