Brining Bacon 911

[wallpe]

Good morning all. I am new to Smoking Meat Forums. I have been smoking meats and dry curing bacon now for the past year. I had a request from a friend for Pickle Flavored Bacon. I took the pork belly (2.5 lbs) and rubbed with kosher salt and 1 tsp. of pink curing salt (Prague Powder No. 1) and then submerged the belly into pickle juice to brine. This is an experiment and I may need to scrap the idea. Two questions, (1) Am I going about curing/brining the belly the right way, and (2) If so, how long do I let it soak before smoking? Look forward to hearing wht you have to say. Be brutally honest with comments. I will not take offense as I am wanting to learn this art form.

 

[SonnyE]

Well, I'm new at this, too. But what I've seen is 1 tsp of cure for 5 pounds of meat. So, by weight, you are at double the usually recommended amount of cure. Any reason for that?
But I don't dry measure anymore, I weigh so I get a more accurate ratio.
Maybe if you were to inject the pickle juice, which often is spiced up vinegar and water anyway.
Sounds pretty strange to me. But so did pickle slices and eggs, till I tried it.
Silly Dilly Bacon. Relish Rubbed Bacon.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

I'm curious how this goes..

I've only done wet curing once, and I kept the ham I did submerged for 18 days, this is the sole help I can offer, but I look forward to knowing how it works out..because..I..might try it.

 

[HalfSmoked]

Look up pops brine on here and follow his plan.

Warren

 

[gmc2003]

Just want to welcome you to the site Wallpe. Pickle flavored bacon however doesn't sound all that appealing to me. Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

Chris

 

[wallpe]

Not something I find to be appealing either. But I will try anything for family.

 

[wallpe]

Look up pops brine on here and follow his plan.

Warren

If following pops brine, could I substitute pickle juice for the water?

 

[HalfSmoked]

Not sure wait and Maybe pops will answer up. Or you can PM him.

Warren

 

[chopsaw]

I took the pork belly (2.5 lbs) and rubbed with kosher salt and 1 tsp. of pink curing salt (Prague Powder No. 1) and then submerged the belly into pickle juice to brine. This is an experiment and I may need to scrap the idea. Two questions, (1) Am I going about curing/brining the belly the right way, and (2) If so, how long do I let it soak before smoking?

I would take Half smoked advice in post 4 . I don't wet cure bacon , but use Pop's alot on poultry works great .

As far as pickle juice brine . I use it alot , straight pickle juice on boneless chicken breast .
Becareful . It does not take long for the pickle juice to work . It can , at least on poultry start to " cook " the thinner parts and also make the meat mushy if left for long periods of time . 24 hours is on the line of to much for chicken .
So I don't think the two go together . My opinion is the amount of time to cure is to long in the pickle juice .

Also someone else would know if the juice has an effect on the cure working or not . I don't know but something tells me that would be something to find out .

 

[HalfSmoked]

I think it could upset the basics of the cure mix as far as the salt and cure #1 goes. Just my $.02

Warren

 

[Tex1911]

Welcome to the madness. I suggest cutting the slab and using a small slab to experiment with. If it turns out undesirable, not a big waste. When I first started making my own bacon, I searched and found a few ingredients I wanted to try with my bacon. I cut the slab into 4 smaller slabs and seasoned them with whatever I was using and used a sharpie to label them. On the 4 slabs, I tried 1 with garlic. Another with Rosemary and Thyme. Another was maple and some other stuff I don't really remember and the other was seasoned with............. I really don't remember that either. It was too long ago, but I do remember the outcome of it all.......................

I came to the conclusion that the good ol fashion regular salt cure was the best for my likes. So, try it with pickle juice, you never know.

 

[h8that4u]

If anything, try Pop's brine as is, then one day before pulling the slap out add in the pickle juice so it's not in for more than 24 hrs in the Brine/Pickle mixture. Curing and pickling are 2 different things. Instead of pickle juice you may want to try something like this

 

[wallpe]

This looks like a better idea than what I was trying. So if I understand what you are saying, use pops brine as is and after the brining process add to pickle juice to the brine, or take the meat out of the Brine and soak it in pickle juice?

I could also just use pops brine, and once removed add the spice that you added to the message prior to smoking.

 

[h8that4u]

Being a experiment either way with Pop's Brine first would work, or add the powder to the brine, and then sprinkle on some more just before putting on the smoker.

 

[bmudd14474]

I would not use pickle juice as its going to mess with your balance. Cure it then either season with the pickle flavor or soak in the pickle juice for a few hours then smoke.

 

[flatbroke]

Welcome to the forum

 

[HalfSmoked]

What flavor you looking sweet, sour or dill.

Warren

 

[wallpe]

I believe who i am making this for is looking for the dill flavor.

 

[SonnyE]

Why are you currently at Double the amount of Prague Powder?

 

[wallpe]

I used the same amount of powder I have used for other bacon cures I have used. Other cures have called for 1 teaspoon of curing salt for up to 5 pounds of pork belly.