First time dry cure porkbelly

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cluckinchicken6

Fire Starter
Original poster
Nov 3, 2016
47
17
Texas
Alright I have tried the pops bacon brine and all the bacon turned out great the only problem was that 13 pounds was not enough bacon because everyone that came over for thanksgiving wanted to take a pack home with them I had purchased a charcuterie book on amazon and decided to try my hand at dry curing some porkbellys to mix up some flavors.
I had bought 2 porkbellys both at about 9 pounds and just cut them right down the middle so they ended up both being right around 4.5 to 4.75 using the bacon calculator added appropriate amount of cure,salt,and sugar I am using cure #1 for cure
Then here comes the flavor train
1st belly was my control I just used a straight bacon cure no flavor to see how the dry cure process would turn out
2nd belly added just plain 1/4 cup maple syrup to the mix dumped it in the bag with the cure to give it a hint of maple
3rd belly I used bacon cure but added a quarter cup of garlic powder 1/4 pinion powder and a quarter cup fresh coarse ground black pepper and rubbed it all it
4th belly I used a recipe from the book using the bacon calculator I added 5 chopped garlic cloves and and 1/8th cup cracked pepper corns with 3 crushed basil leaves
Vacuum sealed and into the fridge they went for 8 days each belly was anywhere from 1" to maybe an 1 1/2" flipped daily to disperse cure pulled them out after day#8 all bellys were firm to the touch all the way to the middle washed patted dry and put back into the fridge for 2 days for dryin Now the only problem I really was concerned about was I had purchased these bellies from a local market and when I cut into the cryovac they smelled kinda funky but after a wash before I put the cure on the smell seem to really be a lot milder. After the cure the smell was almost all but gone on all the bellies except the control belly #1 it still kind of lingered on it but not too bad I am figuring it was just some of the gas build up in the cryovac and think it will probably smoke out when I put some heat on it kind of smelled like some of the ribs I have cooked in the past when the cryovac kinda lifts off the meat when and is loose around it hopefully when I smoked tomorrow all turns out well
 
I would never trust meat that smelled when I bought it.

It may be just fine, but I would have taken it back to the store & got a refund.

I'm going to PM Chef Jimmy J & ask him to comment on this.

He's the food safety moderator & should be able to give you a definite answer.

Al
 
I can't help with the smell from cryovac Belly.

I get my Bellies fresh from a couple small Butcher shops around here.

Here's my Dry Cured Bacon:

Bacon (Extra Smoky)

Bear
 
Last edited:
Cryo meat is aging aka decomposing and will have some smell when opened. This should dissipate within a minute or two. Any off smell that lingers indicates the meat has been around longer than is typical, 2 weeks, or may have been above 40 for some period of time. While smell is not necessarily a safety issue, the meat may not taste good to you. A steak from the grocery store has a mild flavor compared to a 60-90 day dry aged steak with it's cheese like Funk and intense flavor. The latter is not everyones cup of tea....Bottom line cook a sample of the control. If it tastes good to you, you are good to go. The Cure, salt, wash, etc, took care of any bateria or toxin issue...JJ
 
Cryo meat is aging aka decomposing and will have some smell when opened. 
If you've never opened a cryo of bad meat, you just don't know what you're missing!  Most of the time when it decides to go bad, it's RANK!  Windows and doors open, spouse screaming at you as you puke in the sink kind of rank...

As usual, JJ has you covered...
 
Alright thanks for the help. Yea to be more specific they kind of smelled like a fart or really smelled like a fart before I washed them off they seemed to be ok as far as the way the meat looked no dark or Grey spots on the meat from oxygen but maybe they just had a gas build up or were warm when vacuum sealed. I myself run into this problem when I'm vacuum sealing fish sometimes the filet are not cold enough and make build up a little gas but I usually eat them anyways but these bellies couldn't have been more than 6 days at the place and the keep them in the back fridge so I don't think there it's lots of temperature fluctuations
 
Hmmm--Maybe it was a Fart---Was anybody else there when you opened it??

If so, Was he laughing??

Bear
 
Yea I mean I've run a trap line during skunk breeding season and caught a couple direct sprays to the face while trying to kill the skunks that was pretty bad or well at least the people at Walmart told me so while I was trying to purchase gallons of tomato paste . these porkbellys didn't smell anywhere near as bad as what I smelled that year but oh I'm smoking the slabs now will update with hopefully successful bacon pictures
 
Hmmm--Maybe it was a Fart---Was anybody else there when you opened it??

If so, Was he laughing??


Bear

I'm about to try the buckboard bacon recipe you did a while back got the porkbutts today about to try my hand at curing them out as well for some Christmas bacon to share with my family coming in town
 
Alright after 4 1/2 hours at 225 the came out to 150 right to the center look pretty good and smell pretty good as well some of them smell more sweet than I'm used to but I guess the frying pan will tell wether or not they taste as good as they smell
 
Alright after 4 1/2 hours at 225 the came out to 150 right to the center look pretty good and smell pretty good as well some of them smell more sweet than I'm used to but I guess the frying pan will tell wether or not they taste as good as they smell
Looks Great from Here!!
drool.gif


Bear
 
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