Curing meat AFTER freezing?

Laura Workman · #1 10/20/10, 12:56 AM

Because I have only one pig, and because I'm somewhat off the beaten track for the custom butchers in the area, it's looking as though I'm going to be processing my Berkshire pig by myself. And I do mean by myself. My husband will help me with the heavy lifting, but I'll be doing all the knife work. I'm planning to wait until it gets cold enough here, then kill, gut, skin and hang one afternoon, chill overnight, and cut the next day. I'm rather intimidated by the job.

I suspect I will not be up to curing meats once I get the cutting done, so I was wondering whether I could freeze the fresh ham and bacon cuts, as well as the sausage meat, and then process and cure them later. If I do it that way, would it be a bad idea to refreeze the processed and cured meat? (Seems like a pain to do the curing for one ham or one pound of bacon at a time.) Has anyone done it this way?

Any advice will be appreciated, as I really don't want to mess up the cured meats. They're the biggest reason I raised the pig!

sanjoman · #2 10/20/10, 02:23 AM

we butchered out our pig and I did all the cuts...I hacked up a quarter pretty bad, but I am in the same boat as you, I cant afford to send the hams or the bacons to be cured until the first so I am hoping they will be ok frozen...other wise they will become sausage.
For both our sakes I hope it will be ok.

katy · #3 10/20/10, 03:19 AM

Laura, Having the meat hang overnight will put you off to a great start.

The most amazing thing I learned while processing deer, is that they keep extremely well in the refrigerator for at least 2 weeks. The only reason I can think of to freeze a smoked ham would be to eliminate the possibility of household pest damage ?

According to the site below pork should be flash frozen at ZERO degrees, within 24-48 hours of slaughter. Guaranteed, my freezer doesn't do zero, ever. The experts seem to be saying DON'T do it.

I'll be interested to see what others have to say about this.

http://www.askthemeatman.com/pork.htm

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/...able/index.asp

katy · #4 10/20/10, 03:23 AM

Here's an idea, see if you can find someone to do the curing / smoking for you and let Hubby do the delivery to save you time. Best of luck to you both.

Ronney · #5 10/20/10, 05:51 AM

Laura, we normally kill three pigs at a time and they get sent off to the butcher for processing because I want the fancy cuts (schnitzel, medallion steaks etc.) but we often still process our own. In this case we kill, scald and gut and leave hanging overnight and cut up the following morning. Anything we want made into bacon or ham goes in the freezer to be taken to the butcher at a later date, sometimes months later. Me and mine are still here

So yes, it can be done. I have also done it with beef and mutton.

Cheers,
Ronnie

Laura Workman · #6 10/20/10, 08:10 AM

Thanks, everyone! So, Ronney, when you get your ham back from the butcher, do you put it back into the freezer for storage? (I'm a little leery of leaving cured meat in the fridge for up to a year until we get around to eating it.)

Rogo · #7 10/20/10, 12:26 PM

=== (I'm a little leery of leaving cured meat in the fridge for up to a year until we get around to eating it.) ===

Give it to me. I guarantee it won't last this porkaholic a year no matter how much there is! -LOL-

Laura Workman · #8 10/20/10, 01:21 PM

Um, thanks so much for your offer, Rogo, but don't you think the shipping would be prohibitive?

cooper101 · #9 10/20/10, 07:13 PM

deleted

Ed Norman · #10 10/20/10, 07:25 PM

We've been known to butcher a hog and freeze the sides. Then the next time we butcher, we thaw out the frozen sides and make bacon from both hogs at once. Can't tell the difference in the fresh and frozen sides when cured.

MO_cows · #11 10/20/10, 09:22 PM

We got a hog once that was home-butchered and frozen without any curing, and we cured it as we used it, after thawing. Bacon had been sliced before freezing, so I mixed up curing salt with a small amount of water and and a shot of liquid smoke, put this over the bacon for an hour to overnight, then drained, rinsed and cooked. There wasn't a lot of difference with the overnight cure so most of the time it was the one-hour cure. The hams had been sliced into steaks. Sprinkled them with curing salt on both sides and refrigerated for a few days, then rinsed and cooked. Put a lot of them on the grill to cook and that put the smoke flavor in them. This wasn't quite as good as if it had been cured and smoked initially but it was still good. We got the curing salt from Hi Mountain Jerky www.himtnjerky.com

Our sausage had been ground and seasoned before freezing so can't help you there.

Maplecrest Farm · #12 10/21/10, 06:59 AM

Laura,

I have been in the same boat.. I have frozen, then later thawed and cured and smoked bacon and hams numerous times. The results... delicious! To be honest, though, I have never tasted a thawed/cured ham next to a fresh/cured ham. In a taste test, probably would notice a texture difference, but for our house, it works out just fine!

PotBellyPigs · #13 10/21/10, 07:36 AM

Some times pigs that are hung, freeze in the building......this just means extra days must be added to the cure time(allow 2 1/2 days of curing time per pound PLUS 1 day for each day the meat might have become frozen).
Simple cure:
2 pounds non-iodized salt
1 pound of brown sugar
2 Tablespoons of Black Pepper
This is good for 2 hams

Greg Zeigler
Alger, Ohio