@SierraPete I love Muffaletta seasoning/taste, I used to have some Muffaletta mix that I would put on sandwiches and I LOVED it!

How To Make Homemade Cured & Smoked Turkey Learn how to make a homemade cured & smoked whole turkey with Walton's and Meatgistics. Read the guide and then post your questions or comments below. What Is Cured & Smoked Turkey? Thanksgiving and Christmas is one of the most popular times that you will find smoked and cured turkey from your local grocery store or meat market, but what about the rest of the year? With Walton’s and Meatgistics learn how to easily make your own homemade cured and smoked turkey so you can enjoy smoked and cured turkey all year long! Curing meats is a process of adding salt, nitrites, and seasoning, plus smoking to assist in meat preservation, plus affect the taste and appearance of meat products. Cured and smoked turkey has a tendency to develop a flavor slightly similar to ham and is a popular choice for many people when preparing a whole turkey for consumption. Meat Block 15 lb whole turkey Additives Walton’s Complete Turkey Cure Cold Phosphate Sodium Erythorbate - optional, see notes below Cold Water - for best results place all water to be used in a container in a fridge overnight and do not use “hard” water Supplies Food Storage Containers & Brining-Marinating Bucket Stark Bucket Liners for Marinating-Brining Marinade Injector Process Two steps. First inject, then soak and brine overnight. This two-step process will help immediately begin to get the cure and seasoning into the turkey meat and then let it sit in a diluted cure solution overnight and let things equilibrate so the cure can adequately penetrate all areas of the turkey meat for a more even application Prepare your injection solution first. For a 15 lb turkey follow these steps for preparing your injection solution. Start with 1.5 lb (24 oz) of cold water. Add 1.2 oz of cold phosphate to water and mix until completely dissolved. Then, mix 1/3 lb cure (5.3 oz) into the water and mix completely until dissolved and adequately dispersed (general usage - use 1.29 lb of cure to 1 gallon of water for a 10% pump). We recommend making extra of your injection solution, or on a single turkey, just double all the injection ingredients (cure, water, and phosphate) to make twice as much as is needed so you don’t run out during injecting. It’s always better to have a little bit of leftover injection solution. In this case, doubling would mean using 3.0 lb (48 oz) of cold water, 2.4 oz cold phosphate, and 2/3 lb (10.6 oz) of turkey cure. Injection - We recommend doing an 8 point injection, with 4 injection points on each half of the turkey. Start with the turkey lying flat on a counter or cutting board and on its back with the bottom facing you. Your first injection will be in the middle of the breast and angled down towards the top of the turkey (repeat this injection on the other breast). Injection number 2 will be parallel to the counter, through the middle of the breast, towards the top of the turkey (repeat on both sides of the turkey breast). The third and fourth injection points will then be into the drumstick and leg and then inject into the thigh muscle (again repeat to inject both halves of the turkey). That gives us 4 injection points on each side of the turkey, for 8 total injection points. Brining - Once your injection is complete, you can then brine the turkey overnight in a slightly diluted concentration of cure and water. To help the brine better penetrate through the skin and muscle, you can also slightly pull apart and create gaps in the skin and muscle. To make your cover brine, simply use twice as much water as the general usage that the cure requires. The size of your turkey and the size of container you use will affect how much solution for the cover brine that you will need to make. For a 15 lb turkey and the Walton’s Complete Turkey Cure, we need 10.5 oz (0.66 lb) of cure for each gallon of water. If you determine 3 gallons of cover brine is sufficient to fully submerge the turkey, then you would mix 3 gallons of water with 31.5 oz (1.96 lb) of cure. Simply take a Food Storage Container & Brining-Marinating Bucket, line the bucket with a Stark Bucket Liner, and then place your turkey in the bucket liner and container. Add your cover brine solution until the turkey is fully covered and submerged in the solution. You can then gather the excess of the top of the Stark Bucket Liner, push the turkey down into the solution so it is submerged, and then tie a knot in the top of the bucket liner so the turkey cannot float at the top of the solution and so it remains fully submerged in the brine solution. Hold the turkey in the brine solution overnight or approximately 12+ hours in your refrigerator or cooler (under 40° F) After your injection is complete and the turkey has soaked in the brine solution for approximately 12 hours, remove the turkey from the cure and brine solution, discard the brine solution, and then you can begin preparation for cooking and smoking. You can also add an outside rub or seasoning for additional or different flavorings. Thermal Processing & Smoking Stage 1 - 125° F for 1 hour with smoker vents open Stage 2 - 145° F for 2 hours and begin smoking Stage 3 - 200° F until internal meat temp of 165° Cooling After smoking and cooking is complete, you can immediately eat the turkey Or remove from smokehouse and cool at room temperature for 1 hour. Then vacuum seal and place the turkey or leftovers in the refrigerator or freezer for later consumption. Additional Tips If your smoker cannot go as low as 125° or 145° then use the next lowest temperature setting your smoker can achieve for the first 2 stages of smoking If you are cooking in an oven and cannot add smoke, trying using Hickory Smoke Powder as a substitute. Hickory Smoke Powder can be dissolved in your injection solution and injected directly into the turkey meat Try Using Other Excalibur Seasoning Cures You can use other types of cures for a different flavor profile. Use the same process as described above, but change the cure usage per the specific requirements of the other cures Use Country Brown Cure at a ratio of 2.0 lb of cure per 1 gallon of water for injection and 1.0 lb of cure per 1 gallon of water for a cover brine Use Sweeter Than Sweet Cure at a ratio of 1.75 lb of cure per 1 gallon of water for injection and 0.875 lb of cure per 1 gallon of water for a cover brine Use Blue Ribbon Maple Cure at a ratio of 2.0 lb of cure per 1 gallon of water for injection and 1.0 lb of cure per 1 gallon of water for a cover brine Other Notes While we do recommend brining overnight, if you do need to quicken your process for making a smoked turkey, you can skip the brining and add Sodium Erythorbate or Cure Excellerator to your injection solution and proceed straight to the smoking step after the injection and seasoning is complete If you only want to brine the turkey and skip the injection process, then hold the turkey in the brine solution for 2 days, but make sure that the holding temp in your refrigerator or cooler does not exceed 35° F for meat safety. Shop waltonsinc.com for Turkey Cure Shop waltonsinc.com for Food Storage Containers & Brining-Marinating Bucket Shop waltonsinc.com for Stark Bucket Liners Shop waltonsinc.com for Marinade Injectors

@akdave 100% correct. If you have the time between grinds you will benefit from putting it back in the freezer first. There are two temp ranges that protein extraction will occur and I am going to get this somewhat wrong, one is around frozen meat to 40 something degrees and the other is above 65 degrees. Obviously above 65 degrees is useless to us but I would think (again, dont know this and cant prove it ) the closer you are to 30 degrees than 45 the better protein extraction it will provide.

@lizj Yes, if you want it to sit for 48 hours that is okay, just don’t go too far beyond that as this will contain some sodium erythorbate which speeds the conversion from nitrite to nitric oxide and you run the risk of “gassing out” which is where all your cure converts to gas and escapes the water. Good luck and please post pics when you are done to the bragging board, we don’t have enough pics of customers finished hams!

Thanks J. I notice this during the cool down period after the ice bath. I’m thinking along the same lines. Maybe I’m adding to much cold H2O during my mixing. Next batch we’ll cut back on the added water. Thanks again T

@Jonathon thank you very much.

@Jerry-Ogden I have changed it to 1 quart of water and added a note that 2 quarts will make stuffing easier. Thanks!

How To Make Homemade Ring Bologna Learn how to make homemade ring bologna with Walton's and Meatgistics. Read the guide and then post your questions or comments below. What is Ring Bologna? Ring bologna is similar to a normal bologna sausage but it is stuffed into a smaller diameter casings and made into a ring or semicircle. It is typically left as a ring and then sliced to eat on crackers, or cut into chunks to serve as a part of other dishes or casseroles. Meat Block 7.5 lb 85/15 Lean Beef 8.75 lb 80/20 Lean Pork 8.75 lb 50/50 Pork Trim Additives 1 package Ring Bologna Seasoning Unit #4550333550 1oz Sure Cure (packet included with the seasoning) 2oz Smoked Meat Stabilizer1 6oz Sure Gel Meat Binder 1 Quart Ice Cold Water Process Grind pork trim through 3/16in grinder plate, twice Grind lean beef and pork through 1/8in grinder plate Mix Begin mixing lean meats first. While mixing add Seasoning, Sure Gel Meat Binder (or Soy Protein Blend), Sure Cure, and Ice Cold Water. Mix for 5 minutes. Add ground pork trim and mix for an additional 3 minutes, for a total of 8 minutes of mixing time Stuff Stuff into Collagen Ring Bologna Casings Note (If you do not use a cure accelerator like Smoked Meat Stabilizer, then hold in a refrigerator for approximately 12 hours or overnight) Smokehouse Schedule 120F for 30 minutes 130F for 30 minutes (start adding smoke now and throughout entire cook cycle) 140F for 30 minutes 150F for 30 minutes 160F for 30 minutes 170F until internal meat temperature of 160F Shower final product or place in a ice water bath for 10-20 minutes to set the casings and cool the product Other Notes 1. If you do not use a cure accelerator like Encapsulated Citric Acid or Smoked Meat Stabilizer, then after it has been stuffed into its casing hold in a refrigerator for approximately 12 hours or overnight (Return to text) -For Home Processors 2 Qts Will Make Stuffing Easier. -Place a small pan of water in the bottom of smokehouse during entire cooking cycle to help increase humidity. -If your smoker, smokehouse, dehydrator, or oven cannot reach temperatures as low as 120F, just start as low as possible and slowly increase the temperature over time ENJOY! Shop waltonsinc.com for Ring Bologna Seasoning Shop waltonsinc.com for Collagen Ring Bologna Casings Shop waltonsinc.com for Sausage Stuffers

@Jonathon thank you sir much appreciated I will get some smoked meat accelerator on my next order!