Bacon smoking

[sotv]

Has anyone got a recipe per KG for a sweetcure bacon. Can only find one mention of it on google really and they suggest 30g of demera sugar per 1kg alongside the usual salts. Does this sound about right, to anybody that has tried it?

 

[smokin monkey]

Take a look at this link, use a online cure calculator, like digginfarm or there is iSmokehog.com app on iTunes.

 

[sotv]

Take a look at this link, use a online cure calculator, like digginfarm or there is iSmokehog.com app on iTunes.

Is there meant to be another link besides the ismokehog app?

I use the digginfarm for bacon I have done previously, but unsure what I should set the % at for the sugar to achieve a sweet cure bacon and if anything else but sugar, salt and cure are needed to achieve it?

 

[smokin monkey]

No only one link, not sure of % for sweet cure, but will have a look.

 

[wade]

Sweet cure bacon is not really a special type of cure but one that usually has more sugar (and usually different distinctive types of sugars) to give it flavour rather than to just balance out the salt content.

As a rule of thumb you would usually aim for 2-3% salt and use one half sugar to salt. If using white sugar this is usually not detectable from a flavour perspective. However if you substitute something like molasses, Muscovado sugar or honey and you increase the salt to sugar ratio to 3:2 or 1:1, the sweetness and sugar flavours then become distinct and it is then often called sweet cure bacon.

 

[sotv]

 
Sweet cure bacon is not really a special type of cure but one that usually has more sugar (and usually different distinctive types of sugars) to give it flavour rather than to just balance out the salt content.

As a rule of thumb you would usually aim for 2-3% salt and use one half sugar to salt. If using white sugar this is usually not detectable from a flavour perspective. However if you substitute something like molasses, Muscovado sugar or honey and you increase the salt to sugar ratio to 3:2 or 1:1, the sweetness and sugar flavours then become distinct and it is then often called sweet cure bacon.

Thanks for that, I have 2 nice 1kg pieces of Loin that I want to use, so will do 1 of them as a 1:1 mix of sugar and salt and the other one more of a 3:2 but add 2 teaspoons of honey, with the salt at 2.5% for both. I will try a mixture of 50/50 Dark Muscavado and Light Brown Cane Sugar for my first attempt to see how that works, 

 

[wade]

That will be a good comparison. Don't forget to document what you do to eacy piece so you can reproduce the ones you prefer.

One thing to remember is that the more sugar you add in the cure the more likely the bacon is to burn when it is fried. 

 

[homeruk]

here is a recipe ive come up with over the last few years by dabbling about with the spices which does it for us here

you will need to scale it down accordingly as this is how i have wrote in in my book of love (recipe book)

the piece I based the recipe on was 1560gms in weight so if you divide it by two thirds per 1kg its close enough

34.32gms fine sea salt

14.5gms white sugar

3.9gms cure1

0.78gms sodium asorbate

2 gms course ground pepper

0.5gms ground mace

12 gms black treacle

cure for 1 day per half inch thickness of meat plus an extra 2 days

rub dry ingredients into pork then put in vac bag and drop in treacle..it will work its own way around during the curing

gives you a "black cured" bacon

to make slicing easier you can part freeze the bacon for 2 or three hours

 

[sotv]

 
here is a recipe ive come up with over the last few years by dabbling about with the spices which does it for us here

you will need to scale it down accordingly as this is how i have wrote in in my book of love (recipe book)

the piece I based the recipe on was 1560gms in weight so if you divide it by two thirds per 1kg its close enough

34.32gms fine sea salt

14.5gms white sugar

3.9gms cure1

0.78gms sodium asorbate

2 gms course ground pepper

0.5gms ground mace

12 gms black treacle

cure for 1 day per half inch thickness of meat plus an extra 2 days

rub dry ingredients into pork then put in vac bag and drop in treacle..it will work its own way around during the curing

gives you a "black cured" bacon

to make slicing easier you can part freeze the bacon for 2 or three hours

Thanks for that. I will try that next time as I have done the cure for the 2 pieces of loin I already had. Providing I can find sodium ascorbate locally to me.

 

[wade]

 
Thanks for that. I will try that next time as I have done the cure for the 2 pieces of loin I already had. Providing I can find sodium ascorbate locally to me.

In the above recipe the flavours all come from the pepper, mace and treacle. The sodium ascorbate is not really required as it is simply a cure accelerant and creates a deeper ("pickling") red colour in the finished bacon. Without it you will still get a good "bacon" red colour just from the Nitrite in the Cure #1 and any colour is likely to me somewhat masked by the treacle. As a rule of thumb cure for ~10-14 days (you cannot over cure within reason).

If you do use it, do not be tempted to substitute Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in place of the sodium ascorbate as this will react with the Nitrite in the cure and cause it to break down.

 

[smokin monkey]

How dose he now this stuff?!

 

[steve johnson]

When you get old you amass a wealth of knowledge Steve , just before you start forgetting things :drool :sausage:

 

[wade]

Oi Steve - who are you accusing of being old !!!

Who are you anyway?

Where am I?

 

[smokin monkey]

When you get old you amass a wealth of knowledge Steve , just before you start forgetting things :drool :sausage:

This also so happens wen you retire, how many days to go Wade?

 

[wade]

Only 60 working days to go... and counting 

 

[sotv]

 
Thanks for that, I have 2 nice 1kg pieces of Loin that I want to use, so will do 1 of them as a 1:1 mix of sugar and salt and the other one more of a 3:2 but add 2 teaspoons of honey, with the salt at 2.5% for both. I will try a mixture of 50/50 Dark Muscavado and Light Brown Cane Sugar for my first attempt to see how that works, 

Quick update, they both turned out really well. I thought the honey one turned out closer to a sweetcure flavour than the straight sugar. It is slightly on the overly sweet side (which I like) but will probably try and tone it down slightly for my wife next time. But the flavour is definitely there. More of a bacon on a plate type full english  than in a sandwich though.

Compared to the straightforward salt and pepper cure, I have done in the past, I preferred the sweetcure version.

 

[wade]

That is great - I am pleased it turned out well. Do you have any photos?

 

[sotv]

IMG_20170621_073515719.jpg

• sotv
• Jun 21, 2017

The photo makes them a little lighter in colour than they actually are. The bottom one is the version with honey. I personally thought the 50/50 split of muscavado sugar and light brown cane sugar worked well together, much better than my previous all light brown sugar attempts, for the sugar part of the bacon cure and something I will stick with now with my bacon cure mixes

I left these too cure a little longer than previously 9 days and smoked for 3 x 12 hours over a course of 3 nights with a 50/50 beech and oak mix (rather than hickory/beech used previously) and I think the finished flavour has benefited for that longer period and change of dust.

Sweetcure isn't to everyone's taste when it comes to bacon. But I am certainly enjoying it (especially the honey version). Very tempted to try sweet curing a  gammon joint in the near future. if it can be done with a dry brine in a ziploc bag

From my notes

Sugar mix and salt version was 2.5% for both (probably drop the sugar to 2.1% on my next go) to see if it makes much difference to the finished sweetness

Sugar and honey and salt version 2.5% Salt 1.75% sugar mix and 2 tbps of clear honey,very happy with finished flavour, but is on the slightly sweet side.

 

[smokin monkey]

Great to see different types of bacon curing!

It's all about playing with ingredients you think will work.

I have not tried Sweet Cure, as I am not into sweet tasting foods.

Have done Canadian Bacon, which is flavoured but not sweet.

 

[wade]

Did you use the sodium ascorbate in the end?