Bacon question

[rstr hunter]

I'm trying my 1st Bacon (q-view in process) and modified the honey bacon recipe in Rytec's book. Original recipe had 2 c honey, 1 c salt, 4 T Insta-cure #1. Decided only had a half a slab of bacon so I cut recipe in half and substituted brown sugar for honey. Rubbed well and wrapped in saran wrap and it's in the fridge.

Now for the question. As I mixed all three ingredients together and rubbed on and as the brown sugar took a lot of the rub space I still had a lot left over. With the syrup or the honey you'd do the rub then pour over with the syrup or honey, since the brown sugar needs room to stick too and it was all put on at once, am I light on salt and cure for this? I think I could still wash this off yet and start over with honey as original recipe if you think I need to, but kind of liked the idea of brown sugar instead.

 

[pineywoods]

I don't remember the recipe but if you used the proper amount of cure for the weight no problem just pack any leftover spices in the bag with the belly

 

[hounds51]

Yea I think if you do what piney says you will be ok. I was gonna try it that way, but I was gonna rub the bellies with the salt mix first, followed by the brown sugar. Then I got a good deal on some Mrs. Butterworths bulk pancake syrup. I just preped some bacon this last weekend see Makin Bacon pictures.

 

[mulepackin]

As long as your cure was right to begin with and is generally well distributed on the surface you are fine. Even though its a "dry" cure process, the whole mess pulls liquid from the meat pretty soon and it will be covered in a brine more or less. I overhaul my bacon every day it cures, basically, flip it over, light massage to ensure good contact with cure.

 

[mballi3011]

Again Piney is johnny on the spot with this one too. You should weigh out your bacon or meat before you cure it so you can use the correct amount of cure.

 

[Bearcarver]

I don't know about "instacure", but Tender Quick calls for more accuracy than "a full slab" or "a half of a slab".
Someone who uses Instacure should be able to help you.

With TQ I use one half ounce (one tablespoon) per pound of meat. I weigh each separate piece & measure the right amount of cure for that piece, and put it in a bag all by itself. Anything that falls off that piece gets put in with that piece, in that bag. I think you should use a high amount of accuracy when using Nitrites/Nitrates. One slab, or one half of a slab is not a very accurate measurement because one of the slabs I smoked was 8 lbs, and one was 12 lbs.

Bearcarver