Curing Techniques

C URING is a way to preserve and

flavor meats, cheeses, and fish.
Before we had refrigeration, curing was a
common way to preserve food from
season to season. Smoking, salting,
corning, and sugaring are techniques
used to cure foods. Bacon, hotdogs,
lunchmeats, pepperoni, ham, smoked
salmon, and salted cod are cured. The
Prosciutto di Parma ham appetizer
pictured here is deep pink in color as a
result of the curing technique.

Objective:

! Summarize smoking, salting, and sugaring curing techniques.

Key Terms:

! brine
brining
curing
methemoglobinemia
smoking
sodium nitrate (NaNO3)
corning osmosis

Understanding Curing Techniques

Curing is a process of using salt and sodium nitrite alone or together with other flavorings
or sugars to preserve a food.

SMOKING
Smoking is a dry-heat cooking method that uses exposure to smoke from burning or
smoldering plant materials (often wood) to cook, to flavor, or to preserve food. Smoking
injects a characteristic smoky flavor (e.g., the distinctive mesquite wood flavor). Some woods
used for smoking are mesquite, hickory, and apple tree wood. Also, corncobs are used in
smoke curing.

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 A smokehouse was the typical
place where meat and fish were
preserved before refrigeration.
This stand-alone building is part
of America’s history with every
home and farm having a smoke-
house. Today, electric kilns are
used.

Hot Smoking
Hot smoking is a method to
FIGURE 1. These assorted luncheon meats—sausages, hot dogs, and various
conserve and/or preserve food. salamis—were smoked, salted, and/or sugared to preserve and flavor them.
Burning woods or electric kilns
are used to slow-cook food, usu-
ally with indirect heat: 150° to
160°F. This cooks the meat as it is
smoked and shortens smoking
time. As with any potentially haz-
ardous food, hot smoked items
are kept under refrigeration when
the process is complete.

Cold Smoking
Cold smoking is drying meat
with cooled smoke. Cold smok-
ing simply eliminates moisture to FIGURE 2. Curing meat with hot smoke is similar to barbequing meat on a
inhibit the growth of bacteria. grill.

The process uses a technique that

smothers woods (at a temperature of approximately 85°F) and takes 12 to 24 hours to smoke.
Other than cold smoked salmon, many types of meat are salted or cured before they are cold
smoked. Because this method allows the food to be in the temperature danger zone (40°F to
140°F), the FDA recommends cooking the meat to 160°F before eating it.

Pit Barbequing
Pit barbequing is a dry-heat cooking method in which food is placed in a large, level hole in
the earth. The pit is filled halfway with coals from wood that has burned down. Getting these
coals ready may take up to 4 hours. Then cooking can take up to 12 hours, depending on the
thickness of the meat. Meat thermometers are used to determine doneness—to ensure a safe
internal temperature—as the exterior cooks at a different rate than the interior.

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 FURTHER EXPLORATION…
ONLINE CONNECTION: Smoking Alaskan Fish
Smoking fish is a tradition in Alaska. The University of Alaska Cooperative Extension service
produced the bulletin “Smoking Fish at Home.” The bulletin discusses types of smoking tech-
niques, fish smoking food safety, and the brining step before smoking. To learn more, go to
http://www.uaf.edu/files/ces/publications-db/catalog/hec/FNH-00325.pdf.

Liquid Smoke
Liquid smoke is an additive that gives food a consistent smoky taste without using burning
or smothering smoke.

SALTING
Salting is a curing process used
for various foods around the world.

Dry Curing
Salt is used to dehydrate the pro-
teins in foods; this is a dry curing
process. Corning is the process of
dry salting a food. The name “corn-
ing” comes from the word “corns” FIGURE 3. This Spanish ham (jamon Serrano) is a delicacy. The ham is dry
or pellets of salt. Dry salting slows salted for two weeks to preserve it and to remove excess moisture. The ham
is hung to dry for at least 6 months. It is served sliced thin as an appetizer.
microbial growth by removing mois-
ture from the meat by osmosis.
Osmosis is the movement of a sol-
vent (in this instance salt) through a
semipermeable membrane to equal-
ize the concentration. A
semipermeable membrane allows
some, but not all, molecules to pass
through.
When the dry salting process is
complete, the meat is rinsed thor-
oughly to remove any excess salt
crystals, especially if the meat is to be
smoked because excess salt crystals
slow down the smoking process.
FIGURE 4. A dry rub of salt and spices is added to this pork shoulder before
cooking for additional flavor. Rubs enhance the flavor of pork.

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 DIGGING DEEPER…
UNCOVERING ADDITIONAL FACTS:
History of Meat Curing
The early Romans and Greeks cured meats. Meat was cured using nitrates during Homer’s
time in 850 B.C. The Native American Indians smoked meat by suspending the meat inside the
top of the teepee. Even the word salary comes from the word salt. Salarium (“sal” being salt) is
the Latin word referring to salary. Early Roman soldiers were paid in salt. Salt was used instead
of money because of its value in preserving and curing meat.

Wet Curing
Brining is wet curing or immersion curing; foods are submerged in brine. Brine is a salt
solution at a typical ratio of one cup of salt to one gallon of water. Sugar or nitrite can be added
to brine. The meat is completely immersed in the brine solution. The percentage of sodium in
the brine and the thickness of the meat determine the amount of time the meat remains in the
brine solution. Brining uses osmosis to pull salt and moisture into the meat cells through the
semipermeable membrane. Lean meat (e.g., turkey and pork loin) often is brined before cook-
ing to increase the moisture.

Nitrate Curing
Sodium nitrate (NaNO3) is a white crystal-like soluble solid compound used as a curing
salt for preserving bacon, ham, and cheeses. It often is added to salt-cured meats to provide a
sufficient amount of salt. Sodium nitrate curing products are colored pink to distinguish them
from sodium chloride (table salt). Nitrates provide the characteristic pink color in cured meat.
Nitrates (NO3) prevent Clostridium
botulinum from forming in meat.
Clostridium botulinum is a rod-shaped
bacterium that produces toxins (poi-
sons) that can paralyze nerves and cause
death. Currently, most cases of botu-
lism in the United States are caused by
improperly home-processed foods.
Nitrates and nitrites by themselves
are not carcinogenic (cancer-causing).
Nitrates consumed by humans are con-
verted into nitrites by digestion. Other
reactions are dietary amines forming
carcinogenic nitrosamines. Nitrites are
FIGURE 5. Clostridium botulinum is a rod-shaped bacterium that
found naturally in vegetables, drinking produces toxins that can paralyze nerves and cause death.

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 EXPLORING OUR WORLD…
SCIENCE CONNECTION: The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
The Jungle was written by Upton Sinclair in 1906 and talks about the plight of the meat
packing worker. This book brought about legislation for meat inspections. If you want to know
more about the practices of curing meat during that time, read Chapter 14 at
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/sinclair/ch14.html.

water, and human saliva. Spinach

contains 740 mg of nitrites per
100 g, and ham contains only 0.89
mg of nitrites per 100 g.
Nitrites may cause a life-
threating problem called
methemoglobinemia for infants
under the age of 6 months.
According to the National Insti-
tutes of Health (NIH),
methemoglobinemia is a
“blood disorder in which an
abnormal methemoglobin—a
form of hemoglobin—is pro-
duced.” It causes oxygen defi-
ciency in the blood from excessive FIGURE 6. Nitrite-contaminated drinking water may cause
methemoglobinemia in infants under the age of 6 months.
nitrites in drinking water. Opin-
ions vary on nitrites causing can-
cer in humans. Studies show

DIGGING DEEPER…
UNCOVERING ADDITIONAL FACTS:
Inhibiting Nitrosamine Formation
According to the USDA, processors can use ascorbic acid (vitamin C), erythorbic acid, or their
salts “to accelerate the combination of nitrate with the meat components so there will not be
enough nitrite available during cooking to form nitrosamines and to inhibit the formation of
nitrosamines during curing.” The majority of nitrites disappear from the cured product after
accomplishing the curing effects. “After cooking, as little as one-fourth may remain, and over
time, the amount further declines.” Read more about Clostridium botulinum, nitrates, and
nitrosamine formation from the USDA at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/a70a5447-
9490-4855-af0d-e617ea6b5e46/Clostridium_botulinum.pdf?MOD=AJPERES.

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 FURTHER EXPLORATION…
ONLINE CONNECTION:
Are Cured Foods with Added Sodium Nitrates Safe?
The Pork and Health Organization discusses the safety of sodium nitrates at
http://www.porkandhealth.org/filelibrary/PorkAndHealth/freebies_SodiumNitriteFactSheet.pdf.
Controversy exists over sodium nitrates used in cured meats and cancer. In 2012, a University of
Wisconsin study found that 93 percent of the total daily intake of nitrite comes from saliva.
Sodium nitrate is essential in protecting cured meats’ food safety.
Read more about the nitrates in saliva and vegetables at http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/90/
1/11. The article looks at problems of sodium nitrite and discusses the carcinogenic effect of
nitrites. Compare the two articles, and summarize the findings.

extremely high doses of nitrites are required to cause cancer in lab animals. The use of nitrates
as an additive is limited to 200 ppm or lower by the United States Department of Agriculture
(USDA).

SUGARING
Sugaring adds flavor to cured foods. Sugar can be sucrose (table sugar), syrup, or honey. It
eliminates the harshness of salt in cured meats. It often is added to dry salting and to brines for
cured meats. Sugar provides energy for nitrates (NO3) to convert to nitrites (NO2). Also,
nitrites provide the characteristic red or pink meat pigment.

Summary:

" Cured meats use smoking, salting, and sugaring to produce the characteristic flavor
and color. Often nitrates are used as an additive in cured meats. There is contro-
versy on the safety of nitrates and nitrites in cured meats. Therefore, the USDA
limits the amount of nitrates that may be added to cured meats. Nitrates (NO3) pre-
vent Clostridium botulinum—food poisoning—from forming in meat.

Checking Your Knowledge:

# 1. Describe cured foods.

2. How does cold smoking differ from hot smoking?
3. What ingredients are in a typical brine solution?
4. Explain the controversy about nitrates and nitrites.
5. Besides cured meat, how do humans get nitrates in their diets?

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 Expanding Your Knowledge:

" It may take up to 60 days to cure a 15-pound ham in a salted brine solution. This is
3.5 to 4 days per pound per piece of meat or 11 days per inch of the thickness part
of the ham. See the “Meat Curing” Web site in the Web Links to identify the calcu-
lations needed to obtain a 70 percent salt solution to salt cure a ham or picnic shoul-
der.

If you are interested in the food safety of cured and smoked meats, see Section 5 of
the “Food Safety of Cured and Smoked Meats” Web site in the Web Links for
information on food safety and a table on prevention techniques. Use Figure 5, and
identify the illustrations of common bacteria discussed in the article.

Web Links:

$ Meat Curing
http://pods.dasnr.okstate.edu/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document-2055/ANSI-
3994web.pdf

Food Safety of Cured and Smoked Meats

http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/nchfp/lit_rev/cure_smoke_fs.html

Cured Meats and COPD Risk

http://www.healthcommunities.com/copd/cured-meats-copd-risk_jhmwp.shtml

Nitrates and Nitrites

http://healthychild.org/easy-steps/avoid-nitrates-and-nitrites-in-food/

Nitrates and Heart Disease

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-
answers/sodium-nitrate/faq-20057848

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