BACON (Extra Smoky)

[Bearcarver]

Would there be any issue in Foodsavering the bacon slabs instead of wrapping them in plastic wrap for there after smoking fridge rest? I ask as my wife has a nose from heck and was complaining yesterday about the smell in the fridge from the antelope pastrami that was resting after its smoke. I'm figuring she's not going to like the smell from this bacon as it looks good and smokey especially if it sets until Tuesday evening.
Don't know what it is about her nose, she eats everything I smoke or cook but often complains about the smell when its polluting the fridge. Wish I had more room in this small house so I could have a fridge for the good stuff.

No Issue---Vacuum Sealing after smoking would be fine.
Mrs Bear's the same way, but a Ziplock makes it OK with her.
However your wife might still smell it while vac sealed.
Reason:
When I Sous Vide something, I first Vac Seal it. Then heat the water to the proper Temp. Then put the sealed package in the water. I can smell the meat cooking during the SV process. I don't know how the smell gets through the hot water & the vac sealed bag, but it does, and there are NO LEAKS in the bags before, during or after the SV process.

Bear

 

[Bearcarver]

Thanks for the info, I vac sealed the slabs last night.

Thanks for taking the time to do the step by step's that you do, it made making the bacon easy for a first time bacon guy. Slabs look great all nice and smokey with the top all encrusted in pepper, garlic and onion. I'll take a couple pics tomorrow after work when I go to slicing them up.

Sounds Great !!
You're Hooked now!!
You might want to wait to slice them. I like to wait about 48 hours after smoking. Any longer than that I haven't seen any difference.
And if you're using an Auto slicer, it slices better if you stick them in the freezer for 2 to 4 hours just before slicing.

Bear

 

[Bearcarver]

Well I should have soak the bacon longer, can you say salty. I soaked for an hour then did the fry test and while the salt didn't seem bad I decided to soak another hour. After slicing the slabs up last night I cooked three pieces to try the bacon and wow was it salty. Could be I don't use much salt so I'm not used to it.

I'm not to impressed with the belly I got from Costco as its very fatty and not a lot of meat. I'll have to look around for a better belly next time I try bacon.

Only thing I can say is check exactly what you did, compared to my instructions.
I never add any table salt to anything I eat, because a Dr screwed up my Kidneys 5 years ago, and the only time I had to soak any of my Bacons longer than 20 minutes (surface salt) was the one time (9 years ago) that I used Hi Mountain Cure & Seasoning). I never used that again, and I never had any salty Bacon that I used TQ on.

Bear

 

[Ed Crain]

And now you tell me after smoking my bacon I could’ve put it in a bag to rest my wife is still griping about the Smokey smell in the fridge guess I’ll have to try again lol

 

[Bearcarver]

I didn't add any salt other then TQ. When measuring the TQ I used a tbsp to measure quantity then weighted it and noticed that the measured quantity weighted more then it was supposed to so I just went off weight. One slab was 4 pounds so it got 2 oz of cure and the other was 4.3 which got 2.15 oz.

Would length of time curing have an effect on saltiness? My thickest part on the slabs was 1.5", I cured 7 full 24 hour days plus about 12 hours before soaking.

i'll put the test weights on my scale tonight just to double check it.

The one on this Step by Step was just under 2", and I did 9 days, so I would have done 8 days for 1.5", but that's not gonna make it salty. How much Brown Sugar did you add? I used 1 TBS per pound. Brown Sugar counteracts the Salt in the TQ. Leaving it out can make it Salty.
With Dry curing, Too short could mean it might not get cured to center, and too long could make it Salty, but you were in no way too long.


Bear

 

[Bearcarver]

And now you tell me after smoking my bacon I could’ve put it in a bag to rest my wife is still griping about the Smokey smell in the fridge guess I’ll have to try again lol

Tell her what I tell Mrs Bear----- "Dang, you're right, That does smell good!!!"

Bear

 

[Bearcarver]

Well going of your initial directions you stated you added a tsp to a tbsp per pound of belly so I winged it and added 2 tbsp of brown sugar to each 4 lbs belly. Maybe should have added more?

Yeah,
I don't actually measure the Brown Sugar. I say a tsp to a TBS per pound to give some leeway to those who like it salty & those who don't. If Salt flavor bothers someone, they should use 1 TBS per pound, like I usually do.
And like I said, the only time I had to soak more than 20 minutes was when I used Hi Mountain in my very first ever Bacon Smoke, in 2009. I always do a 20 minute soak & rinse to get rid of the Surface Salt.

Bear

 

[Bearcarver]

Well I guess i'm just going to have to get another belly and try again with more brown sugar, what a shame I have to make more bacon and play with my toys some more. I'm going to need another freezer if I keep this up, good thing I didn't get an elk this year.

Thanks for all your help Bear.

Sorry you had problems.
I hope for everyones' to be perfect, but some just aren't.

Bear

 

[JZ_Focus]

So I'm in the process of curing 9lbs of pork bellies for bacon right now. I cut the slab into 3 smaller slabs so they would each fit into the larger zip bags I have. 2 days in I have noticed that 2 of the 3 bags have sprung leaks. I have the bags in a large pan in case this would happen, but my concern is that I have read not to discard the liquid in the bags as it will reabsorb into the meat. Should I be concerned that I have lost some of this liquid?

 

[austyn]

So I'm in the process of curing 9lbs of pork bellies for bacon right now. I cut the slab into 3 smaller slabs so they would each fit into the larger zip bags I have. 2 days in I have noticed that 2 of the 3 bags have sprung leaks. I have the bags in a large pan in case this would happen, but my concern is that I have read not to discard the liquid in the bags as it will reabsorb into the meat. Should I be concerned that I have lost some of this liquid?

I would transfer the bellies to a new zip lock bag and pour the remaining liquid back into the new bag - when you say that the bag has sprung a leak do you mean that it has gone all over the fridge floor?

 

[JZ_Focus]

I would transfer the bellies to a new zip lock bag and pour the remaining liquid back into the new bag - when you say that the bag has sprung a leak do you mean that it has gone all over the fridge floor?

Not onto the floor of the fridge, or my wife would have killed me and I wouldn't be able to post this. I have the bags in a large glass dish, so the liquid has collected in that. Not sure which bag to put the liquid back into though.

 

[austyn]

Difficult - either take a guess dependent on how much is left in the remaining bags i.e. which one has the least and pour it back in or start from scratch

 

[Bearcarver]

So I'm in the process of curing 9lbs of pork bellies for bacon right now. I cut the slab into 3 smaller slabs so they would each fit into the larger zip bags I have. 2 days in I have noticed that 2 of the 3 bags have sprung leaks. I have the bags in a large pan in case this would happen, but my concern is that I have read not to discard the liquid in the bags as it will reabsorb into the meat. Should I be concerned that I have lost some of this liquid?

Since you don't know which bag leaked the juices, I would just put them in new bags & hope for the best, and do a "Salt-Fry Test after curing & check to make sure it's cured to center (Pink).
If only one was leaking you could add the juice back into that one.
If you want to find out which one is leaking, drain the juice & save it & the meat. Then fill the bags with water & see which one leaks.
You don't want to add new cure because you could be adding too much.

Bear

 

[remsr]

Dump all the liquid into a stainless steel stock pot, put the bellies in and weight them down with a 1gal zip lock bag filled with water, then rotate them daily.

Randy,

 

[Bearcarver]

Dump all the liquid into a stainless steel stock pot, put the bellies in and weight them down with a 1gal zip lock bag filled with water, then rotate them daily.

Randy,

No, There wouldn't be enough liquid to do any more than lay under the bottom piece.

Bear

 

[remsr]

Add more cold water!

Randy,

 

[Bearcarver]

I can see I have to explain why you can't do some of these suggestions:

So if we Dry cure for 2 days, and lose some of the liquids from one or more of the bags;
We don't know how much we lost from which bag.
So some of the cure went into the meat, and some of the cure was lost with the loss of liquid that was leaked.

We can't just throw two pieces in a pot along with the captured liquid, because it would only be enough liquid for the bottom of one piece to lay in.
We also couldn't add much water, because that would dilute the cure that is in the recaptured liquid, so it would no longer be the proper amount of cure going into the meat.

My Suggestion:
I would do what I said in Post #282 (above).
Then if the test shows it's cured to center, you're good to go.
If it shows you aren't cured to center, I would recommend Hot Smoking it from 40° to 140° in less than 4 hours.

Bear

 

[remsr]

I thought he was doing a wet brine in zip lock bags.
Obviously I’m old and don’t know much so I’ll just shut up.
Randy,

 

[petehalsted]

Finally got to know this one off my list. Here's a link to my post

Thanks again Bear for all the great Step-By-Steps.

 

[Ranger619]

Bearcarver - first and foremost thank you for all of the information and encouragement you provide on this forum. I think I've read at least half of your step-by-step guides.

Picked up a 9 pound pork belly from Costco and it is curing as of yesterday AM. Went to rotate it this morning and I can feel that it is already starting to firm up.

Looking forward to smoking it in about a week or so in my MES 30 with AMNPS, then let it rest in the fridge for a couple of days before slicing.

Scott