Bacon first timer help!

[carhoplady]

Thanks Martin, I see I forgot to mention the temp! LOL Sorry!  I actually do smoke it at 225 :)   I have found at that temp it comes out a tad sweeter!

 

[xfitjay]

I did my first bellies using a nitrite free recipe and using Rulhman's recipe. While they weren't total disasters, they did require quite a bit of soaking to make them edible. I also hot smoked them because I wasn't set up for a cold smoke. Since then I've used Pop's Brine Cure and Martin's Digging Dog Farm cure calculator. I've had consistently good results from both of those methods. I did 12 bellies as Christmas presents and got rave reviews. With the wet cured bellies I did a maple flavor. Pops himself recommended to me that I use maple extract instead of maple syrup since it's more concentrated and more likely to penetrate the meat. While I thought the results were fine, I still have to play with the amount I used (about 1/2 a bottle per gallon of brine - I'll try a whole bottle next time). I definitely recommend using the brine or the cure calculator. I would also recommend trying to cold smoke. I think it's a better flavor and texture. I also have a MES 30" and have set up a mailbox mod - http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/...0-new-pictures-for-attaching-elbow-to-mailbox.

 

[snorkelinggirl]

Goodness, no!!!
Bad recipe!!
That'll end in disaster almost every time!
Use a calculated amount of salt, start with 2% salt and cure long enough so that the salt distributes and equalizes well throughout the meat.
7 days is too short a curing time for most bacon.
If you have to soak it to make it edible, either too much salt was added or it wasn't cured long enough,


~Martin

Hi Martin,

Not to hijack this thread, but I'm still trying to dial in my salt level too.  2 to 3 inch thick 5lb skin-on belly section, dry-brine cured for 22 days using 2.5% salt, 156 ppm sodium nitrite, 1.25% white sugar + 1/4 cup dark brown sugar, ground black pepper.  Rinsed and soaked for 1 hour in cool water, changed water at 30 minutes.  Overnight in refrigerator to form pellicle. Smoked for 12 hours using peach dust in AMNS with chamber temp < 80 degrees for entire time.  Air dried in refrigerator for 2 weeks to mellow before removing skin and slicing.  Texture fantastic, smoke taste fantastic, but still too salty. Dag-nabbit.

Should I:

(a) remove the skin and reweigh the belly before calculating the cure, as the skin supposedly doesn't absorb much salt

(b) drop down to 2.0% salt

(c) do both (a) and (b)

(d) go back to buying bacon, and leave the bacon curing to the professionals

Thanks in advance for any thoughts!

Clarissa

 

[diggingdogfarm]

Goodness, no!!!

Bad recipe!!

That'll end in disaster almost every time!

Use a calculated amount of salt, start with 2% salt and cure long enough so that the salt distributes and equalizes well throughout the meat.

7 days is too short a curing time for most bacon.

If you have to soak it to make it edible, either too much salt was added or it wasn't cured long enough,



~Martin

Hi Martin,

Not to hijack this thread, but I'm still trying to dial in my salt level too.  2 to 3 inch thick 5lb skin-on belly section, dry-brine cured for 22 days using 2.5% salt, 156 ppm sodium nitrite, 1.25% white sugar + 1/4 cup dark brown sugar, ground black pepper.  Rinsed and soaked for 1 hour in cool water, changed water at 30 minutes.  Overnight in refrigerator to form pellicle. Smoked for 12 hours using peach dust in AMNS with chamber temp

 

[snorkelinggirl]

Yes, drop the salt to 2%.
I prefer to cure and smoke rindless bellies.


~Martin

Thank you very much for the help!

Clarissa