Hello everyone, this is my first post. I am very experienced at smoking fish and pork butt, ribs, brisket, etc. however, I decided I wanted to make my own bacon. I went onto one of the online bacon calculators and because my slab was just a little bit under 3 kg in size the calculator gave me, a cure #1 recommended weight of about 8 g. Anyway, on my cure number one package at the nutritional information section it has one teaspoon is 2 g which I figured I could hang my hat on so I added nearly 4 teaspoons to a 6.5 pound pork belly . I was going to smoke it today, but started reading about cures and realize that mass of pork I would normally only need a little over a teaspoon of the cure. So I whipped out my electronic powder scale as I am a reloader and weighed what is in 1 teaspoon of the cure number one and it was almost 6 g so I way over cured it, I guess I’ll have to toss it and start again, but I’m very frustrated with the packaging on the cure
Frustrated
- Thread starter stonegoat
- Start date
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Welcome to the group.
I know you already know this, but I'll say it again, never trust what someone says is a proper measurement. As a reloader I'm sure you've heard the stories of using someone elses process without testing it. I'll look for a post I made many years ago regarding spoons vs. weight measurements to show the variances you'll see.
I'm a lot more conservative about too much cure than some since toxicology is my line of work. I would sadly start over and cut my losses than risk moving forward.
I know you already know this, but I'll say it again, never trust what someone says is a proper measurement. As a reloader I'm sure you've heard the stories of using someone elses process without testing it. I'll look for a post I made many years ago regarding spoons vs. weight measurements to show the variances you'll see.
I'm a lot more conservative about too much cure than some since toxicology is my line of work. I would sadly start over and cut my losses than risk moving forward.
I agree, I never use anyone else’s load data. However, I would think the manufacture of a product with the potential toxicity like cure number one would have the proper correlation between the weight and the volume printed on the packaging. Am I missing something here?
This link shows just how much of a variance you can have when using spoons vs. measuring by weight. Even cure #1 can vary due to moisture content I've found.
www.smokingmeatforums.com
Moderators remove the link if not permitted. I don't remember
Weight vs measuring spoons in sausage making
Many times over the last few years that I've been on this forum I've witnessed folks that have complained about too much salt in their sausage after smoking. One of the common denominators is that they are using teaspoons or tablespoons to measure ingredients out. In order to show the...
www.smokingmeatforums.com
Moderators remove the link if not permitted. I don't remember
Lately I've been using my reloading scale for measuring out ingredients for sausages a lot more than I do for actual reloading.
The same principles for reloading can be applied to sausage making. Weigh your charge rather than going by volume. Sure lee offers scoops, but you're far better off weighing the powder for both safety and consistency sake.
The same principles for reloading can be applied to sausage making. Weigh your charge rather than going by volume. Sure lee offers scoops, but you're far better off weighing the powder for both safety and consistency sake.
Glad you joined us and glad you found out before you ate it. Ever any questions just ask... here.
Never heard the saying more cure, but have heard the saying more powder... especially to the guy loading his canon!
Ryan
Never heard the saying more cure, but have heard the saying more powder... especially to the guy loading his canon!
Ryan
Should have added... heard it was good luck to have pork on new year's day... I figured luck would be good so took these out last night
Ryan
Ryan
Did you really just add #1 cure? Or a blend that included it? I've used a "maple cure "that had the cure #1 mixed into it. And it stated to add that much.
I always weigh all my cure ingredients and convert all weights to grams, and this is a good reason why. 1.1 grams per pound or 2.5 grams per Kg of cure #1 will give you 156ppm nitrite in the meat. The maximum allowed is 200 ppm in whole muscle. I will run the math for you and let you know where your ppm is with what you used on 6.5 pounds meat.
Going with 5.5g per tsp. And 6.5# meat (2951g) I come up with about 465ppm nitrite, more than double the maximum allowed. Toss it and start over.
If you want to dry rub bacon here is what I do:
To the meat weight in grams
Salt) 1.5%
Cure #1) .25%
Sugar .75%
Mix this together and apply evenly to the whole belly, bag it and into the refrigerator for a minimum of 10days but I prefer 14 days.
If you want to dry rub bacon here is what I do:
To the meat weight in grams
Salt) 1.5%
Cure #1) .25%
Sugar .75%
Mix this together and apply evenly to the whole belly, bag it and into the refrigerator for a minimum of 10days but I prefer 14 days.
I will theorize a bit here. I have never made bacon (only buckboard bacon).
There are 2 methods of curing. A dry brine where the cure is applied as a rub and allowed to sit as it cures. This uses a a smaller measure of cure due to direct contact.
The other method is a wet brine (sometimes called an equalization brine/cure). In this method as I understand it the cure is measured with the weight of the water itself added to the equation and therefore will use far more cure.
Sometimes on-line sources i.e. youtubers and others will neglete to mention the method or first timers will neglete to read and follow the full directions.
On this site there are enough experienced hands here that almost any dangerous or misleading recipes/procedures will be quickly be called out and/or culled from the herd.
I invite you to do a bit more research here and anywhere else you desire to become a bit more informed on the various methods and cure amounts before proceeding.
BE AWEAR : Some recipes may call for Morton Tender Quick while others call for Cure 1. They ARE NOT the same and should not be substituted on a 1:1 basis. Just to muddy the waters a bit more there are several names for Cure 1 i.e. insta-cure, quick cure, prague powder, pink salt and others. It is actually sodium nitrite mixed with a little salt and usually dyed pink to avoid confusion with table salt.
I will add a word of caution. Gun powder is measured in Grains (1/7000 of a pound) and cure is most often expressed/measured in Grams (just over 2/1000 of a pound). Not all powder measures (if any) will read in both measures. If yours does, be very careful to have it set for the proper unit of measure for both cure or powder. Best practice would be to use dedicated scales for each. An over/under charged case scares me a bit more than an over/under dose of cure.
There are 2 methods of curing. A dry brine where the cure is applied as a rub and allowed to sit as it cures. This uses a a smaller measure of cure due to direct contact.
The other method is a wet brine (sometimes called an equalization brine/cure). In this method as I understand it the cure is measured with the weight of the water itself added to the equation and therefore will use far more cure.
Sometimes on-line sources i.e. youtubers and others will neglete to mention the method or first timers will neglete to read and follow the full directions.
On this site there are enough experienced hands here that almost any dangerous or misleading recipes/procedures will be quickly be called out and/or culled from the herd.
I invite you to do a bit more research here and anywhere else you desire to become a bit more informed on the various methods and cure amounts before proceeding.
BE AWEAR : Some recipes may call for Morton Tender Quick while others call for Cure 1. They ARE NOT the same and should not be substituted on a 1:1 basis. Just to muddy the waters a bit more there are several names for Cure 1 i.e. insta-cure, quick cure, prague powder, pink salt and others. It is actually sodium nitrite mixed with a little salt and usually dyed pink to avoid confusion with table salt.
I will add a word of caution. Gun powder is measured in Grains (1/7000 of a pound) and cure is most often expressed/measured in Grams (just over 2/1000 of a pound). Not all powder measures (if any) will read in both measures. If yours does, be very careful to have it set for the proper unit of measure for both cure or powder. Best practice would be to use dedicated scales for each. An over/under charged case scares me a bit more than an over/under dose of cure.
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Funny to see this pop up. I just put a slab in a ziploc bag with these measurements earlier today. Seemed like there needed to be more overall volume in the mixture, but I'm going to trust the process since you guys haven't led me astray yet!
You will enjoy it. I do hundreds of pounds of belly every year with that mix, it’s delicious. I do add granulated garlic and white pepper all by eyeball after the cure application and I do not rinse it off before smoking as there is no need to.
Same process applies to all, whether belly, buckboard, or loin.
Don't be a stranger. We've all done it, or will do it, and we learn something each time.
Tell us a bit about you and such.
I'm really looking forward to it. I eyeballed the cut a tad as I was taking it off a costco slab. At 2328g it JUST fits into the 1g ziploc bag with enough room to let me close it.
I was contemplating adding pepper and garlic, but I may just go with the recipe as is and see how it goes. then again, it's such a large hunk of meat, there's plenty of room to try something else here and there.
The folks here are quite pleasant and helpful. They've really helped me up my game in a hurry!
The weight versus volume is rather frustrating.
A guess is that fresh loose and fluffy cure#1 may weigh out at 2 grams per teaspoon.
However, all powdered solids settle and pack down plus you pack it further dragging the teaspoon through the package.
Alas it is cure #1 and not a brining mix
anthonysgoods.com
A guess is that fresh loose and fluffy cure#1 may weigh out at 2 grams per teaspoon.
However, all powdered solids settle and pack down plus you pack it further dragging the teaspoon through the package.
That was a really good thought Steve.
Alas it is cure #1 and not a brining mix
Premium Pink Curing Salt #1: Batch Tested & Verified Gluten-Free
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