Bacon

sausageface · Nov 12, 2016

Here is maybe a dumb question is one smarter to inject the brine as well as brining pork bellies in a wet brine and will this cut down the brining time any thoughts on this would be appreciated

SmokinAl · Nov 12, 2016

Yes it will cut down on the brine time, but it is not necessary unless the belly is more than 2" thick.

Al

sausageface · Nov 12, 2016

Thanks Al these are fairly close to 2 inches that's why I wondered

jeronuz19 · Nov 16, 2016

Hello everyone,

I have been looking for a good community of people who share the passion for smoking meats and I finally found this site. I started smoking meat a few months ago with small briskets, ribs and pulled pork... and started to move to smoked cured meats. I have successfully made cured ham by wet brining then smoking. Now, I want to try to make our first bacon. I bought a pork belly about 800 grams and I have been researching the process of dry curing bacon, particulatly the amount of Cure #1 per Kg. I have found a website with a calculator and I just want to ask if it near accurate of the standard amount and if the said amount is safe.

Here is the link to the website with the calculator:
Bacon Cure Calculator

Thank you.

atomicsmoke · Nov 16, 2016

Jeronuz,

The recipe in the link is the standard dry cure: 0.25% of cure#1. You can change the salt a little according to your taste.

You probably know that you can wet cure the meat for bacon as well. Look up pop's brine here.

I prefer dry cured cold smoked bacon but you might like one of the other methods.

jeronuz19 · Nov 17, 2016

atomicsmoke said:
Jeronuz,

The recipe in the link is the standard dry cure: 0.25% of cure#1. You can change the salt a little according to your taste.

You probably know that you can wet cure the meat for bacon as well. Look up pop's brine here.

I prefer dry cured cold smoked bacon but you might like one of the other methods.

Thank you, atomicsmoke. Yes, I have tried wet-curing bacon before then hot smoking it. I have seen dry curing videos and it seems more practical and "bacony thing". I prefer wet-curing my hams and dry curing my bacon. I have just finished applying my cure rub on my meat and set it on my fridge. probably gonna take it out next Thursday and dry it out for 2 days in the fridge before smoking it. I'm not sure about cold smoking because I have read somewhere here that cold-smoking can be dangerous because it will sit on the 'danger zone' while on the grill. anyway, I might try it out next week. Thanks!

atomicsmoke · Nov 17, 2016

What is meat that you plan to take out next Thursday? Belly?

Cold smoking is safe even in warmer temperatures if the meat is cured properly.

jeronuz19 · Nov 17, 2016

atomicsmoke said:
What is meat that you plan to take out next Thursday? Belly?

Cold smoking is safe even in warmer temperatures if the meat is cured properly.

Yes. My pork belly bacon. Im gonna try cold smoking next week.

atomicsmoke · Nov 17, 2016

If you just finish applying the cure and plan to take it out next Thu only gives one week of curing time. I recommend at least 10 days, 2 weeks would be perfect.

jeronuz19 · Nov 17, 2016

atomicsmoke said:
If you just finish applying the cure and plan to take it out next Thu only gives one week of curing time. I recommend at least 10 days, 2 weeks would be perfect.

So two weeks... I would just have to turn it every 24 hrs... alright. Thanks agqin atomicsmoke!

wade · Nov 17, 2016

Jeronuz19 said:
Thank you, atomicsmoke. Yes, I have tried wet-curing bacon before then hot smoking it. I have seen dry curing videos and it seems more practical and "bacony thing". I prefer wet-curing my hams and dry curing my bacon. I have just finished applying my cure rub on my meat and set it on my fridge. probably gonna take it out next Thursday and dry it out for 2 days in the fridge before smoking it. I'm not sure about cold smoking because I have read somewhere here that cold-smoking can be dangerous because it will sit on the 'danger zone' while on the grill. anyway, I might try it out next week. Thanks!

Different rules apply regarding the Danger Zone once you have applied a cure to the meat - as the curing process acts as a bacterial inhibitor. When curing bacon you are doing the following things:

Increasing the salt content - which inhibits bacterial growth.
Increasing the sugar content (if using sugar in the cure) - which binds available water and inhibits bacterial growth.
Adding Nitrite - which inhibits the production of toxin by anaerobic Botulinum spores.
Reducing water content * - which inhibits bacterial growth.

* During the curing process this is only achieved when dry curing. Immersion or injection/pumping will increase the water content by up to 10%

When smoking the bacon after it has been cured, the smoking process does the following:

Adding smoke - Mild antibacterial reducing bacterial growth (though more for flavour)
Reducing water content further ** - which inhibits bacterial growth
Increases salt and sugar concentrations due to the loss of water

** Both in the Dry cured bacon and the immersion/pumped bacon

The curing process should be done at <40 F (4 C) however, once cured, the bacon is fine to be smoked at room temperature. There is less risk with dry cured bacon because of the lower water content however the salt/sugar/Nitrite alone in the immersion brined bacon is sufficient protection for the smoking to also be done at ambient temperatures.

For Dry cured bacon as a slab the USDA recommend a maximum of 3 weeks pantry shelf life at ambient temperatures (and 4-6 weeks refrigerated). Immersion cured bacon is significantly less than this. http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/254188/how-long-will-bacon-keep-in-the-fridge#post_1629766

jeronuz19 · Nov 21, 2016

Thanks for the help guys. Just a quick question... I have my cure in the fridge for 5 days now... can I add more salt and sugar (maybe honey) to it in the middle of the curing process? Thanks!

wild west · Nov 21, 2016

If you have calculated your salt sugar and cure properly why would you want to add more at this point. Without a taste test you will have no idea how it tastes. I would not be adding at this point especially salt. When you reach the full cure point taste it and then add what you think it needs in the rest priod before you smoke it

jeronuz19 · Nov 21, 2016

wild west said:
If you have calculated your salt sugar and cure properly why would you want to add more at this point. Without a taste test you will have no idea how it tastes. I would not be adding at this point especially salt. When you reach the full cure point taste it and then add what you think it needs in the rest priod before you smoke it

Thanks! About my cure... is it normal that no water/bacon_juice is coming out from the meat? I have seen instructional videos on dry curing and there seems to be a noteable amount of liquid in their cure bags after some time. Mine is just moist due to salination but no water. Does that mean I made a mistake?

wade · Nov 22, 2016

Jeronuz19 said:
Thanks! About my cure... is it normal that no water/bacon_juice is coming out from the meat? I have seen instructional videos on dry curing and there seems to be a noteable amount of liquid in their cure bags after some time. Mine is just moist due to salination but no water. Does that mean I made a mistake?

There could be a several of reasons for the lack of liquid

Firstly it will depend on the meat and how it has been handled/treated before you received it. With fresh pork that I get straight from the butcher there is usually very little liquid produced however when I have cured some supermarket pork or pork that has been previously frozen it can sometimes produce a lot.

Your packaging will also have an effect. If you are curing in a loosely sealed bag then you often get more visible brine produced. If you vac pack your meat while it is curing you will usually see very little

If you are curing it uncovered (like Dave Omak) then the water could be evaporating from the surface as it is being produced

If you are curing it in loose wrapping like clingfilm or Saran wrap then it could be being lost through leakage.

Providing the dry brining is done in a sealed package preventing the liquid from being lost then you are fine - you will get variation in the amount of liquid produced. Dave's method I have not tried but he uses it regularly and has posted that it works fine. Losing the brine through leakage is obviously not good.

I usually vac pack mine and I end up with a piece of damp looking bacon when it is opened as much of the liquid produced is reabsorbed by the meat (similar to what you described). I can be curing 3 or 4 different pieces of pork at the same time and can get differing amounts of liquid produced in each pack.

jeronuz19 · Nov 22, 2016

Wade said:
There could be a several of reasons for the lack of liquid

Firstly it will depend on the meat and how it has been handled/treated before you received it. With fresh pork that I get straight from the butcher there is usually very little liquid produced however when I have cured some supermarket pork or pork that has been previously frozen it can sometimes produce a lot.

Your packaging will also have an effect. If you are curing in a loosely sealed bag then you often get more visible brine produced. If you vac pack your meat while it is curing you will usually see very little

If you are curing it uncovered (like Dave Omak) then the water could be evaporating from the surface as it is being produced

If you are curing it in loose wrapping like clingfilm or Saran wrap then it could be being lost through leakage.

Providing the dry brining is done in a sealed package preventing the liquid from being lost then you are fine - you will get variation in the amount of liquid produced. Dave's method I have not tried but he uses it regularly and has posted that it works fine. Losing the brine through leakage is obviously not good.

I usually vac pack mine and I end up with a piece of damp looking bacon when it is opened as much of the liquid produced is reabsorbed by the meat (similar to what you described). I can be curing 3 or 4 different pieces of pork at the same time and can get differing amounts of liquid produced in each pack.

Thank you very much, Wade!

I placed mine on a plastic marinade container. Here are some pictures of my work (5 days on the cure)... I just flip it every 24 hours in the fridge.

gYx31oe.jpg

jeronuz19
Nov 22, 2016

cNSHipg.jpg

jeronuz19
Nov 22, 2016

The untrimmed-fatty one on the right is just a spare belly from my mom for testing. I got the meat from the market, fresh pork, unfrozen.

Thanks!

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