First Batch: Brown Gelatin?

[gizzygone]

Just finished curing my first attempt at Bacon: I had a 10lb belly that I cut in half: Both used the AmazingRibs Maple bacon recipe. One slab I cured by measuring ingredients. By the second slab I started having doubts and followed the Curing Calculator: I ended up weighing the ingredients.

Slab 1 got 6 days (per the recipe), and Slab 2 (which was thicker) got 7 days in the cure. Both were smoked immediately after pulling and rinsing the cure off at 225*.

I went to slice up Slab 1 yesterday, after having cooled in the fridge overnight and noticed a brown gelatinous “goo” on it. I assumed it was just congealed fat (although it had a looser consistency), but I got to reading and heard that “brown slime can be a sign of a bacterial growth”.

Slab 2 also had the substance on it.

Am I overthinking this? Is it normal to have a brown/clear goop on your bacon after cooling? Or did I lose a batch somehow?

 

[Hockeydudde]

I'm not sure what causes it, but my bacon this weekend had a thin layer of brown gelatin on the bottom of the pan after chilling. I personally wouldn't describe it as slime, it's a semi solid sheet of gelatin. I'm sure it tasted good, but it wasn't enough to save for cooking so I tossed it to the chickens.

I can't imagine a cured and smoked piece of meat culturing enough bacteria overnight to leave a slime or biofilm.

 

[Etay69]

Looks like I had a similar issue. Waiting to hear on this. I posted a thread myself.

 

[gizzygone]

I just scraped the gelatin away: I’m told it’s just fat.

We had about 6-7 people eat it, and so far we’re still kicking!