Bacon cures

[kit s]

Never used a factory type cure before, but want to try one.
Who has the best maple flavored cure?
Sausage maker or Lems, or another vendor.
Now not complaining about my cure, just want to try something else.

Also another Question. A lot of folks say they do a fry taste test after curing to I guess adjust seasoning. So if flavor is light in a certain seasoning you add it? You let added seasoning sit on meat for?
Assume before smoke.

 

[DougE]

Also another Question. A lot of folks say they do a fry taste test after curing to I guess adjust seasoning

If the bacon is too salty after curing, you can soak it to leach out some of the salt before smoking it.

 

[kit s]

If the bacon is too salty after curing, you can soak it to leach out some of the salt before smoking it.

Douge...thanks sort of figured that one, just wondering if things could be adjusted up.

 

[SmokinAl]

I always season my bacon after the cure, and also in the cure mixture. So IMHO they both work and I use both of them with my bacon. But I like pepper bacon, so it’s just as simple as adding CBP to both the cure & after before the smoke.
Al

 

[thirdeye]

Never used a factory type cure before, but want to try one.
Who has the best maple flavored cure?
Sausage maker or Lems, or another vendor.
Now not complaining about my cure, just want to try something else.

Also another Question. A lot of folks say they do a fry taste test after curing to I guess adjust seasoning. So if flavor is light in a certain seasoning you add it? You let added seasoning sit on meat for?
Assume before smoke.

Never used a manufactured pre packaged cure mixture either, but for the taste test.... I do that for saltiness. Don't test fry an end piece, use the next inboard slice or two. Fry it slowly, and taste test for salt. If it's overly salty, re-rinse the slab and soak it for an hour in cold water and test again.

 

[tallbm]

Never used a factory type cure before, but want to try one.
Who has the best maple flavored cure?
Sausage maker or Lems, or another vendor.
Now not complaining about my cure, just want to try something else.

Also another Question. A lot of folks say they do a fry taste test after curing to I guess adjust seasoning. So if flavor is light in a certain seasoning you add it? You let added seasoning sit on meat for?
Assume before smoke.

Yep they have you sorted out about the fry test and if too salty you soak in cold water to leach out the excess salt.

I have tried 2 of LEM's bacon cure seasonings and I LOVE the Jalapeno one. Here are my notes on usage of both LEM's bacon cure I have used:

Seasoning	Amount per lbs (gms)	Meat	Notes
Jalapeno bacon cure	3% of bacon weight	Bacon
Venison bacon cure	3% of bacon weight	Bacon

The Venison bacon cure is meant for ground formed bacon but I wasn't thrilled with ground formed bacon and tried it on regular pork belly bacon and it worked fine. Nothing special, but I will use it in a heart beat to make bacon until it's gone so it's good enough for me to use without a 2nd thought and makes bacon that tastes like bacon lol :)

Again the Jalapeno bacon cure is AWESOME!!! Just beware of the jalapeno powder in the air when you mess with it. You will wreck your sinuses if you breath it in and it gets in the air easily so do yourself a favor and wear a mask and be gentle with it out in the open.
The spice level is not high when eating. A 6 year old didn't notice it was spicy so the average Joe shouldn't have an issue BUT the flavor is there!

These are were all used as dry cures. Rinsed off the pork belly once curing was done. Cured in gallon ziplock bags squeezing out the air.

If you go with any other LEM's bacon cure I'm guessing 3% of the pork belly weight would be the way to go to get an accurate and scalable measurement of how much to use :)

I hope this info helps.

 

[SmokinEdge]

daveomak uses the turkey cure from Waltons. He applies this as a dry rub to belly. It is a mixture of salt, cane sugar and pure maple sugar from real syrup and nitrite. He likes it pretty well it seems.