Meat Dishes
Curing Brine
Recipe No. 0664
A modern wet cure for salt beef, corned beef, silverside, ham and pickled meats, made with a ready-made curing salt (Prague Powder No. 1 / Cure No. 1), used strictly as the pack says. Our original recipe No. 701, a historic saltpetre brine, is kept below as an archive formula and is not for use today.
- Makes 2 litres (modern wet cure)
- Curing: days, depending on the joint
- Ready in about 1 hr plus chilling and curing time
How long to cure, by weight and thickness ↓
Archive formula: original No. 701 (not for use today) ↓
Brine for Roasts (flavour brine) →
Brining explained: history, types and turkey brines compared →
Method
Weigh the salt, the sugar and the curing salt accurately (use scales that read to 0.1 g for the curing salt). Put them in a large pan with the water and any aromatics. Heat gently, stirring, until everything has dissolved, then bring just to the boil. Take the pan off the heat.
Leave the brine to cool completely, then chill it in the fridge until it is fridge-cold (below 5°C). Never put meat into warm brine.
Put the meat in a large non-metallic container that will fit in your fridge. Pour over enough cold brine to cover it completely and weigh it down with a plate so it stays under. Cover and refrigerate at below 5°C.
Leave it for the time in “How long to cure” below, or the time on your curing-salt pack if that gives one. Turn the meat daily so it cures evenly.
Lift the meat out and throw the brine away (never reuse it). Soak it in fresh cold water in the fridge, or cut a thin sliver, simmer it for a few minutes and taste: if it is too salty, soak the joint longer and taste again. Then cook it as the recipe you are following says.
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How long to cure
Always in the fridge, below 5°C, and turn the meat daily. If your curing-salt pack gives a time, follow that. The published guides below do not all agree, so we have not invented a single “Chef Col time”. Use them as a guide, then taste a sliver before you cook.
| Guide | Time | Source |
|---|---|---|
| By thickness | About 1½ days per inch (2.5 cm) of thickness | Stuffers, for a Prague Powder No. 1 brine |
| By weight | About 1 day per kg | River Cottage salt beef (Jewish Chronicle version) |
| A typical wet cure | A 2 kg piece, about 3–7 days, then about 1 extra day per extra kilo; turn daily | Weschenfelder, The Art of Curing Bacon (general wet-cure guidance) |
When the time is up, cut a thin sliver, simmer it for a few minutes and taste. If it is too salty, soak the joint in fresh cold water in the fridge and taste again. River Cottage’s older salt-beef method soaks for 24 hours; Weschenfelder suggest a shorter soak and a re-test for bacon. Do not go looking for a longer cure “to be on the safe side” once it already tastes well seasoned.
Curing safely
The Food Standards Agency says to use instructions from a reputable source and follow them exactly, including temperatures and times. Mistakes in home preservation can be serious: Clostridium botulinum can grow and produce a toxin you cannot see, smell or taste. Keep the meat in the fridge, below 5°C, for the whole cure (the FSA says a fridge should be between 0 and 5°C). Use a fridge thermometer.
Prague Powder No. 1 is a concentrated curing salt. Weigh it, never add extra “for luck”, and keep it labelled, sealed and out of reach of children. Use only Cure No. 1 (or a pack that says it can be used as Prague Powder No. 1 / Insta Cure No. 1) for this recipe, and only for meat that will be cooked afterwards.
If your pack gives a different dose or time, follow the pack, not the figures on this page. Pre-blended brining cures are a different product: use them at the rate on their own pack, not as a 1:1 stand-in for Prague Powder No. 1.
Archive formula (historic, not for use today): traditional curing brine, No. 701 (with saltpetre)
This is our original recipe No. 701, kept as it was written, with its historic quantities unchanged. At 750 g salt to 2.5 litres of water it is about 23% salt. It is a traditional saltpetre brine, not a modern tested cure, and it is not for use today. Use the modern wet cure above, or a tested recipe that uses a ready-made curing salt, following its pack exactly.
Ingredients (makes 2.5 litres) — archive only
- 2.5 litres (4½ pints) water
- 750 g (1 lb 10 oz) salt
- 15 g (½ oz) saltpetre (potassium nitrate)
- 50 g (1¾ oz) soft brown sugar
- 1 bay leaf
- 6 juniper berries
- 6 black peppercorns
Method (archive only)
- Put everything in a large pan and bring to the boil. Boil for 10 minutes, skimming often.
- Allow to cool completely.
- Strain. The brine is now ready for use. Use it cold.
About saltpetre
Saltpetre (potassium nitrate) is what older British cards used to keep ham, salt beef and tongue pink. A nitrate has to be changed into nitrite in the meat before it cures, so results vary more than with a modern curing salt. It is not table salt. See the saltpetre glossary.
Chef’s notes
- This modern brine follows the suggested Cure No. 1 brine published by Weschenfelder, a UK home-curing supplier: 150 g salt, 15 g Cure No. 1 and 80 g sugar per litre of water. Always follow your pack if it gives a different dose.
- Prague Powder No. 1 is 6.25% sodium nitrite and 93.75% salt. It is not table salt, not Himalayan pink salt, and not Cure No. 2.
- Weigh the curing salt; never add extra. Keep it labelled, sealed and out of reach of children.
- Keep the meat in the fridge, below 5°C, for the whole cure.
- Packs do not all agree on the Cure No. 1 dose in a brine. Home Curing UK gives 7.5 g per litre. If that is what your pack says, use the pack dose, not the 15 g per litre here.
- Our recipes that use a curing brine: Corned Beef (salt beef), Boiled Silverside of Beef, Silverside of Beef with Green Sauce, Pickled Pig's Trotters and Boiled Ham. For a roast turkey, chicken or pork, use the flavour brine instead.
See also
Sources for the modern cure
The salt, curing-salt and sugar figures, and the times, are taken from the sources below. We have not invented or averaged a dose.
- Weschenfelder, Cure No. 1: suggested brine of 150 g salt, 15 g Cure No. 1 and 80 g sugar per litre (per kg) of water (the 15 g figure is the 1.5% they print; the same page also states a 1.5–2% range)
- Weschenfelder, The Art of Curing Bacon: wet-cure times (a 2 kg piece typically 3–7 days, then a further day per extra kilo), turn daily, soak and taste if too salty
- Stuffers, Prague Powder No. 1: 1½ days per inch of thickness for a brine; their own brine is 9 g curing salt plus 90 g salt per litre, which is a different dose from Weschenfelder
- Home Curing UK, Cure No. 1: usually 2.5 g per kg of meat in a dry cure, or 7.5 g per litre in a brine (a different dose; follow the pack if that is yours)
- River Cottage salt beef, as published in the Jewish Chronicle: about 1 day per kg (that version is a salt-and-sugar brine without a nitrite curing salt)
- Serious Eats, homemade corned beef: uses pink salt (Prague Powder) as a dry / vacuum cure, not as an immersion brine, so we have not taken our per-litre figures from it
- Food Standards Agency, Consumer advice for food preservation at home: use trusted instructions and follow them exactly; botulism is a risk if food is not preserved correctly
- Food Standards Agency, How to chill, freeze and defrost food safely: a fridge should be between 0 and 5°C
The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service publishes nitrite limits for commercial plants, not a home immersion-brine formula, so we have not taken a home dose from USDA.
Shopping list for 1 portion
The modern wet cure was added in November 2026, from the sources listed above. The archive formula is Cookeryonline’s original recipe No. 701, kept as written, from the original recipe card.
