Cured Meat

Cured Meat is prepared using old techniques that avoid the goodness and flavor of beef and pork out of, when trying to prepare hams and sausages. Instead of cooking, cured meats are salted, spiced, coated and air dried, usually by having to hang in a specially conditioned curing room. Meats are often cured with a mixture of salt, nitrates , nitrites, sugar and/or spices.

Salt may also be directly applied to the cured meat in the dry curing process or as salt (salt dissolved in water) in the wet curing process.

A cured meat is immersed in the brine or the brine may be directly poured into the meat. The addition of nitrates and nitrites not only prevents the growth of microorganisms, but also helps to give Cured Meat a rich pink or red color and flavor. Sugar can also be applied to improve the salt taste. Smoking, where the meat is cooked indirectly by flames, is another form of curing the meat.

Smoking gives the meat a smoky taste that some favor over other treatments. Smoking should be performed in conjunction with salting.

Some great cured meats can be prosciutto di parma, ham, salami, bresacola, and best known jerky.

They are all great!