Complete virgin to curing meat, in this case it is going to be belly bacon.............NEED help with a dry cure recipe PLEASE!!!

[forktender]

Can one of you please point me to a good step by step recipe? I want to try the cold smoke version and have cure #1 at the ready.
I looked through a bunch and can't seem to find a beginners step by step recipe for dummies.

Thanks a bunch.
Dan


HELP!!!!!!

 

[smokin peachey]

All you need to do is weigh your belly and enter the weight into this calculator http://diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html
Add the belly and proper amounts into a zip lock bag and massage and turn daily for 2 weeks then smoke it

 

[smokin peachey]

You could also mix up a batch of pops brine and cute then it that.

 

[fivetricks]

Good posts above :-)

One will make a more commercial style bacon and the other will result in a more "country" style bacon

 

[forktender]

I love the country style bacon, and I'm hoping that it reminds me of the bacon my Gramp's used to have hanging in his cold smokehouse and root cellar. I remember he used celery juice in his cure in place of cure #1. And I remember it had brown sugar, and maple syrup and heavy on the coarse black pepper.
Gramp's has been gone for many, many years and of course nobody saved his recipe, most likely he didn't follow a recipe. Gramp's was 100% Sicilian and cooked and made wine and brandy for the whole family, and we have/had a HUGE family.

I'm basically looking for a dry cure, cold smoke recipe to follow that include the sugar and spices, seeing that I'm a complete virgin too curing. I'm not very good at following recipes because I learned to cook from my Nonna, Mother and Aunts and Uncles, cooking was done by taste, feel and smell even baking was done by eye balling and feel, yeah I know it sounds crazy but that's how we roll.

I know that I'm going to have to follow a recipe for safety but to be 100% honest with you my math skills flatout suck I'm extremely dyslexic, so I have pretty much shied away from curing meat.
The only recipes I actually follow to a tee are my pizza and bread dough, so I know there is hope for me I just have to get past my fear of screwing up an awesome chunk of meat that I know I could turn into some amazing BBQ, as you can see I'm a bit nervous/worried about screwing up.........LOL!!!

So any help you can offer would be much appreciated.

Spices that I have on hand.......I'm trying to use what I have here at home.
I have cure #1.
Brown and white table sugar.
Sea, Kosher, and table salt.
Maple syrup.
Black and white pepper.
Onion powder.
Garlic powder.
Smoked paprika.
Turmeric.
Fresh garlic.
Dried/ dehydrated diced garlic, parsley, oregano, basil, thyme, California and chipotle chili powder from last years garden.

You know your typical Dego pantry!!!


Thank you very much.
Dan

 

[forktender]

Whoever moved this thread I haven't slept yet and I'm exhausted I couldn't seem to find this forum page even though I knew it was here somewhere.

Thank you.
Dan

 

[smokin peachey]

You are over thinking this. All you need is cure1, salt and sugar. Enter the gram weight into this calculator and it will tell you the amounts. Do you have a gram scale? If you are looking for someone to tell you exact amounts to use we need the weight of the meat.
I have also cured bacon with celery juice powder but let’s not go there yet. Stop in chat and a few guys there can walk you through this. Chat is a great place to find help. Lotta good guys there.

 

[fivetricks]

Yes, follow the calculator for your salt sugar and cure amounts. after you take it out of the dry cure it's pretty much up to you. There's no specific recipe for bacon. Personally I just take the courses ground pepper I can grind and just hammer that puppy let it set in and stick and smoke it from there. others like to put on maple syrup or maple sugar or other things like that, just a personal preference I suppose. but once you get the salt sugar and cure in there's really no recipe to follow. Season it to your heart's delight and see how you like it. You won't ruin it

 

[sawhorseray]

It's in the "Curing" section now Dan. I've been making maple bacon the same way for about 15 years now. Works for me every time, check it out and see if it's something that might work for you. RAY

Applewood Smoked Maple Bacon (illustrated)

Last week I went to Costco and found they had pork belly. I dug thru them all and found the biggest, thickest one. When I got it home I cut the belly in half, knew then I'd picked a winner. Made a mix of 18grams Cure#1, 4.6 ounces canning salt, two ounces maple sugar, 1 cup pure 100% maple...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

 

[jcam222]

Here’s a step by step by disco I’ve heard great comments on, https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/bacon-step-by-step-video.282831/

 

[tx smoker]

Here’s a step by step by disco disco I’ve heard great comments on,

The approach that sawhorseray shared is extremely good advice. Like you, I was scared to death the first time I made bacon. Followed the step by step that Disco posted, noted above by Jeff, and it came out perfect. Curing bacon is super simple. Believe me, if I can do it, anybody can. Be prepared though, once you start, you'll be hoked for like. There's no going back to store bought.

Robert

 

[tx smoker]

P.S. I'm still following Disco's method and it's perfect every time. My two go-to recipes are the maple & brown sugar and the pepper crusted. Oh so good!!

Robert

 

[xray]

Dan, one of the things that intimidated me was the math.

My digital kitchen scale measures in pounds and ounces.

Once I had the weight of the meat in ounces...I used google to convert from ounces to grams.

Diggingdog farm calculator also has a converter. I double checked with that.

I bought a small pocket gram scale for measuring out the cure, sugar and salt.

But as others have said it really is simple. If a simpleton like me can do it so can you.

 

[forktender]

Thank you all very much, I had a really rough night last night I was laid out of the floor with a horrible back flare up.....Stupid spine!!!

I haven't had the chance to check out the calculator yet, I will check it out tonight.
Thank you for the vote of confidence, I sometimes need that to kick start me because money is so tight that I'm always afraid of messing up a tasty piece of meat.

I do have a gram scale that I use for my bread and pizza dough making.
So from what I have read so far it seems like I have every thing that I need to get started.

It's hot here in CA this week in the mid 90's, so I will most likely get this slab of belly cured up some time next week when our temps are supposed to drop 15-20*.

I do have one quick question, I see that some people leave skin on and some people remove the skin.
Is that mainly for hang the bacon in the smoker?

I plan on cold smoking the bacon on a rack in my drum smoker using dust and a maze and pellets and a tube as I tend to like Bacon really smokey. So I will remove the skin most likely unless there is another reason to leave it.

Thank you all VERY much.
Dan

 

[smokin peachey]

Yes remove the skin if it is still on. Every belly I have ever bought hasn’t had skin on. Glad I could be of assistance. Keep it simple first time around. You won’t be disappointed.

 

[forktender]

Yes remove the skin if it is still on. Every belly I have ever bought hasn’t had skin on. Glad I could be of assistance. Keep it simple first time around. You won’t be disappointed.

The belly I've bought out here in CA have had the skin on and I actually prefer it that way because I love making pork rids.

Thank you for the quick response.
Dan

 

[smokin peachey]

The belly I've bought out here in CA have had the skin on and I actually prefer it that way because I love making pork rids.

Thank you for the quick response.
Dan

Sounds great.
Cant wait to see you get the bacon started.

 

[SmokinAl]

Here are a couple of things that will make it go easy.
First is the calculator to figure the amount of salt, sugar, & cure #1 to use. You will need a gram scale. http://diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html.
Then here is a couple of very detailed step by step for dry curing & cold smoking belly bacon.

Got a belly from my Grandson, SO I MADE BACON , steps & q-view galore

My Grandson is a chef in a high end restaurant in Ft. Lauderdale. He came up for a visit & asked if he could bring anything. I said if you can get a nice thick pork belly that would be great. He said no prob, Gramps! Here is what he brought. It was already skinned & weighed 13 lbs. Here is...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

BERKSHIRE HOG BELLY BACON

Well I have heard so much talk about Berkshire hogs that I wanted to try to get a belly for bacon. None to be had around here so I went online & ordered one from Tenderbelly.com. They are a great Company to deal with & the owner Shannon is a real stand up guy, kinda reminds me of Todd Johnson of...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

Here is a great video on skinning a belly. I would suggest you skin it before curing.

It is a very simple process, but I know exactly how you feel. The first time is always a bit stressing. Good luck & I'm sure you will do just fine.
Al

 

[daveomak]

Simplify your curing.... Weigh everything in grams....
meat weight X 0.25 = amount of cure you need... ( 0.0025)
meat weight X 1.5 to 2% = amount of salt (0.015 - 0.02)
meat weight X 1% = amount of sugar... (0.01)
Mix the ingredients thoroughly.... sprinkle over the meat as uniformly as you can...
Zip bag the meat and turn daily... TIME = 1 day per 1/4" thickness + 2 days+....
For meats over 2" thick, you will need to make a curing brine...
use 1/2 the weight of the meat for the liquid...
use the above numbers but... add the weight of the water to the meat weight, to do the calculation...
Inject the curing brine into the meat.. use about 1/2 to 3/4 the curing brine for the injection... inject an uniformly as you can.....
I prefer the syringes you get with

They are better than some of the others I have tried... The flexible tip of the plunger does not swell and make them useless.....

 

[Bearcarver]

Can one of you please point me to a good step by step recipe? I want to try the cold smoke version and have cure #1 at the ready.
I looked through a bunch and can't seem to find a beginners step by step recipe for dummies.

Thanks a bunch.
Dan


HELP!!!!!!

Or you can get some Tender Quick, and follow the Step by Step, below:
Bacon (Extra Smoky)

Bear