Ratio Consistency
Also known as charcutier's percentage
The fourth Pillar. The mathematics of curing are not approximate. Salt, cure and sugar are weighed as percentages of the meat, so a result can be trusted and repeated.
Ratio Consistency is the Pillar of measurement. Curing runs on percentages: salt at 2.2 to 2.5% of the meat, nitrite at 156 ppm, sugar dosed to reach a target pH. These are not seasonings added to taste; they are the numbers that make a cure both safe and repeatable, and they are weighed to the meat, never judged by eye.
For whole muscle the equilibrium, or EQ, method is the clearest expression of this. Rather than burying the meat in excess salt and judging the timing, the exact weight of salt and cure is calculated to the meat and left to distribute evenly, so the final concentration is known in advance and cannot overshoot. It is safer, more even, and repeatable batch after batch.
Precision matters most with nitrite. Too little loses the protection against Clostridium botulinum; too much is harmful. A small, weighed, correct amount is the entire point, which is why the curing salts are diluted, dyed and calculated to the gram.
Temple element. Pillar, Ratio Consistency
Related in the Codex
References
- United States Food Safety and Inspection Service — Processing Inspectors' Calculations Handbook, FSIS Directive 7620.3
- Canadian Food Inspection Agency — Preventive Control Recommendations on the Use of Nitrites in the Curing of Meat Products
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations — Meat Processing Technology for Small- to Medium-Scale Producers
- United States Food Safety and Inspection Service — FSIS Ready-to-Eat Fermented, Salt-Cured, and Dried Products Guideline
- Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations — Basic Methods of Quality Control
- Codex Alimentarius Commission — General Principles of Food Hygiene, CXC 1-1969
- Food Safety Authority of Ireland — Guidance Note 33: Good Manufacturing Practices for Ready-to-Eat Raw Fermented Meat Products
- Hwang and co-authors — Effect of Starter Cultures on Quality of Fermented Sausages
- Canadian Food Inspection Agency — Preventive control recommendations for manufacturing fermented and dried meat products
- Codex Alimentarius Commission — Code of Hygienic Practice for Meat, CXC 58-2005
- Codex Alimentarius Commission — Guidelines for the Validation of Food Safety Control Measures, CXG 69-2008
- United States Food and Drug Administration — HACCP Principles and Application Guidelines