My first time curing and smoking pork belly. I used Morton's Tenderquick (couldn't find Instacure and didn't want to wait for it to be shipped) and bought a 9lb belly at Costco for about $25, skin already removed. Three pounds I roasted fresh using Gordon Ramsay's recipe with fennel, star anise and cardamom and ate in sandwiches with kimchi and Big Bob's white BBQ sauce. The other six pounds I cut in half and made three pounds of maple bacon and three pounds of pepper bacon.
I put the bellies on dry cure a week ago and flipped them every day. I had read that sometimes cure has a problem penetrating to the center, so I wanted to cut each piece down the middle to check since it's my first time. What I found was that the outside layer of meat was clearly cured, but it didn't penetrate the internal fat layer, so the pink meat in the center appears to have remained regular pork pink, not that deep red cured color that the outside meat part got.
So, my question is, since it doesn't look like the cure penetrated, am I okay or does it need to cure more? I already pulled each three pound piece out and rinsed it off, blotted it dry, cut it in half to check, and put it on a rack in the fridge for pellicle to form before the smoke, 4-16 hours away depending on if I do it late tonight or in the morning.
tl;dr After a week of curing does this look okay to smoke or does it need to cure more? I'm hot smoking at 180 until 150 IT.
Above you can clearly see the dark cured part and the lighter colored less-cured part.
Above is a shot of the outside of one of them.
Above, side shot - and I think I cut it in the wrong direction on accident....
Above, how they are resting in the fridge for four hours to maybe overnight before I hot smoke at around 180.
I put the bellies on dry cure a week ago and flipped them every day. I had read that sometimes cure has a problem penetrating to the center, so I wanted to cut each piece down the middle to check since it's my first time. What I found was that the outside layer of meat was clearly cured, but it didn't penetrate the internal fat layer, so the pink meat in the center appears to have remained regular pork pink, not that deep red cured color that the outside meat part got.
So, my question is, since it doesn't look like the cure penetrated, am I okay or does it need to cure more? I already pulled each three pound piece out and rinsed it off, blotted it dry, cut it in half to check, and put it on a rack in the fridge for pellicle to form before the smoke, 4-16 hours away depending on if I do it late tonight or in the morning.
tl;dr After a week of curing does this look okay to smoke or does it need to cure more? I'm hot smoking at 180 until 150 IT.
