Bacon in pop's brine

[cdnwildsmoker]

Hello all, just a quick couple questions, it's been a few years since I made some bacon (ya I know, my head is hung in shame.....lol) I've always done mine in pop's brine, bellies have been in the brine since Tuesday. Question I can't seem to find or remember am I suppose to stir the brine/bellies up every day or two or just leave it fully submerged for the 10 to 14 days?? Also do I rinse/soak after taking out of the brine, before I dry in fridge prior to smoking? Thanks in advanced for any info givin.

 

[daveomak]

It can't hurt if you stir/turn etc. the meat every 2-3 days... It's best to rinse and dry the meat surface before placing in the refer.. no soaking should be necessary..

 

[wade]

Good advice from Dave. You can also brine the bacon inside a large plastic bag within your bucket with the top tied closed with string or a clip. This can help keep your bacon fully submerged throughout the cure time and it makes it easy to agitate the brine without making a mess just by lifting the bag a quarter of an inch or so and jiggling it a bit.
When immersion brining bacon it will absorb about 10% of its own weight in water from the brine and so when it is hanging in the refrigerator it is best to make sure that you have a tray underneath it to catch any drips. This is not usually necessary when dry curing bacon though.
I have never understood why some people soak their bacon after curing it. If it is too salty and it needs soaking then they have used too much salt in their cure. As Dave says you will not need to soak when using Pops brine.

 

[cdnwildsmoker]

Good stuff and I thank you for the quick replys. I have the belly's in a 5 gal bucket with a couple ziploc's keeping meat fully submerged. I'll give things a stir to see how things are progressing. I'll see if I can post some pics of finished product with photobucket gone I can't be certain though. I always dry on a rack in the fridge with a tray under to catch the drippings.

Happy smoking lady's and gents!!

 

[pugsbrew]

Good advice from Dave. You can also brine the bacon inside a large plastic bag within your bucket with the top tied closed with string or a clip. This can help keep your bacon fully submerged throughout the cure time and it makes it easy to agitate the brine without making a mess just by lifting the bag a quarter of an inch or so and jiggling it a bit.
When immersion brining bacon it will absorb about 10% of its own weight in water from the brine and so when it is hanging in the refrigerator it is best to make sure that you have a tray underneath it to catch any drips. This is not usually necessary when dry curing bacon though.
I have never understood why some people soak their bacon after curing it. If it is too salty and it needs soaking then they have used too much salt in their cure. As Dave says you will not need to soak when using Pops brine.

OK, now back to the salt question I asked in the "Curing" section. I have used Pop's brine, and without the water bath, it was too salty. My question was basically asking how much salt does one need to cure. The answer was not to change a recipe. So, now I'm confused on WHY one even needs regular salt for the nasties.

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/salt-and-curing.274225/

Thanks

 

[pops6927]

Hello all, just a quick couple questions, it's been a few years since I made some bacon (ya I know, my head is hung in shame.....lol) I've always done mine in pop's brine, bellies have been in the brine since Tuesday. Question I can't seem to find or remember am I suppose to stir the brine/bellies up every day or two or just leave it fully submerged for the 10 to 14 days?? Also do I rinse/soak after taking out of the brine, before I dry in fridge prior to smoking? Thanks in advanced for any info givin.

NO STIRRING NECESSARY!! Once the ingredients are dissolved, they are.... DISSOLVED! They don't 'fall to the bottom', 'undissolve,' no ingredient is heavier than water or re-forms together. What you did is right - just let them sit, under refrigeration, weighted to keep them submerged. You can go directly from brine to smokehouse and light the flame (or activate the heating coil, whatever required for your smoker). Just let the magic happen for great bacon!

 

[daveomak]

Taken from different sources.....

The wet curing method or immersion curing has been traditionally used for larger cuts of meat like butts or hams that were smoked. It is accomplished by placing meats in a wet curing solution (water, salt, nitrites, sugar). Sugar is added only when curing at refrigerator temperatures, otherwise it will begin fermentation and start spoiling the meat. Wet curing is used to preserve meat, add curing flavor and provide pink color to the meat. After wet curing the meats are normally smoked.


Most meat cuts require about 3 – 14 days of curing time even at 40° F (4° C). It is still a fine curing method for smaller cuts of meat that will have a shorter curing time. To evenly distribute the curing solution, at the half curing time the meats have to be turned over (top pieces placed at the bottom and vice versa) and prevented from swimming up to the surface. The reason being that salt has a tendency to sink to the bottom and nitrates/nitrites like to swim up to the top. The curing solution is not uniform and it has to be agitated once in a while otherwise meats will not be cured evenly. During that time we have to scoop up the foam and any slime that might gather on the surface, as that might be a source of contamination.

FSIS quote...
Overhauling. The process of transferring meat or poultry from one curing vat to another and
then pouring the original curing solution over the meat or poultry when it is in the second vat.
This process insures a more uniform cure by mixing the curing solution and exposing individual
pieces to the curing solution at a different location in the curing vat.

FDA
6.2. Curing Guidelines
6.2.4. Cure Penetration
Cure mixtures do not penetrate into frozen meats. Before curing, it is essential to thaw meats completely first in the refrigerator. Pieces must be prepared to uniform sizes to ensure uniform cure penetration. This is extremely critical for dry and immersion curing (PHS/FDA 2001). Use an approved recipe for determining the exact amount of curing formulation to be used for a specified weight of meat or meat mixture (PHS/FDA 2001). All surfaces of meat must be rotated and rubbed at intervals of sufficient frequency to ensure cure penetration when a dry curing method is used (PHS/FDA 2001). Immersion curing requires periodic mixing of the batch to facilitate uniform curing (PHS/FDA 2001). Curing should be carried out at a temperature between 35°F and 40°F. The lower temperature is set for the purpose of ensuring cure penetration and the upper temperature is set to limit microbial growth (PHS/FDA 2001). Curing solutions must be discarded unless they remain with the same batch of product during its entire curing process –because of the possibility of bacterial growth and cross-contamination, do not reuse brine (PHS/FDA 2001).