Dry cure virgin

[gabrieldavis49]

I started dry curing my first slab of bacon last night. I couldn't get a scale for my measurements so I just had to estimate to the best of my abilities.

The pork belly weighed between six and seven pounds and for the cure I added 1 1/4 teaspoons of pink salt, 15 teaspoons of Morton's coarse kosher salt and 10 teaspoons of dark brown sugar.

To add some flavor I added a few teaspoons of fresh jalapeños and black pepper for one half and the other I just doubled the brown sugar.

Does this sound like a good estimate or was I way off?

On another note I thought it was hilarious to see the nipples still on my pork belly.

 

[dirtsailor2003]

It's not good to estimate the weight when doing a dry cure. Good way to get people sick. Your best bet would've been to use Pop's Brine. It will work when you don't know the weights.

 

[gabrieldavis49]

Yeah I was worried about bochelism but I also understand that too much pink salt is also dangerous. 1 1/4 teaspoon should have been fine being as it states 1tsp per five pounds and mine was seven so I feel okay with that portion of my measurements. I was more worried about possibly over salting the mixture or too much sugar.

 

[diggingdogfarm]

Did you use level teaspoons of cure, salt and sugar?



~Martin

 

[gabrieldavis49]

Yes. I looked up Morton's coarse salt weight and it said 6 grams per tsp and with seven pounds of pork belly it came out to I think around 75 grams I ended up using a little extra salt because I was reading that if the cure is too strong I can soak it before i smoke it but I would still rather not water flavor down with water. I did, however, run into difficulty getting the dark brown sugar to level off because the molasses made it want to bind to itself.

 

[gabrieldavis49]

image.jpg

• gabrieldavis49
• Mar 12, 2013

Here is the mixture I used before splitting it in half for half jalapeño and half sweet

 

[disco]

I am relatively new to smoking but I have just finished my 3rd bacon project using dry cures and had good results. From my reading, if you use 2 teaspoons pink salt per 5 pounds you will be fine. That would be a just under 3 teaspoons for 7 pounds and 2 1/2 for 6 pounds. As for kosher salt, I used 1 tablespoon per pound. The amount of other ingredients depend on your taste. I would use more brown sugar than you did but I like a touch of sweet in my bacon.

 

[diggingdogfarm]

I am relatively new to smoking but I have just finished my 3rd bacon project using dry cures and had good results. From my reading, if you use 2 teaspoons pink salt per 5 pounds you will be fine. That would be a just under 3 teaspoons for 7 pounds and 2 1/2 for 6 pounds. As for kosher salt, I used 1 tablespoon per pound. The amount of other ingredients depend on your taste. I would use more brown sugar than you did but I like a touch of sweet in my bacon.

Where did you read that?
It should be one level teaspoon of cure #1 per 5 pounds of meat.


~Martin

 

[disco]

Where did you read that?
It should be one level teaspoon of cure #1 per 5 pounds of meat.


~Martin

Charcuterie and the Bradley Smoker site use this amount.

 

[diggingdogfarm]

It's WAY more than what's recommended.
The USDA regulates the maximum amount of nitrite in commercial bacon at the level of 120ppm.
Many home bacon curer's use the general rule of thumb, "One level teaspoon of cure #1 per 5 lbs. of meat", which equates to ~156ppm.....which is more than enough.
The amount you posted equates to ~312ppm!!!


~Martin

 

[disco]

It's WAY more than what's recommended.
The USDA regulates the maximum amount of nitrite in commercial bacon at the level of 120ppm.
Many home bacon curer's use the general rule of thumb, "One level teaspoon of cure #1 per 5 lbs. of meat", which equates to ~156ppm.....which is more than enough.
The amount you posted equates to ~312ppm!!!


~Martin

As I say, I am new to this and I am just following the recipes that were published in a regarded book (Charcuterie) and the manufacturer of my rig. However, I am happy to reduce the nitrites in my bacon and will give what you say a try.

 

[shannon127]

It's WAY more than what's recommended.
The USDA regulates the maximum amount of nitrite in commercial bacon at the level of 120ppm.
Many home bacon curer's use the general rule of thumb, "One level teaspoon of cure #1 per 5 lbs. of meat", which equates to ~156ppm.....which is more than enough.
The amount you posted equates to ~312ppm!!!


~Martin

Martin,

You know I almost always agree with you, but this is not what the USDA regulates.  The maximum for whole muscle dry cured products, excluding bacon, is 625 ppm Sodium Nitrite ingoing.  The maximum for bacon is different because of worries about nitrosamine formation.  In dry cured bacon the limit is 200 ppm. 

Here is a link to the USDA directive that covers Nitrites

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OPPDE/rdad/FSISDirectives/7620-3.pdf

There is a nice table on page 12, which is actually page 17 of the pdf.  It shows the maximums for both Sodium and Potassium nitrites/nitratesas well as the variations in maximums based on curing method.  Anyone who is dry curing should read pages 24 to 27 as well as the specifics for bacon on pages 27 to 31.

 

[daveomak]

Shannon, morning..... I think you just proved Martin is correct on this issue...  200 Ppm max in bacon cured one way...  312 Ppm is way too much...  

Dave

+++++++

The maximum for whole muscle dry cured products, excluding bacon, is 625 ppm Sodium Nitrite ingoing.  The maximum for bacon is different because of worries about nitrosamine formation.  In dry cured bacon the limit is 200 ppm. 

 

[diggingdogfarm]

I'm very familiar with all the limits.
Keep in mind, the dry curing limits are for TRUE dry curing, not just applying a dry cure mix short-term like most folks do. In the case of bacon, the 200ppm limit is for bacon that's dry cured for an extended period of time, like southern country bacon.
It's important to fully understand the definitions of terms that the USDA is using in the manual, their definitions don't always match common everyday definitions.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/124452/confusing-dry-curing-with-dry-curing

~Martin

 

[diesel]

I agree w/ Martin also, and I have found that the recipes in Charcuterie are incorrect in there levels of Cure.  I was also using too much at first.  I have a great chart that I use, link below:

http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?736-Curing-Salts

After becoming familiar with the amounts I have noticed that other recipes found on blogs and websites are using too much. 

Good luck and good smoking.

Aaron.

 

[diggingdogfarm]

There's a lot of bad info in "Charcuterie" even after some of it was corrected in later printings...."Salumi" is even worse.

~Martin

 

[mr t 59874]

Just to throw my two cents in.  To reduce nitrosamine formation, keep your cooking temperature below 350⁰.

 

[shannon127]

It's WAY more than what's recommended.
The USDA regulates the maximum amount of nitrite in commercial bacon at the level of 120ppm.
Many home bacon curer's use the general rule of thumb, "One level teaspoon of cure #1 per 5 lbs. of meat", which equates to ~156ppm.....which is more than enough.
The amount you posted equates to ~312ppm!!!


~Martin

Shannon, morning..... I think you just proved Martin is correct on this issue...  200 Ppm max in bacon cured one way...  312 Ppm is way too much...  

Dave

+++++++

The maximum for whole muscle dry cured products, excluding bacon, is 625 ppm Sodium Nitrite ingoing.  The maximum for bacon is different because of worries about nitrosamine formation.  In dry cured bacon the limit is 200 ppm. 

Good Evening Dave, 

Just for the record, I did not prove Martin's post.  If you look, he said the maximum for bacon is 120 ppm not 200.  I was not commenting on Ruhlman or his bacon recipe.  I was simply correcting Martin when he said 120ppm.  I do agree that 312 ppm is too much.

 

[diggingdogfarm]

The 200ppm nitrite in true dry-cured bacon wasn't mentioned simply because that's not the way that most folks cure their bacon, in the same way that most folks don't make dry-cured country ham either.



~Martin

 

[mountainhawg]

I started dry curing my first slab of bacon last night. I couldn't get a scale for my measurements so I just had to estimate to the best of my abilities.

The pork belly weighed between six and seven pounds and for the cure I added 1 1/4 teaspoons of pink salt, 15 teaspoons of Morton's coarse kosher salt and 10 teaspoons of dark brown sugar.

To add some flavor I added a few teaspoons of fresh jalapeños and black pepper for one half and the other I just doubled the brown sugar.

Does this sound like a good estimate or was I way off?

On another note I thought it was hilarious to see the nipples still on my pork belly.

One of the things I did after joining this site was to get two scales one that went up to 11 pounds and one for small measurements up to 400.00 grams I did this due to the need for accurate measurements of cure, sugar and salt. plus to use DigginDogFarm's calculator for cure #1 usage. 

One thing that was mentioned is if you do not know the weight of the meat, use Pop's brine which is good and pretty fool proof plus you can add any extra's you wish. I'm a walking example that it's fool proof