What’s a salt cure?

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Fresh meats have a very limited shelf life: they must remain refrigerated or frozen until cooked and, even then, must be consumed quickly to avoid bacterial growth. One way to prolong the longevity of meats is to cure them with a salt cure. A salt cure is a process by which meat is preserved. Salt cures can be salt rubs or salt solutions that alter the chemical makeup of the meat, tenderizing it, and drying it out. Cured meat requires no refrigeration and remains edible for months or even years after curing.

Salt cures are an ancient method of food preparation practiced by many cultures and the process is still performed today. Curing meat was especially important before refrigeration was widely available. In medieval Europe, for example, meats were often kept fresh in underground caverns, but this practice was not always sustainable. Mongers began curing excess meat and meat to be eaten in the winter months in salt to prevent it from decomposing. Fishermen, especially those in Scandinavia, developed salt curing processes to preserve fish around the same time.

An early salt cure was as simple as storing slabs of meat in a salt barrel. The chemicals in the salt dry out the meat by absorbing the moisture. This eliminates the possibility of bacterial growth. Bacteria thrive in moist environments, but most cannot tolerate high salt concentrations.

The meat was commonly stored in salt barrels during early ship explorations, including European merchant ships and British sea voyages that landed settlers in the United States, Canada and Australia. The ships had been gone for months at a time without the ability to source fresh food or store stored food in the refrigerator. Salted meat, including poultry, pork, fish, and beef, was a staple of ship life.

How long meat should stay in the salt cure before being stored depends largely on the type of meat, its size, potency, and salt concentration. Curing can take from a few days to a few weeks. How long a piece of meat stays in the salt cure can affect its flavor. The cured meat has, perhaps not surprisingly, a very salty taste, but how much that flavor prevails over the original flavor of the meat varies over time.

The brine is another variant of the salt cure. The brine is a salt water solution in which the meats are immersed. If left long enough, a saline solution will preserve the meat much like applying salt directly. The brine does require refrigeration, however, as the water in the brine will breed bacteria if left at room temperature for too long.

They remain cured meats, an important part of the cooking traditions of many cultures, although methods of curing salt have advanced since the earliest times. Other sanitary curing containers have largely replaced wooden barrels, and chemicals such as nitrates and nitrites are often added to curing salts to speed up the process and ensure meats are thoroughly dried and preserved.

Home curing is also a popular way of preserving or flavoring meats, especially poultry and pork. Home cooks should be wary of using simply table salt to preserve meat. Many of the commercially available table salts do not have the same potency or composition as the salts of the Middle Ages. A salt cure made with ordinary table salt may not cure the meat. Many companies sell curing solutions and curing kits which are generally a safer option. These cures can preserve the meat completely or, if allowed to cure for a shorter time, tenderize the meat and add flavor before cooking. Partial cures are a relatively simple way to enhance the flavor of meat destined for the pan or roasting pan.

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