Curing bacon (belly), how to safely make less salty by reducing time

[dobson156]

I've just finished curing a pork belly. I loosely followed the system covered in this video.



Which I think is basically the excess salt method. Change the salt-sugar cure daily for 5 days. Then hang.

I cut the belly into four and cured it with:

1. 1:1 sea salt (fine), sugar (+pepper)
2. 2:1 sea salt (fine), sugar (+pepper)
3. 2:1 sea salt (coarse), sugar (+pepper)
4. 2:1 sea salt (pink himalayan), sugar (+pepper)

No curing/prague salt.

I will hot smoke it, but thought I'd tried the intermediate result after hanging. They're all edible but a bit too salty (not a huge amount of difference between the different salts in case you were wondering).

I'd like to know how I could make it less salty, logic dictates that I should cure it for less time - but I am not sure at what point the bacon is actually "cured" and safe to keep without spoiling. If I did it for 4 days, is that still going to be safe to keep for a long time. What about 3 or 2?

I did weigh the pork belly before, during and after curing. Is there a certain moisture loss after which it is considered "cured"?

Thanks in advance

 

[SmokinEdge]

Lol.

He isn’t making bacon, he is making salt pork. Two different things.

 

[dobson156]

He isn’t making bacon, he is making salt pork. Two different things.

Salt pork is not a common used term in the UK. Where I am, where he is. I am not really sure what the difference. He's curing it, he's smoking it. What's not bacon about that? It's even belly pork as the American's prefer.

Regardless, the question remains, at what point can curing time be reduced and it still be safe to consume?

 

[SmokinEdge]

Salt pork is not a common used term in the UK. Where I am, where he is. I am not really sure what the difference. He's curing it, he's smoking it. What's not bacon about that? It's even belly pork as the American's prefer.

Regardless, the question remains, at what point can curing time be reduced and it still be safe to consume?

You are conflating two different processes. In your country, UK, your traditional bacon was wet cured using Wiltshire cure method that used salt Peter as the nitrate source. To make true bacon you must use nitrites. Otherwise it’s just salted pork belly.

To control salt content with a dry rub, we use a equilibrium cure dry mix. For this we apply exactly the salt and cure (once only) to the belly that we want in the end. This produces predictable results with no rinsing or water soaking required. A perfect cure every time.

To the belly:
1.5% salt
.25% cure #1
.75 to 1% sugar.

It’s very simple, rub all sides with the Taylor made rub, then place in a plastic zip bag, or on a stainless steel cooling rack and fridge for 10 day’s minimum but 14 days is better. No rinse required just pat dry with towels and smoke.