Finally got started

I finally got out today and got started getting some things ready for butchering tomorrow.I have the knives sharp and the salt cure mixed. That took a lil while. I had about a half gallon of dried cayenne peppers that needed to be ground. I started this in the food processor. Never mind trying that, it don't work to grind the seeds up. After crushing them in the food processor I had to grind them fine in the electric spice grinder. I was being extra careful not to get the fine dust on me but I did anyway. And then rubbed my eyes. Soap and water pretty much solved that issue. The salt cure recipe that I use is as follows:

6 lb salt
6lb brown sugar
1/2 cup cayenne pepper finely ground
1/2 cup black pepper

Mix all this together really well. I do recommend using rubber gloves to mix in the peppers as they will make your hands burn some.

This mixture will nearly fill a 12 quart dish pan to within about 2 inches of the top and should be sufficient cure to treat about a 300 lb hog. That is curing 2 hams, 2 shoulders, 2 sides of bacon and the jowl. Any salt left over can be stored in a dry place to use the next time we butcher hogs. OK so much for that.
The weather tomorrow is supposed to be beautiful. The temps are to be in the low 50's with night temps in the low 30's. Perfect for curing meat. It was nice out today as well. I actually went out today without a coat on. We are supposed to have rain and thunderstorms on Saturday tho when we will be rendering lard. That might be a bit tricky. Because you surely don't want to let any water splash in the cooking lard. It will cause an explosion and somebody will get burned. Don't need that happening.
So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella