Second attempt.....

just looking at those figures, that seems a really small amount of rub for 3kg of meat!!!!!

Cheers Dave. Just been out to buy some bags and noticed pork loin was on offer, so guess what?????

game on......going to cut it in half, cure one half and cure and cold smoke the other.

just need to adjust the rub as I will be leaving the skin on these

DaveOmak said:

 
CANADIEN BACON !!!!!!!!!

Click to expand...

or 'back bacon' as we call it hereLOL

OK, finally done.

The original plans for today were to get some pork belly and cure that, go to the home brew shop and buy a 30 bottle kit of Chardonnay to start (been making wine for ages with some really good results). Then I was going to start off a traditional ale kit that I got bought for Christmas, from a brewery called Woodfords. I moved to Liverpool from Norfolk 15years ago and the Woodfords brewery was about 8 miles from my home, and still is a small independent brewery with its own pub, but now supplies lots of pubs in Norfolk. I was over the moon to see a kit for sale in Liverpool. The ale is called 'Headcracker', and its an ale me and my best two buddies used to drink on a sundae night at this little country pub in the middle of nowhere. With a name like 'Headcrcker', ill let you draw your own conclusions as to the state we used to leave the pub (it was 7% ABV).

Anyway, I digress.

All I have managed to do today is prep my bellies and then, as they were on offer, bought a nice loin joint as well. I still have a sermon to write for tomorrow morning !!!!!

Ill have a go at posting some pics of what I have done.

Having taken the advice of so many of you on here, (I have been overwhelmed by such fantastic support) I have cured my meat in the following manner:-

3000g pork belly, skin off, cut in half and both halves placed in the same bag to cure Will leave one green and cold smoke the other

75g salt

45g sugar (Molasses sugar-rich and very dark)

9.6g Prague powder

1100g pork loin, skin on

27.5g salt

16.5g brown sugar

3.19g Prague powder

1250g pork loin, skin on

31.25 salt

18.75 brown sugar

3.63 Prague powder

I'm lucky because I reload a lot of ammunition for hunting and stalking so I have some very accurate powder scales

so, ill try to post some pics


Folded pre pack belly, just over 4kg in weight


Unpacked, bone in...


De-boned


and a half assed attempt at skinning


prepping and mixing the rub....note the digital powder scales on the right. Accurate to 0.01g and only £10 off e-bay


Rub applied to one of the belly joints


My pork loin that was on offer....£9 for this little lot


Just a salt, brown sugar and Prague powder rub on this, adjusted for skin on


2x bellies in the white food bag, stacked one on top of each other and the two loin halves in the clear Ziploc bags....all ready for the fridge.

Will be turning meat over daily and giving a general mix up in their bags.

If anyone has spotted any glaring errors please let me know because if I waste this and the missus finds out I've blown the housekeeping budget, the next meat items to be 'cured' will be my plums LOL

After 24hrs decided to remove bellies form the bag and just leave them in the try to soak in the brine. The loins remain in their Ziploc bags on another shelf on another tray

cheers guys, yes every last scrap of the cure was added. I was surprised at how little was required. Im thinking of removing from the cure about Friday. im going to leave half 'green' and cold smoke the rest

that's ok, ill take any advice I can get mate.

That means I will have time to cure some salmon and if I time it right I can cold smoke the whole lot at the same time, along with some cheese

Right. The loins and the bellies are due to come out. Now I have heard mention of 'tasting' a rasher or two for saltiness (and then soaking if too salty). When should this be done? I was thinking it should be done when removed from the brine and patted dry, or do I need to hang it in the fridge for a while first?

Excellent
Been out shopping and found a butcher's supply shop down the road from where I live. Didn't even know it was there! So came away with a few bits. Fridge thermometer and small meat hooks. Also got some other hardware bits an bobs to make a removable meat hanger for the fridge and a galvanised metal dustbin to make in to a cold smoker[emoji]128518[/emoji][emoji]128518[/emoji][emoji]128518[/emoji]
I'll post some more pics when I'm done[emoji]128526[/emoji][emoji]128526[/emoji][emoji]128526[/emoji]

It's cold smoke...hot smoking I do on the bbq [emoji]128518[/emoji]