Bacon - 2 ways

[Hockeydudde]

This past weekend I started back and belly bacon.
Dry curing in a plastic tub, bellies started on bottom. We got busy (goat having kidding issues) and I forgot to flip for 3 days, but flipped this am and everything looked fine. Plan to cure for 14 days.
I went light on the salt and cure because I've been making smoked pork belly without cure and much less salt for nearly a year. It's good, but not quite bacon, so I decided to try splitting the difference.
1 whole pork belly
1 whole pork loin
Cure #1: 0.125 %
Salt: 1.5%
Sugar: 1.0%
Black pepper: about 1.5 times the volume of the salts and sugar.

Will follow up in 2 weeks.

 

[TNJAKE]

Is the 0.125% cure a typo?

 

[DougE]

Is the 0.125% cure a typo?

The OP stated they split the difference, so I believe the 0.125% is what they used. I would not go less than the 0.25% on cure#1 since it's already below the allowable limit on nitrite.

 

[Hockeydudde]

So maybe I'm misunderstanding something here, and I'm here to learn.
This post from oct 2021 stated that at .25% you got 156 ppm.

Cure #1 contains 6.25% nitrite. Our target is 156ppm in finished product. 200ppm is maximum for regular curing and 625ppm for dry cured aged products. About 50ppm is concerned minimum for any meaningful curing effect.

The post above it stated that the max allowable in Europe was 80 ppm. So I took that to mean shooting for 80 ppm would be safe. Since it will be smoked and partially dehydrated, didn't see a reason to go right up to the 200 ppm limit.

The fridge is very cold, I worry it will freeze if I don't move then regularly, so I'm not terribly concerned about spoilage, especially since it will go straight from fridge to a 200 F or so hot smoke. It'll be too 140 in less than 4 hours.

Thanks!

Ps. Is there a way to link to a post, vs the thread? Couldn't figure it out, that's why I posted the quote.

 

[SmokinEdge]

The post above it stated that the max allowable in Europe was 80 ppm. So I took that to mean shooting for 80 ppm would be safe. Since it will be smoked and partially dehydrated, didn't see a reason to go right up to the 200 ppm limit.

The fridge is very cold, I worry it will freeze if I don't move then regularly, so I'm not terribly concerned about spoilage, especially since it will go straight from fridge to a 200 F or so hot smoke. It'll be too 140 in less than 4 hours.

This is correct. You are fine to lower the cure #1 on dry rub, just do not lower your salt any more than 1.5%.
Cure #1 works in a range. There is a maximum in whole muscle of 200ppm, but there is no established minimum. Marianski states that around 50ppm are needed to give any meaningful nitrite effect.

Your lowering of the cure puts it around 75-80ppm. Oddly enough that’s about all most here uptake from the famous Pop’s brine. So far no complaints. It all works just fine, as long as the main salt concentration is high enough, this is the main safety hurdle.

Ps. Is there a way to link to a post, vs the thread? Couldn't figure it out, that's why I posted the quote.

No way to link to a post, only the thread. What you posted, quoting me is as close as it gets. This works better because my words are posted for others to read along with your post, much better than a link, IMO.

 

[thirdeye]

In curing circles there is always a lively conversation when someone brings up curing bacon without nitrites. Possibly the most well known commercial producer of salt cured bacon is Benton's. Here is a great video showing their method.

 

[thirdeye]

The fridge is very cold, I worry it will freeze if I don't move then regularly, so I'm not terribly concerned about spoilage, especially since it will go straight from fridge to a 200 F or so hot smoke. It'll be too 140 in less than 4 hours.

So far no complaints. It all works just fine, as long as the main salt concentration is high enough, this is the main safety hurdle.

Cold temps, hot smoking in under 4 hours, and a fair (to heavy) amount of salt are all good things, and work in your favor. The only other major variable when choosing when to use a curing salt is oxygen. The bad guys love hanging out and reproducing in a low oxygen environment (like inside a sausage casing, or the plastic bag I use to dry cure my bacon). In the Benton's video, notice how the slabs of bacon are arranged with air gaps, and you can see circulation fans in the rooms.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Cold temps, hot smoking in under 4 hours, and a fair (to heavy) amount of salt are all good things, and work in your favor. The only other major variable when choosing when to use a curing salt is oxygen. The bad guys love hanging out and reproducing in a low oxygen environment (like inside a sausage casing, or the plastic bag I use to dry cure my bacon). In the Benton's video, notice how the slabs of bacon are arranged with air gaps, and you can see circulation fans in the rooms.

I now do bacon on wire racks. Let the drying begin from the beginning. With a fatty piece like belly, not much drying occurs, but it dose lose 10% or so. No plastic bags for me.

 

[Oceantoad]

In curing circles there is always a lively conversation when someone brings up curing bacon without nitrites. Possibly the most well known commercial producer of salt cured bacon is Benton's. Here is a great video showing their method.

Thirdeye, Thanks for the video. It was pretty neat to see the process for curing and smoking pork for bacon. I couldn't work there very long. I would be let go for eating all their profits. I'm going to look into finding some of Benton's bacon in my area. I wonder if they ship. Thanks again for sharing.

 

[Hockeydudde]

I like the idea of cutting on racks. I don't use bags and don't have a good way to fit a while belly in my bucket, so an currently cutting it in half. I'll watch the video to see how they do it.
Last night I added a pork butt to the party with simple SPOG because we are having some people over. Going to shove the whole lot into the smoker this morning.

 

[Hockeydudde]

Got the back and belly bacon smoked, chilled, sliced and packaged this weekend.
Smoked at 170 to 220 on my offset using mostly charcoal with a little oak.
Bacon took 3 hours, smoked until IT was above 135 for 30 minutes (final IT was 144)
Ham took 4 hours 40 minutes. Final IT was 141.
Final yield was 15 lbs 14 oz sliced. I lost the paper I wrote it on, but I'm pretty sure starting weight was 20 lbs.
Next time I'll pull them sooner and let carry over get them to 30 minutes at 135.

They both turned out great though. Ham is moist but not wet like store ham. Haven't fried the bacon yet, but it's great as is. That soft, smokey fat...

I love having fully cooked bacon. Especially with young kids helping cook breakfast, is so nice not to be handling raw pork first thing in the morning.