Salting Pork
Ingredients
Directions
Layer the pork
Cover the bottom of a barrel with 1 inch of salt.
Place a layer of pork in the barrel and cover it with ½ inch of salt.
Repeat layering pork and salt until all pork is used.
Brine and keep submerged
Pour strong brine over the pork, ensuring it is fully covered.
Pack the pork tightly with the rind side down.
Keep the pork submerged in brine using an inner cover and clean stones.
If scum forms, pour off the brine, scald it, and add more salt.
Old brine can be boiled down, skimmed, and reused.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Salt
- Draws moisture out of the pork and seasons it while preserving the meat.
- Pork
- The main meat being cured; its texture firms as salt and brine penetrate it.
- Strong brine
- Keeps the pork fully covered so it cures evenly and stays protected from air.
The step that matters
Keep the pork fully submerged in brine. Any pork exposed to air can spoil or develop scum and off flavours. Keeping every piece under brine, with weights or stones, ensures even curing and protects the meat.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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