Ok, I'm a newbie, to both this site, and (comparatively) smoking meat too. This is my first effort at making bacon, so I haven't gone for prime belly cuts...I just grabbed cheap stuff at the local supermarket, and followed Pops recipes (Which, in my honest opinion, should be made a sticky at the top of each forum...LOL, call it "How Pop does this" :) Anyway, onto the Pics...
About a kilogram (2.2 lbs) each of pork belly, and rashers. I chose to use iodised sea salt, as the iodine is good for the immune system in people...I just hope that it doesn't affect the cure (it shouldn't, but hey, combined with the sodium nitrate in the quick cure, I might very well have just invented pork grenades
)
Hard to see (sorry about the blur), but I decided to leave the rind on the belly, because there really wouldn't be much left if I removed it.
Dry ingredients 1 cup each of white and brown sugar, 1 cup sea salt, 1 tbsp Q-cure.
4 litres (a smidge over a gallon...1 gal=3.78 litres), of water, a good stir, and in goes the pork...I am a little concerned that not all the sugar dissolved, but I am thinking that the solution may be supersaturated (i/e more soluble solids, than can be dissolved by the amount of liquid), and that the sugar will dissolve as the meat absorbs the salt/sugar.
Water bags to hold the pork submerged...next step on with the lid, and into the fridge for about 10 days...I do have a questions though...how long should the cured pork dry before being smoked? How long should it have a clean soak for? The goal is to have this on Christmas day (I was going to do a turkey...but everyone wants a "traditional" roast on christmas eve, so I will probably do MY turkey in the new year.
And there you have it. A Guide for newbies...written by a Newbie, who has 0% experience in making bacon...LOL...Did I get anything wrong?
About a kilogram (2.2 lbs) each of pork belly, and rashers. I chose to use iodised sea salt, as the iodine is good for the immune system in people...I just hope that it doesn't affect the cure (it shouldn't, but hey, combined with the sodium nitrate in the quick cure, I might very well have just invented pork grenades
Hard to see (sorry about the blur), but I decided to leave the rind on the belly, because there really wouldn't be much left if I removed it.
Dry ingredients 1 cup each of white and brown sugar, 1 cup sea salt, 1 tbsp Q-cure.
4 litres (a smidge over a gallon...1 gal=3.78 litres), of water, a good stir, and in goes the pork...I am a little concerned that not all the sugar dissolved, but I am thinking that the solution may be supersaturated (i/e more soluble solids, than can be dissolved by the amount of liquid), and that the sugar will dissolve as the meat absorbs the salt/sugar.
Water bags to hold the pork submerged...next step on with the lid, and into the fridge for about 10 days...I do have a questions though...how long should the cured pork dry before being smoked? How long should it have a clean soak for? The goal is to have this on Christmas day (I was going to do a turkey...but everyone wants a "traditional" roast on christmas eve, so I will probably do MY turkey in the new year.
And there you have it. A Guide for newbies...written by a Newbie, who has 0% experience in making bacon...LOL...Did I get anything wrong?