Dry cured VS 10% injection brine Canadian bacon

[JC in GB]

Disclaimer: This was an experiment I did on my own and is not meant to dispute or challenge any other poster or their curing methods. I present this treatise for your perusal.

Dry cured VS 10% injection brine Canadian bacon

I have been working for some time on coming up with an easy wet cure method that doesn't require a bucket. I don't have the needed space for bucket brining so I came up with this hybrid method.

Methods used:

1) The first method used was done according to Disco's dry cured bacon formula.
I have used this recipe before and got satisfactory results so I am using this as my control batch.

For each kg of meat, I applied the following measured ingredients.

1 kg meat
25.8 g brown sugar
19.2 g salt
2.5 g cure #1

This results in a final product with a sodium content of: 2.2% (NaCl + Cure1)

Applied dry mixture to pork loin and bagged and sealed. Cured 12 days.

Removed from bag and soaked 1 hour in H2O changing water once.

2) 10% brine method

For each kg of meat, I applied the following measured ingredients.

1 kg meat
100 ml H2O
25.8 g brown sugar
17 g salt
2.75 g cure #1

This results in a final product with a sodium content of: 1.79% (NaCl + Cure1)

Injected brine mixture into pork loin. Poured any remaining brine into bag and sealed. Cured 12 days. Injected loin has toothpick inserted.

Removed from bag and rinsed.

Placed cured loins on rack and set in refrigerator overnight to form pellicle.

Smoke at 200 degrees F with Cherry and Hickory to IT of 160.

Rest overnight in fridge.

Results:

Dry cured bacon:

The dry cured bacon was saltier in taste which is no surprise as the sodium content was higher for this cure. The dry cure bacon also had a drier consistency. Again no surprise as the salt in the dry cure pulled water out of the meat. The dry cure bacon had a slightly more robust flavor.

10% brine bacon:

The 10% brine bacon was more difficult to prepare than the dry cure bacon. The 10% brine cured bacon was easier to slice than the dry cured bacon. It also had more moisture content than the dry cured bacon. Color on the 10% brine bacon was lighter than that of the dry cured bacon. The 10% brine bacon had a softer consistency than the dry cured bacon and a more subtle flavor.

Conclusion:

I don't prefer one method over the other at this time as both methods produced superior product with great flavor. If you like a drier bacon, the dry cure method is the one to go with. The 10% brine method is a possible alternative to bucket brining meat and uses the equilibrium cure method to assure proper levels of salt and nitrite. I want to try this method with just adding the brine to the bag with no injection.

Hope this was of use....

JC

 

[JC in GB]

Update:

I forgot to add the calculations to my first post. Here they are:

1 pound = 0.454 kg

Water amount:

H20 kg = meat kg / 10

100 ml H2O for each kilogram of meat.

Calculate NaCl % in finished product:

This calculation will give you the weight of salt needed for an x% brine. Because this is a 10% solution, brine content will be 10x higher than NaCl in finished product. (i.e. a 17.5% brine will translate to a 1.75% salt level in the finished product.

NaCl = (H2Oltr * brine%) / abs(brine% -1)

PPM calculations:

ppm calculated to 156 ppm of NaNO2 for total weight, meat, H2O, NaCl.

ppm = mg/kg

mg = ppm/kg

Cure #1 amount calculations:

NaNO2 in mg = ppm/kg (total weight, meat, H2O, NaCl)

Cure #1 = NaNO2 * 16

NaCl1 = NaCl - Cure #1

Subtract the weight of the Cure #1 from your initial salinity calculation.

Use NaCl1 value for your salt measurement.

Thanks for reading...

JC