A. Kesteloo wrote:

> For some reason, the Dutch recipes I got use the baumé scale. I would like
> to convert them so I can use them.

OK, that makes sense. It's an ancient but familiar method. We have
that problem in the US too. We're still using the english measurement
system even though no one else is, including the english.

Here's how to do the conversions. I'll run through a simple example.

This brine will contain 3/4 cups of salt per gallon of water, which
is a typical amount I'd used for brining poultry.

3/4 cup of Morton Kosher Salt weighs 160 G
1 gallon of water weighs 3.6 kg

That's around 4.44% salt by weight.

Which will read about 17 degrees SAL on your salometer (it's not
read as "percent" by the way, it's "degrees SAL" or "salometer
degrees").

To convert to degrees baume, find the specific gravity of the
brine then convert to degrees baume.

Using a lookup table, specific gravity in this case is 1.032.
http://www.bccdc.org/downloads/pdf/f..._Saltbrine.pdf

Degrees Baume (on heavier than water scale) = 145 - (145 / G)
where G is specific gravity

So Degrees Baume = 145 - 140.503875968992 = 4.496

I'm sure that's much lower than you're used to seeing if you use
the floating egg method.

> Most of the time I smoke loin, turkey breast, parts of the pig belly and
> parts of ham (about 1.5 kg) Not to eat when it is holt, but cold on a
> sandwich. So preservation is what I'm looking for. The egg and 4 to 5 days
> brining is a recipe I learned from my Polish father in law. I think he is
> cheating, 5 days is probably not enough. I think he converted his original
> recipe when he got a freezer (now using the salt for taste)

Well that's it then, it's all about what you like. I use about half
that much salt, but that's just my preference. Go with what you
like.

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com