Always did a wet cure with Pop's and I loved it but I finally found a nice Costco belly and ordered some TQ. I decided to follow Bearcarver's recipe for extra smokey bacon because I have never been let down by any of his step by steps.
Here she is...
Cut it in half almost exactly (got lucky!) weighed out the appropriate amount of TQ for each piece and rubbed it on. Then rubbed each piece with some brown sugar:
Kudos to whoever gave the idea of using gloves to rub on the cure and sugar. So much better than bare hands. No peeling off half the rub with your hands which is even more important here because you would actually be removing cure.
Poppe them into a large Zip loc so they can lay flat:
Had to use an extra zip lock for one since the one I slid the belly in got sugar in the slider and wouldn't close. Put them both in the fridge and will flip each day. Couple of questions for Bearcarver and others who have done dry cures:
My scale for weighing the actual meat is not as exact as I would like it to be. According to the package the meat was 11.88 pounds. Both pieces cut were weighing 6 pounds on my scale. If there was a tiny bit too much TQ would that be ok?
I also have them in the fridge so they lay flat but one is stacked on top of the other. Is that ok? They are in separate bags.
How long should I cure. They are no more than an inch and half thick at any point.
Thanks so much guys!
-Chris
Here she is...
Cut it in half almost exactly (got lucky!) weighed out the appropriate amount of TQ for each piece and rubbed it on. Then rubbed each piece with some brown sugar:
Kudos to whoever gave the idea of using gloves to rub on the cure and sugar. So much better than bare hands. No peeling off half the rub with your hands which is even more important here because you would actually be removing cure.
Poppe them into a large Zip loc so they can lay flat:
Had to use an extra zip lock for one since the one I slid the belly in got sugar in the slider and wouldn't close. Put them both in the fridge and will flip each day. Couple of questions for Bearcarver and others who have done dry cures:
My scale for weighing the actual meat is not as exact as I would like it to be. According to the package the meat was 11.88 pounds. Both pieces cut were weighing 6 pounds on my scale. If there was a tiny bit too much TQ would that be ok?
I also have them in the fridge so they lay flat but one is stacked on top of the other. Is that ok? They are in separate bags.
How long should I cure. They are no more than an inch and half thick at any point.
Thanks so much guys!
-Chris