Advice about my bacon dry cure.

[cayenneman24]

So Im in the middle of curing my bellies for bacon. I have done this 3 times in the past and it has been so long I forgot the process a little. Too many beers and vodkas and age 55 have robbed me of some brain cells. So I cut my bellies into slabs and prepared my cure. I used this calculator to help with the amounts. Im using 2.5% salt, 1.5% brown sugar and 3.2% Cure #1. After making the cure per the weight of the slabs of pork I sprinkled over and rubbed in, then slipped the slabs into a vac bag and vac packed. Gonna wait about 10 days to cure then smoke. The thing that concerns me is that it doesnt seem like a lot of cure. It isnt even fully covering the slab of belly. I flip them every day during the cure time. I know that the liquid pulled out is helping surround the meat and thus helping to cure. So does it seem like a sufficient amount of cure and have I hit all the notes? Pics from past attempts

 

[SmokinEdge]

and 3.2% Cure #1.

This is way to much cure #1.
You should use 0.25% cure #1 to meat weight.

 

[TNJAKE]

Beef Belly Bacon

Howdy fellas and non fellas. Finished up my beef bacon today. Turned out great so wanted to post. Started off with a almost 11lb slab of Certified piedmontese beef belly. Cured it with.... .25% cure #1 1.5% sea salt .75% brown sugar Lightly vac sealed to the cure can move around but most...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

 

[zwiller]

This is way to much cure #1.
You should use 0.25% cure #1 to meat weight.

Agree and noticed that too. I think there is a mistake based on what I see at that site and he used .32% actually.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Agree and noticed that too. I think there is a mistake based on what I see at that site and he used .32% actually.

That amount is actually ok, this will get you right around 200ppm nitrite, which on dry cured whole muscle is fine, but 3.2% is a no/no

 

[Fueling Around]

I opened the calculator you referenced.
I see it gives a lot of options (too many options for most people imho).

Give us more details of your cure process and your location.

 

[cayenneman24]

Agree and noticed that too. I think there is a mistake based on what I see at that site and he used .32% actually.

My bad. 3.2 g per thousand grams of meat is .32%. Typo I think. Now that we've got that straight is everything else okay? Like I said, sit doesnt appear to be a lot of cure. I rubbed it all over as much as I could, scrapped what was left in the pan out and threw it in the bag to cure. Will that sufficiently do what it should?

 

[SmokinEdge]

My bad. 3.2 g per thousand grams of meat is .32%. Typo I think. Now that we've got that straight is everything else okay? Like I said, sit doesnt appear to be a lot of cure. I rubbed it all over as much as I could, scrapped what was left in the pan out and threw it in the bag to cure. Will that sufficiently do what it should?

You are good to go, my dry rub is,
salt) 1.5%
sugar) .75%
cure #1) .25%
This has never failed and yours is stronger so no worries.

 

[cayenneman24]

You are good to go, my dry rub is,
salt) 1.5%
sugar) .75%
cure #1) .25%
This has never failed and yours is stronger so no worries.

Fabulous. Thank you kindly sir!!!

 

[zwiller]

My bad. 3.2 g per thousand grams of meat is .32%. Typo I think. Now that we've got that straight is everything else okay? Like I said, sit doesnt appear to be a lot of cure. I rubbed it all over as much as I could, scrapped what was left in the pan out and threw it in the bag to cure. Will that sufficiently do what it should?

It happens. Oh yeah all else looks good and you're right, the "cure mix" as you say cure, is light and just barely enough to coat. Good idea to massage/flip/etc to ensure proper coverage and curing. BTW those pics look fantastic!

 

[cayenneman24]

It happens. Oh yeah all else looks good and you're right, the "cure mix" as you say cure, is light and just barely enough to coat. Good idea to massage/flip/etc to ensure proper coverage and curing. BTW those pics look fantastic!

Correct on the "cure mix" or cure blend. Wasnt sure what to call all the sugar, salt and #1 mix. Thanks for the compliment!

 

[Fueling Around]

I played with the calculator you posted. US cure#1 is so much better than the Canadian or European cures to get desired salt and nitrite levels in your cures.
Using US pink salt, the recognized standard is 156 ppm nitrite or 0.25%

...
Like I said, sit doesnt appear to be a lot of cure. I rubbed it all over as much as I could, scrapped what was left in the pan out and threw it in the bag to cure. Will that sufficiently do what it should?

2.5% salt is way too much for me. I go 0.5 to 1.0% salt and no sugar in most of my cures, meaning way less mix to apply to the meat. I still use the 0.25% cure #1 and add that into my salt level.
One has to carefully sprinkle a bit heavier in the thick side and rub it in well and quickly to avoid drawing too much meat moisture and make things slippery.
I use nitryl gloves so my hand chemistry doesn't change the results.
Get as much mix possible on the meat before bagging.

 

[Gonna Smoke]

Im using 2.5% salt, 1.5% brown sugar

I'm with Eric SmokinEdge on percentages of salt and sugar which both are around half of what you used. Actually, the last cure I did I used 1.25% salt and the .25% cure for an all in salt amount of 1.50%.

Next batch I'm considering decreasing that even more, down to where John Fueling Around is at 1% salt, maybe 1.25% all in...