how to salt cure and preserve raw meat?

[dsohei]

who has done this? i am still trying to successfully ferment meat (high meat). yeah yeah i know, its not rocket science.
but somehow i think either air drying it with salt, or pickling/brining it might be easier? less smelly?
thoughts please.
if anything, this is a way to preserve meat sans freezer, like a non-cooked jerky.

[TylerDurden]

Whenever my high-meat became too dry for any reason, I always found that the beneficial effect did not occur and I would have to throw it away.

[dsohei]

so it has to be wet, like yogurt-meat? lol
what about brined meat then? wouldnt that be like sauerkraut-meat?

[donrad]

I am at the start of a test run right now. My premise is that uncut meat has the natural antibiotics of the animal keeping the bacteria down. The cut surface of the meat is where spoilage occurs. The natural enzymes in the meat will act as a tenderizer. Bacteria will not thrive in a salty or dry environment. Black pepper is an antibiotic.

I took 3 roasts, a 4 pound lean rump roast with a 1/8 inch layer of fat on one side, and 2 usda choice chuck roasts each a little over 2 pounds.

I rubbed each roast with fine sea salt, as much as it would take. I then rubbed as much fine ground black pepper into the meat as it would hold.

I put all 3 roasts on racks and put them in front of a fan to hasten initial drying. After 12 hours all the roasts had a dry crust on the outside. Slicing into all 3 roasts produced a dark maroon meat that was very tender, had a nice firm texture, and the taste was excellent (the salt and pepper added a lot to the flavor). The fatty areas of the chuck roasts were tough and grizzly. After eating about 8 ounces of thin sliced meat I felt really good.

On the second day (today) I put the rump roast in a refrigerator that has no internal fan and is set to 38 degrees. One chuck roast went into a refrigerator set at 50 degrees with a small circulating fan. The other chuck roast is sitting out at room temperature of about 65 degrees F. The cut cut surface of all 3 roasts was left open and quickly dried to a dark red. All the roasts are on racks and uncovered.

I plan to sample them daily for 2 or 3 weeks. So far very good results. 

[donrad]

It has been six days now. All 3 roasts doing great, each one getting more tender and flavorful as time goes on. No off flavors, odors or colors have developed.
The meat is still a dark maroon/brown color. I like the rump roast the best, it has some fat but not so much as to be overwhelming. The roast in the frig at 50 degrees with the fan is drying out more than the others which I like, however they are all still very moist inside. I put the roast at room temperature in front of a fan for a day to firm it up. The dryer meat has a better chew. I can put the sliced meat in a baggie and snack on it throughout the day.

Keeping all surfaces dry is the key here I think. Even the cut surface stays nice.  If I put it in a bag or on a plate it would get moist, slimey, discolor, and smell bad.

How long will it last? To be continued......

[donrad]

It has been about 17 days now and all the meat is still great. It is nice to be able to just slice off some meat for a meal anytime. Tastes very good with slices of my home-made raw milk cheese. Cold cuts. I discovered that the cheese I make every week responds to the air drying & salting preservation also. I can leave it out on the table for weeks no problem, if I put it in a container in the frig it get moldy.

Things went so well I started another batch. This time I used a 5.5 pound top sirloin roast and a couple of two pound chuck arm roasts. The top sirloin is a fairly tender cut of beef while the arm roasts are one of the toughest cuts. Conventional wisdom says the arm roasts can only be made edible by moist heat cooking for a couple of hours. Not true. The natural enzymes pre-digest the meat for me so my own enzymes can take it easy. There are scientific studies out there that claim when our own enzymes get used up or worn out is when we start to die. I'm 59 and feeling younger and stronger every day. Never get sick.

The only thing that is a problem is that the beef is not grass finished. However it is fresh cut and not the "up to 12% salt water added to enhance tenderness and flavor" crap that most supermarkets sell. I will move to grass finished beef as finances permit.

I used to take dried beef to work for my lunch, but now I cut off a thick slice of dry aged meat and cut into bite size pieces. It stays good in a baggie for at least 8 hours.