Bacon beginner, information overload!

[withoutevasion]

Found this forum after Googleing bacon recipes and after reading a bunch of posts I'm getting lost, and information overload! I made bacon once before based on a recipe but I've got a Costco slab I want to do right and have it ready for Christmas.

Here's my thoughts and please point out any flaws or suggestions.
1 Costco belly (divided into 2 equal pieces)
Dry cure iaw Digging Dog default percentages.
Cure in fridge, flipping every day for 7 days.
Rinse, pat, air dry in fridge for 24hrs.
Smoke in Bradley until IT is 150*

Questions:
Cold smoke intimidates me cause of safety. Was going to hot smoke at 200*. Should I lower that to 170* and is this considered "warm smoked"?

I want to make different flavors for each piece. Do I need to alter the DD formula to account for extra cure ingredients such as maple syrup or pepper, or do I use the DD formula as a base and freely add whatever I want to use to flavor it after?

Does Prague #1 have a shelf life as my bag is a couple years old?

Thanks in advance.

 

[SmokinEdge]

First off, Welcome to SMF. Glad to have you aboard.

Here's my thoughts and please point out any flaws or suggestions.
1 Costco belly (divided into 2 equal pieces)
Dry cure iaw Digging Dog default percentages.
Cure in fridge, flipping every day for 7 days.
Rinse, pat, air dry in fridge for 24hrs.
Smoke in Bradley until IT is 150*

Do you have scales to weigh both the belly pieces and the cure ingredients in grams?

Questions:
Cold smoke intimidates me cause of safety. Was going to hot smoke at 200*. Should I lower that to 170* and is this considered "warm smoked"?

Cold smoke is safe for days or even weeks once curing is completed. That said, warm smoking should start at about 140* for a couple hours then raise temp 10* every hour to 170* and IT of 145-150*.

I want to make different flavors for each piece. Do I need to alter the DD formula to account for extra cure ingredients such as maple syrup or pepper, or do I use the DD formula as a base and freely add whatever I want to use to flavor it after?

Freely add what you want. Salt and cure #1 are the only curing agents. The sugar, pepper, garlic, Chile, onion, are all to taste and have zero curing effect.

Does Prague #1 have a shelf life as my bag is a couple years old?

As long as it’s in a seal package or container, it’s perfectly fine to use.

 

[tallbm]

Found this forum after Googleing bacon recipes and after reading a bunch of posts I'm getting lost, and information overload! I made bacon once before based on a recipe but I've got a Costco slab I want to do right and have it ready for Christmas.

Here's my thoughts and please point out any flaws or suggestions.
1 Costco belly (divided into 2 equal pieces)
Dry cure iaw Digging Dog default percentages.
Cure in fridge, flipping every day for 7 days.
Rinse, pat, air dry in fridge for 24hrs.
Smoke in Bradley until IT is 150*

Questions:
Cold smoke intimidates me cause of safety. Was going to hot smoke at 200*. Should I lower that to 170* and is this considered "warm smoked"?

I want to make different flavors for each piece. Do I need to alter the DD formula to account for extra cure ingredients such as maple syrup or pepper, or do I use the DD formula as a base and freely add whatever I want to use to flavor it after?

Does Prague #1 have a shelf life as my bag is a couple years old?

Thanks in advance.

Hi there and welcome!

Your thoughts on curing are right on, no need to change there. If you want more flavors feel free to add then except.
It's my understanding that acid from a soda and such may cause problems with the cure so I would boil that down to like a syrup and brush on after the curing process is done and such.

As for the cooking/smoking temps.
Your process should be to start at like 110F smoker temp then every 30min-1hr walk up the temp until you eventually get to 160-170F.
You don't want to go over 180F as the maximum upper limit.

You do this so you don't render and melt out all your bacon fat.

When your bacon hits an Internal Temp (IT) of 145F it is ready to come off, I wouldn't take to 150F IT.

Your cure should be ok unless it's been in moisture or sun or something like that.

I hope this info helps :)

Hahha @SmokinEdge you posted while mine was left unsent. Good info :)

 

[DougE]

Do you have scales to weigh both the belly pieces and the cure ingredients in grams?

If you don't have scales yet, watch what you're buying. I bought a scale with a fairly large capacity that does ounces, pounds, grams ,etc. I wanted the capacity for weighing meat and also tomatoes for salsa recipes. The problem is that the grams function only weighs in whole grams. When you calculate out your cure, It's gonna be x.xx grams, so if your scale only reads whole grams, you're not going to be exact. Fortunately I also have a digital reloading scale that does both grains and grams.

 

[Buckeye1]

I just did a batch using Jeff's wet cure method. There's is Video on here but I don't know how to link it. Very simple didn't need a scale. Came out fantastic!!!

 

[daveomak]

...Holey Kow... did I ever have trouble...?

 

[daveomak]

......

 

[daveomak]

Cold smoking at 52-71° F (12-22° C), from 1-14 days, applying thin smoke with occasional breaks in between, is one of the oldest preservation methods. We cannot produce cold smoke if the outside temperature is 90° F (32° C), unless we can cool it down, which is what some industrial smokers do. Cold smoking is a drying process whose purpose is to remove moisture thus preserving a product.

You will find that different sources provide different temperatures for cold smoking. In European countries where most of the cold smoking is done, the upper temperature is accepted as 86° F (30° C). The majority of Russian, Polish and German meat technology books call for 71° F (22° C), some books ask for 77° F (25° C). Fish starts to cook at 85° F (29.4° C) and if you want to make delicious cold smoked salmon that is smoked for a long time, obviously you can not exceed 86° F (30° C). Cold smoking assures us of total smoke penetration inside of the meat. The loss of moisture also is uniform in all areas and the total weight loss falls within 5-20% depending largely on the smoking time. Cold smoking is not a continuous process, it is stopped (no smoke) a few times to allow fresh air into the smoker.

In XVIII century brick built smokehouses a fire was started every morning. It smoldered as long as it could and if it stopped, it would be restarted again the following morning.

Cold smoked meats prevent or slow down the spoilage of fats, which increases their shelf life. The product is drier and saltier with a more pronounced smoky flavor and very long shelf life. The color varies from yellow to dark brown on the surface and dark red inside. Cold smoked products are not submitted to the cooking process. If you want to cold smoke your meats, bear in mind that with the exception of people living in areas with a cold climate like Alaska, it will have to be done in the winter months just as it was done 500 years ago.

Using dry wood is of utmost importance when cold smoking. It is recommended to keep wood chips in a well defined single pile as they will have less contact with air, thus will smoke better without creating unnecessary flames and heat. By following these rules we achieve 75-85% humidity, creating the best conditions for moisture removal. Once the moisture content drops low enough, the salt present in the meat will further inhibit the development of bacteria and the products can hang in the air for months losing more moisture as time goes by.

Lox (smoked salmon) is smoked with cold smoke for an extended period of time. Applying hotter smoke (over 84° F, 28° C) will just cook the fish, the flavor will change and we will not be able to slice it so thin anymore. Cold smoking is a slow process and the hams, which lend themselves perfectly to this type of smoking, can be smoked from 2 to even 6 weeks. During smoking they will slowly be acquiring a golden color along with a smoky flavor.

Cold smoking allows us total smoke penetration inside of the meat. Very little hardening of the outside surface of the meat or casing occurs and smoke penetrates the meat easily.

Hot smoking dries out the surface of the meat creating a barrier for smoke penetration.

++++++++++++++++
I generally ONLY cold smoke my bacon... Around 65-70 deg. F for a few days and generally add smoke for 6 hours per day...

Bellies in my smoker being cold smoked...

The meat MUST be cured using nitrite... Cure#1 is a good source...

Any type of smoking consumes oxygen from the air in the smoker...
Botuism loves a low oxygen environment and can multiply....
You don't want that... Botulism is the deadliest bacteria known to man..[/QUOTE]

 

[withoutevasion]

Thanks very much for all the info. Especially the detailed explanation of cold smoke. Appreciate that. I do have a scale but as it was pointed out it probably only measures in 1g increments as I bought it for butchering game. I'll see if I can find a jewellers scale or a reloading scale first.

 

[DougE]

I do have a scale but as it was pointed out it probably only measures in 1g increments as I bought it for butchering game. I'll see if I can find a jewellers scale or a reloading scale first.

I didn't really give it a whole lot of thought when I bought my scale. I knew it did grams which is what I wanted for curing, but I also wanted the capacity to weigh larger things. I didn't realize the scale only did 1g increments until I started weighing out cure. It said it did grams so I just assumed it would do hundredths. We all know what happens when one assumes .....

Yeah, you really want a scale that will measure to the hundredths of a gram. I think weighing the meat on a scale that only does 1g increments is close enough, but I'd rather be more exact in weighing out salt, cure, and sugar for my brine.

 

[daveomak]

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[withoutevasion]

Thanks very much for all the input. I smoked, sliced and wrapped about 10lbs yesterday after 10 days cured. It took about 5.5 hrs to come up to 145 IT. I started the smoker at 140, eventually bringing it up to 175. All the info out there on the importance of proper cure makes the whole thing intimidating so I appreciate all the help and clarification on this forum.

 

[smokerjim]

Looks great, nice job

 

[jaxgatorz]

Looks awesome !!

 

[indaswamp]

Freely add what you want. Salt and cure #1 are the only curing agents. The sugar, pepper, garlic, Chile, onion, are all to taste and have zero curing effect.

Technically, sugar does lower water activity of meat by binding water. Also, sugar concentration should never exceed the salt concentration. A good ball park is sugar at 1/3-2/3 of the salt concentration. This is especially true for a wet brine to prevent ropey brine. I personally like 1.5% salt, 1% sugar.

Also, sugar penetrates much slower than salt...

 

[chopsaw]

Looks like it came out great . Nice work .

All the info out there on the importance of proper cure makes the whole thing intimidating so I appreciate all the help and clarification on this forum.

It's only intimidating until you learn it . Good thing is you asked , and you joined up .
You need to recognize a trusted source , Like this one and learned the methods they teach . Some of these guys really know their stuff . Everything I know about curing I learned here .
So what's next on your list ?

 

[tallbm]

Thanks very much for all the input. I smoked, sliced and wrapped about 10lbs yesterday after 10 days cured. It took about 5.5 hrs to come up to 145 IT. I started the smoker at 140, eventually bringing it up to 175. All the info out there on the importance of proper cure makes the whole thing intimidating so I appreciate all the help and clarification on this forum.View attachment 519896

Man that looks awesome!!
How did you love being able to slice and eat slices as you were going since you cooked to an IT of 145F?

I do to 145F as well and honestly 90% of my bacon never hits a skillet it taste soo good as is out of the pack being safely fully cooked hahaha.
I tell people it's bacon coldcuts :P

 

[chopsaw]

I tell people it's bacon coldcuts

LOL . Yup . When I did the ground formed bacon I liked it right out of the container .
Enjoy your day .

 

[withoutevasion]

Looks like it came out great . Nice work .

It's only intimidating until you learn it . Good thing is you asked , and you joined up .
You need to recognize a trusted source , Like this one and learned the methods they teach . Some of these guys really know their stuff . Everything I know about curing I learned here .
So what's next on your list ?

I'm glad I found this forum. Hardly anywhere else talks about cure down to the 100th of a gram. 99% of the internet talks in whole lbs for meat and tsp/tbsp for cure measurements.

I'd like to try doing Canadian bacon cause the rest of the family really likes that. Something to look into for the future.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Technically, sugar does lower water activity of meat by binding water. Also, sugar concentration should never exceed the salt concentration. A good ball park is sugar at 1/3-2/3 of the salt concentration. This is especially true for a wet brine to prevent ropey brine. I personally like 1.5% salt, 1% sugar.

Also, sugar penetrates much slower than salt...

Good info on the sugar Inda.
Nice to know that sugar provides some benefits other than balancing salt flavor. It’s still 100% not a necessary ingredient to safely cure, but provides many benefits.