My Bacon was too Salty

[roger]

After a week curing in the fridge I put in the smoker at 10:00 yesterday morning. Never tried to get my smoker that low on temps but we gave it a wherl. 180 was the best I could do with any regularity. After 8 hrs. the temp hit 160 and I pulled it. Put in the fridge for an hour to stiffen up a little bit before I sliced it. It sliced just like Wilson's did I was amazed. Now the problem, it was just too salty. I followed the amounts on the cure but was just way too salty.

When I took it out, I washed and brushed it in cold water and let it sit in cold water while I got the fire going. don't know what happened but that's how it wound up.

Any suggestions, and here's a couple pic's.

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Also did a slabe of ribs that turned out reel nice,



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[cowgirl]

It sure looks good!

I soak my bacon in cool water for at least an hour and change the water half way through. Then smoke.

 

[glued2it]

Yep, What cowgirl said. You have to do the same with ham too.

 

[salmonclubber]

roger

you need to soak the bacon in fresh cold water for 30-60 min to get some of the salt out of the bacon do this before you put it in the smoker your ribs look great its to bad about the bacon

when i do bacon i cure 7-10 days in fridge pull bacon out rinse and put in cold water for 30-60 min i then pull the bacon out of water and let sit on the counter in a bowl for an hour then i put it in the smoker doing this should take care of your problem

huey

 

[roger]

I actually had the loin in water for probably an hour and a half. Now I didn't change it.

I'm just confused.

 

[richtee]

Doubt that caused it. You are sure on the weight of meat and cure amounts? Did you use garlic SALT or any such seasoning? Almost mysterious.. the meat was what- a loin? NOT preseasoned I assume? Sheesh... not sure...

 

[monty]

Just to add my$.02:

First time I used Hi Mountain Jerky's Buckboard Bacon cure I found it a bit too salty even with a careful cold water wash of over two hours.

Next time I made up a batch I cut a day and a half off the cure time and it came out beautifully. First batch was a full ten day cure. Next one was a bit over eight days and everything came together nicely.

Cheers!

 

[richtee]

Sage advice, Mr. Monty. Especially with the vac-pac. I swear it cuts 30% off curing times. Morton has yet to respond to my query, however

 

[roger]

Rich,

It was an 8lb. loin that I cut in half.

The directions on the Mortons Sugar said to use 1/2 OZ per pound.

The only scales I had are what I use to reload with, I'm a gun nut and do alot of shooting, and they are accurate. There are 437grs. in an OZ so I doubled that.

I don't know what went wrong, but we aren't giving up.

We'll try it again in two weeks when I go on days off again.

 

[vulcan75001]

Roger..

The directions on the Mortons Sugar said to use 1/2 OZ per pound.

The only scales I had are what I use to reload with, I'm a gun nut and do alot of shooting, and they are accurate. There are 437grs. in an OZ so I doubled that.

Am I reading this right???....or did you type it wrong??? If ya only need 1/2 oz per pound....then why did you double the 437grs. to an oz...shouldn't you have cut the 437grs. in HALF???

 

[richtee]

FYI... 1 tablespoon per pound of meat. About 1/2 that for poultry, lotta bone and air. 28 G. per Oz. dunno grains

 

[monty]

I am a serious reloader as well!

7000 grains in a pound
7000/16= 437.5 gr/oz

8lb loin/2= 2 loins @ 4lbs with each requiring 2 oz, or 875gr, of cure.

Total cure would be 4 oz or 1750 grains for the 8lbs.

Cheers!

 

[roger]

Vulcan,

Reread my post, there are 437 grns. in an OZ. I had a 4lb. loin. 1/2 per lb. would be 874 grns. if my math is correct. I did flunk algebra in high school but that was 40yrs. ago.

 

[roger]

srmonty must have passed algebra, it ain't rocket science

 

[monty]

Yeah, I passed algebra only 'cause the teacher did not want me back in her class!

Cheers!

 

[vulcan75001]

Just seeing if you guys were awake or not...

 

[roger]

Nuff said on this thread, I'm jsut gonna have to try something a little different here in a couple of weeks.

It had some real good flavor just too much salt.

 

[short one]

Roger, I just went to the Morton's Salt site and they recommend 3 to 5 days cure time. The longer cure time would let the meat absorb more salt.

I just got done curing 4-3lb. canadian bacons with the recipe on the Morton's site, 1 Tablespoon of Tenderquick and 1 teaspoon of sugar/pound. I also cured mine for a week, washed and soaked them out for 2 hours, but I didn't have time to smoke them now. I wrapped them and froze them until I get some time to cook them. I will try to remember to post the results or at least send you a P.M. Also don't know how 1 tablespoon relates to your 1/2 oz./pound.

 

[deejaydebi]

Rodger -

That looks great - but I find all the pre-mixed stuff way to salty. I guess they think people really like salt because it's not necessary to use that much to cure. The nitrates are another story but aded salts can be reduced.

Anyway ... You have two options for mixes, use a bit less or shorten the curing times. Another option is to mix your own and reduce the amount of salt.

Did I say it looks great?

 

[pgeobc]

Roger,

I have used Morton's TenderQuick and Sugar Cure and have Morton's book that they sell, among others. I acquired Morton't book over 30 years ago and got busy curing. The first thing that became apparent was that the quantities listed were derived primarily as a method of preserving meat for long-term storage and that people would, as they did years ago, deal with the rather salty results. Our tastes are different today.

We now use those cures as a method of flavoring more than preserving and I usually consume the meat so treated in short order; it is not necessary to use the high quantities of salt to get flavoring results.

Cut the quantities of cure in about half, for starters. That is what I do and still find myself changing boiling water and soaking meats ahead of time in cool water.

More salt concentrates in the surface region of the cut of meat as it cures, so soaking can be an effective technique. In addition, some of the meat moisture, now salted, migrates from inside the meat and evaporates leaving salt on the surface as the meat cooks.

Commercial curers get around some of this by using mild brines and injecting the cures. This method produces very even distribution of the cure without the surface concentration effect. I've done that, but it is simpler and produces decent results with traditional methods.

Hoipe that helps.