British BBQ Society Forums

Internal dimensions of 55 gallon drum is 57cm diameter, these are 53

http://www.homebase.co.uk/en/homebaseuk ... ill-307038

Should work fine so long as you have protruding grate supports long enough

Are you planning on cooking the loin or eating it like salumi? That'll dictate which cure you want to use

Hot and fast is the only way 325-350F, preheat and add the bird when it's up to temp. I'd add wood as the temp is climbing and near to target

I bought a refurbished thermapen on eBay and had the same experience - seemed brand new! My girlfriend bought herself a pink one too and same deal. Go for it, I've known many people to have bought them in refurbished condition and heard absolutely no complaints

I've had that same Waring grinder for years and it is excellent. The difference you may find (depending on grinder) is that coffee grinders are burr grinders. You can set a grind level; coarse or fine, for example. Spice grinders are generally just blades so you won't find as much consistency. Not ...

Speaking from experience - you're over thinking it mix the cure in with the salt and sugar well, and stick with the correct ratio of cure to meat and you shouldn't have any problems. Curing meat is incredibly simple, really, and if you're sticking to ratios it's very difficult to screw up.

If you want an equilibrium brine just follow that formula I mentioned earlier -
3% salt
1% sugar
0.25% cure #1

Just count water weight as meat weight. E.g. 600g meat and 1000ml water -
48g salt
16g sugar
4g cure #1

Brine until complete. I've not used that cure as a brine before but I see no ...

Aye - nitrate is for long term curing (months or more) and uncooked products. Nitrite is short terms (weeks) for products to be cooked. Afaik it's the nitric oxide which acts as the anti microbial. I just don't know how quickly that breakdown occurs from nitrite to its oxide

I'm guessing that the amount of residual nitrite in the finished product will reduce over time.. It is converted to nitric oxide during the curing process. To what level of the nitrite though I'm unsure

With that formula above you run no risk of over-salting so feel free to err on the side of caution and leave it for longer if it's a thick piece of meat. The 0.25% cure #1 does comply with recommended usage of cure #1 as it is sold in the UK (i.e. a blend of 93.75% salt and 6.25% sodium nitrite)