Bag cure bacon - cure time?

[thirdeye]

Is it necessary to put the cure/seasoning mix on both the fat and meat sides or is it ok to put it on the meat side only since fat does not cure?

Here is the deal.... fat does not contain myoglobin so it does not cure per se. But, salting fat has a tenderizing/flavorizing effect (of sorts) on fat. So the salt in Cure #1 and the additional salt in your curing mixture will accomplish this to some degree. There is one kicker, which is time. As seen below, to get the full benefit of salting fat can take 20 to 30 days on thicker fat back.... but pork belly fat is not that thick.



If you have ever dry cured a slab of bacon for 6 or 7 days, it is fully cured. But compare that to a slab that has been dry cured for 14 or 15 days and you will tell a difference in the overall flavor, and you will notice the texture of the fat is more desirable. This is really obvious on salt pork or streak-o-lean bacon.

Getting back to your question: With skin removed, I take 1/2 of the required amount of cure for a slab of bacon and put it on the fatty face and all 4 sides. The other 1/2 of the cure goes on the meaty face.

 

[Lawyer Bob]

Here is the deal.... fat does not contain myoglobin so it does not cure per se. But, salting fat has a tenderizing/flavorizing effect (of sorts) on fat. So the salt in Cure #1 and the additional salt in your curing mixture will accomplish this to some degree. There is one kicker, which is time. As seen below, to get the full benefit of salting fat can take 20 to 30 days on thicker fat back.... but pork belly fat is not that thick.

View attachment 524039

If you have ever dry cured a slab of bacon for 6 or 7 days, it is fully cured. But compare that to a slab that has been dry cured for 14 or 15 days and you will tell a difference in the overall flavor, and you will notice the texture of the fat is more desirable. This is really obvious on salt pork or streak-o-lean bacon.

Getting back to your question: With skin removed, I take 1/2 of the required amount of cure for a slab of bacon and put it on the fatty face and all 4 sides. The other 1/2 of the cure goes on the meaty face.

Thank you, very helpful.

 

[Lawyer Bob]

I would still apply cure mix to the fat side. Salt and nitrite move through fat slower (because fat has a really low water content) but it still moves through and cure the meat layer under the fat. Look at the profile of belly bacon. It’s streaked with fat and meat layers. They all get cured. So the process is just slower when going through fat vs muscle.

Got it, thanks.

 

[Lawyer Bob]

Here is the deal.... fat does not contain myoglobin so it does not cure per se. But, salting fat has a tenderizing/flavorizing effect (of sorts) on fat. So the salt in Cure #1 and the additional salt in your curing mixture will accomplish this to some degree. There is one kicker, which is time. As seen below, to get the full benefit of salting fat can take 20 to 30 days on thicker fat back.... but pork belly fat is not that thick.

View attachment 524039

If you have ever dry cured a slab of bacon for 6 or 7 days, it is fully cured. But compare that to a slab that has been dry cured for 14 or 15 days and you will tell a difference in the overall flavor, and you will notice the texture of the fat is more desirable. This is really obvious on salt pork or streak-o-lean bacon.

Getting back to your question: With skin removed, I take 1/2 of the required amount of cure for a slab of bacon and put it on the fatty face and all 4 sides. The other 1/2 of the cure goes on the meaty face.

Also, which book is that?

 

[SmokinEdge]

Also, which book is that?

Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages: by, Stanley Marianski.

I can’t recommend this book highly enough.
The pick Thirdeye posted was from page #521.

 

[Lawyer Bob]

Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages: by, Stanley Marianski.

I can’t recommend this book highly enough.
The pick Thirdeye posted was from page #521.

Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages: by, Stanley Marianski.

I can’t recommend this book highly enough.
The pick Thirdeye posted was from page #521.

Thanks! I‘ll pick it up. I've been eyeballing their Meat Smoking & Smokehouse Design. Is that one good, too?

 

[DougE]

I went with the Kindle version, myself. I can read it on any of my PCs, or my phone, and can bookmark pages I want to return to quickly. I will probably end up buying it in book form eventually, but I do like the convenience of being able to bookmark stuff for quick access with the Kindle version. That, and I had access to the book immediately.

Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages: by, Stanley Marianski.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Thanks! I‘ll pick it up. I've been eyeballing their Meat Smoking & Smokehouse Design. Is that one good, too?

It’s excellent. There is a ton of information about smoking generally plus how smokehouse configurations work (there is a lot of ways to build a smoker) ins and outs of smoking methods, all of Marianski’s books are straight forward tried and true information, no opinion or b.s
If you get into sausages,( the Home Production book goes into this) pick up his book Polish Sausages. It’s authentic recipes from the government of Poland. All the ins and outs of sausage. I have maybe six of his books, and all are a must for farther processing meats, he covers canning as well.

 

[thirdeye]

I went with the Kindle version, myself. I can read it on any of my PCs, or my phone, and can bookmark pages I want to return to quickly. I will probably end up buying it in book form eventually, but I do like the convenience of being able to bookmark stuff for quick access with the Kindle version. That, and I had access to the book immediately.

Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages: by, Stanley Marianski.

I like the keyword search feature on Kindle books (I have a couple of Marianski's sausage books on my Kindle Fire) or other technical reference books I have in PDF format on my laptops. I'm curious how you can read a Kindle book on your PC?

 

[DougE]

I'm curious how you can read a Kindle book on your PC?

Go to your Amazon acct. content and devices, books, then to the right of each book, click more actions, read now. this will open it up in Kindle cloud reader. The book will open up in a browser tab. any bookmarks or whatever you do here can be synced across all devices.

 

[thirdeye]

Go to your Amazon acct. content and devices, books, then to the right of each book, click more actions, read now. this will open it up in Kindle cloud reader. The book will open up in a browser tab. any bookmarks or whatever you do here can be synced across all devices.

View attachment 524091

I'll play around with that, thanks.

 

[DougE]

I'll play around with that, thanks.

The cloud reader interface is kind of clunky, but it actually works pretty well once you get used to it. It's more or less like reading a PDF

 

[DougE]

I'll play around with that, thanks.

 

[thirdeye]

View attachment 524093

So, this is a screen shot from one of the e-books? I'm assuming Marianski as it has the signature 18g of salt per kg?

 

[DougE]

So, this is a screen shot from one of the e-books? I'm assuming Marianski as it has the signature 18g of salt per kg?

Yea, it's Marianski Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages. I just happened to have had his book open on the cloud reader already.

 

[GrumpyGriller]

I’ve done several over the years with honey, or pure maple syrup trying to build flavors. The syrup ends up just sweet, no maple. The honey ends sweet as well but had a aftertaste I didn’t care for, could not put my finger on exactly what the taste was though. I don’t like sweet bacon and was just trying these things for other friends, I’ve since given up on the syrup or honey experiments, but in my on going research, if I were to try them again I would apply the honey after the curing but before smoking. Some even dilute it a bit and run it through a spray bottle. Just let the bacon hang in the heat 1-2 hours (120-130*) to dry before starting smoke.

Good luck, and I hope you post up your results. The honey won’t mess with the cure, and the time frame of 10-12 days is good. Remember to turn the bag over every day or every other day.

I am pulling the belly out today. With the wet brine, I let it sit out and dry overnight, rubbed with spices and then smoked.

Since I dry cured with spices, I was still going to leave it in the fridge overnight, but is it necessariy to add additional rub...what do you guys think?

 

[SmokinEdge]

I am pulling the belly out today. With the wet brine, I let it sit out and dry overnight, rubbed with spices and then smoked.

Since I dry cured with spices, I was still going to leave it in the fridge overnight, but is it necessariy to add additional rub...what do you guys think?

How much liquid was in the bag? How much of your seasoning was washed away during the curing process?
With 1.5% salt, I often don’t don’t rinse the bacon, I just pull it from the bag, paper towel dab it and on to a wire rack/cookie sheet into the fridge to dry then smoke. The seasonings from the cure process are not overly powerful. If you want more garlic or pepper or whatever, it’s best to apply that. As soon as it comes out of the bag damp so it will stick. Then let it form the pellicle (dry)

 

[GrumpyGriller]

That makes sense... Very little liquid; maybe 1/2 cup or less.

Pulling now andvwill season a bit more... smoke tomorrow if the ice thaws off my cover

 

[SmokinEdge]

That makes sense... Very little liquid; maybe 1/2 cup or less.

That’s about right, and this removal of moisture from the meat is what separates dry cure from brine. This concentrates the flavors. It’s gooood.

 

[GrumpyGriller]

...
Pulled and in fridge for final overnight with additional spices - same as used in the cure mix.