Anyone experiment with cures?

[sub-80]

I began curing 10 pounds of pork belly today. Put cure#1 on the entire belly and then cut it into quarters. I did take pictures but I'm posting from my phone right now so I can't share them just yet

1. Basic cure...kosher salt, brown sugar, and crushed black pepper

2. Kosher salt, brown sugar, grated nutmeg, thyme, crushed bay leaves, crushed black pepper, and maple syrup

3. Same as #2 but with crushed garlic added

4. Kosher salt, brown sugar, crushed black pepper, minced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (and a little extra adodo sauce), and honey

Not sure how these will turn out, especially #4...but I guess I'll find out.

Anyone experiment with flavors in their bacon cures at all? What were the results?

 

[tjohnson]

I've got my own recipe, that been tweaked to our liking

Flavors are very subtle

Keep us posted

 

[sub-80]

I've got my own recipe, that been tweaked to our liking
Flavors are very subtle

Keep us posted

So what you're saying is you could tell us...but then you'd have to kill us :biggrin:

 

[sub-80]

Here is the basic cure:

 

[sub-80]

And the chipotle-honey cure:

 

[sub-80]

Double post-- sorry

 

[sub-80]

1. Basic cure...kosher salt, brown sugar, and crushed black pepper
2. Kosher salt, brown sugar, grated nutmeg, thyme, crushed bay leaves, crushed black pepper, and maple syrup
3. Same as #2 but with crushed garlic added
4. Kosher salt, brown sugar, crushed black pepper, minced chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (and a little extra adodo sauce), and honey

Update...took bellies out of their seals today for the fry test.

I was very pleased win each one...and extemely excited to smoke them tomorrow. They are soaking now...rest in fridge tonight.

The flavors REALLY stood out. The chiptole/honey bacon turned out great. I was probably most pleased with #3 and #4

They all were a bit on he salty side, but the soak will take care of that...

Varieties 1 thru 4 (left to right):

 

[sub-80]

First cold smoked bacon completed...

Used my own version of Todd's pitmaster's choice...2:2:1 ratio of maple, cherry, and hickory...smoked for 7 1/2 hours...did sample a little...very pleased

 

[sub-80]

First cold smoked bacon completed...

Used my own version of Todd's pitmaster's choice...2:2:1 ratio of maple, cherry, and hickory...smoked for 7 1/2 hours...did sample a little...very pleased

 

[diggingdogfarm]

They look great!


~Martin

 

[sub-80]

They look great!
~Martin

Thanks Martin... I was pleased with the results...and the color

 

[desertlites]

As far as experimenting with cures no I only use Prague1 when I do my bacons and only the amount per each piece weighed. If I have a hunk of belly and cut it into say 2-3 lb.pieces than I wait to measure and apply my cure after I portion it. Why? that"s just me. And yes back in the day I would play with many flavors prolly just because it was fun and gave me more reason to make more bacon, after all it can and will get addicting. I have settled down to just a plain cured seasoned bacon to my liking. Now Chili powders is a totally different story,after playing with and combining chili flavors there seems to be no end in the concoctions there. Anyhow glad to have another bacon-maker on board and I promise I won't tell your mother that you play with your meat.

 

[chef jimmyj]

All that Bacon looks great! I am most interested in the Honey Chipotle Bacon, I love the flavor of Chipotle and adding it to Bacon can only make it better...JJ

 

[smokinhusker]

Great looking bacon!

 

[dougmays]

looks awesome! what did you use for the cold smoke? Amazen?

 

[spec]

Wow Sub-80

That looks great

I've played with apple cider and juices in my brines With good results I had some apple Bacon as a kid and have been trying to duplicate for 20 plus years...The guy that made it died when I was 11 and I didn't have enough attention span back then to memorize the recipe

I have settled on boiling down Apple juice around 75% or boiling 1 gallon down to a quart mixing it in my brine with fresh ground coarse Black and white pepper (White pepper hides better) and smoking over Apple/Cherry and Oak

Also been playing with some Tobasco, Serranno,Jalapeno,Pepper Pepper mixes as well

AW MAN NOW I GOTTA GO MAKE SOME

Looks like you did a really nice job

 

[jaco]

Here is my basic cure (based on and modified from Michael Ruhlman’s standard bacon recipe: http://ruhlman.com/2010/10/home-cured-bacon-2):

For every 5 pounds of fresh pork belly:

2 ounces (1/4 cup Morton or Diamond Crystal coarse kosher) salt

2 teaspoons pink curing salt #1

(NOTE: alternatively you can sub out the normal salt + pink salt combination for the appropriate amount of Morton Tender Quick meat cure)

.25 cup brown sugar (you can sub honey or syrup as well, but for dry rubs less liquid seems ideal)

4 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper

4-6 bay leaves, crumbled

1.5 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg

2 tablespoons coarsely ground star anise

1 teaspoon fennel seed

5-10 cloves fresh garlic (depending on how crazy you want to get that day), microplaned or very finely chopped (better coverage if microplaned)

From there I add stuff to each different batch, depending on what I feel like experimenting with. Today I am smoking 3 different types of bacon in my MES 30":

- Basic

- Caribbean spices added to basic (both during 7 day cure, and then after post cure rinse and dry, because I want a tiny bit of crust on this one)

- Bourbon vanilla extract & pure maple syrup added to basic (during cure)

Smoking at 210 degrees with a 50/50 blend of soaked apple and pecan woods, probably for about 7-8 hours. I will probably be experimenting with more dried fruits (in addition to other spices obvsiously) going forward.