First go on making bacon

[Blue Collar Pit Boss]

This is my first attempt at making bacon. I did two different methods to see which one turns out better.

First method was cure #1 with my sugar and salt using the suggested percentages found on another thread on this page. 14 days in the refrigerator flipping every night.

Second method was tender quick with my sugar and salt, vacuum packed, 14 days in the refrigerator flipping every night.

I added a little black pepper to one belly from each method. Cool smoked with hickory at about 90° for an hour and a half then hot smoked at 180° until internal temperature hit just above 150°

 

[Coreymacc]

Looks good from your pictures, plenty of smoke for sure. Now you are officially hooked. You will never get store bought bacon again.

Corey

 

[chopsaw]

Second method was tender quick with my sugar and salt,

The way that reads to me is you added salt and sugar WITH the Tender Quick ?
Tender quick stands alone , the salt and sugar are already in it . You shouldn't add more .

 

[Blue Collar Pit Boss]

The way that reads to me is you added salt and sugar WITH the Tender Quick ?
Tender quick stands alone , the salt and sugar are already in it . You shouldn't add more .

That is indeed what I did. Thanks for the heads-up. Probably gonna be a little salty then.

 

[mneeley490]

That is indeed what I did. Thanks for the heads-up. Probably gonna be a little salty then.

Afraid so. Tender Quick alone is too salty for my taste. But others here like it.

 

[chopsaw]

That is indeed what I did.

Did you use the correct rate of TQ ? 1 Tablespoon per pound of whole muscle meat ?
Just making sure .
If you did , it will be to salty to fry up and eat . You could use it to season beans or soups ,, other dishes . Use it both for flavor and the salt ingredient .

 

[Blue Collar Pit Boss]

Did you use the correct rate of TQ ? 1 Tablespoon per pound of whole muscle meat ?
Just making sure .
If you did , it will be to salty to fry up and eat . You could use it to season beans or soups ,, other dishes . Use it both for flavor and the salt ingredient .

I did 2% salt,

Did you use the correct rate of TQ ? 1 Tablespoon per pound of whole muscle meat ?
Just making sure .
If you did , it will be to salty to fry up and eat . You could use it to season beans or soups ,, other dishes . Use it both for flavor and the salt ingredient .

chopsaw I did 1.5% salt, 1% sugar and .25%TQ by weight. I realize my mistake was in thinking I could use TQ like #1 cure
Should it still be safe to eat??

 

[chopsaw]

I realize my mistake was in thinking I could use TQ like #1 cure

I had that feeling , that's why I wanted to make sure .
Correct amount of Tender quick for whole muscle meat is 1 Tablespoon per pound .
The correct amount for doing sausage or ground meat is 1 1/2 tsp per pound .
Just so you know .

Should it still be safe to eat??

I would say it'd not worth the risk .

It won't be fully cured . Atleast not from the TQ . 2% salt will have an effect on it .

If the fridge temps during the 14 days rubbed with the salt were between 34 and 38 ,
and you got it to temp in 4 hours when smoking ,,,

I'd be interested to see what a cut shot looks like .

 

[indaswamp]

I did 2% salt,

chopsaw I did 1.5% salt, 1% sugar and .25%TQ by weight. I realize my mistake was in thinking I could use TQ like #1 cure
Should it still be safe to eat??

You are well within the 4 hours between 40-140*F safety margin for uncured meats (even though you thought you added enough cure using tender quick as cure #1; it would still be considered an uncured product) and you did hot smoke it to internal 150*F, so the bacon is safe to eat. But I would not leave it in the refrigerator longer than 7 days. I would slice and freeze, thaw and use as needed.

 

[Fueling Around]

I was good with the traditional cure.

I had that feeling , that's why I wanted to make sure .
Correct amount of Tender quick for whole muscle meat is 1 Tablespoon per pound .
The correct amount for doing sausage or ground meat is 1 1/2 tsp per pound .
Just so you know .
...

Isn't whole meat cure with TQ meant to be washed off after a number of days and rested to equalize the salt, sugars and nitrites?

 

[chopsaw]

Isn't whole meat cure with TQ meant to be washed off after a number of days and rested to equalize the salt, sugars and nitrites?

I rinse the surface and dry , same as I do if using cure one . Never heard anything about resting to equalize . Some may do it , or suggest doing it . I don't , but I'm following the Tender quick directions .
Blue Collar Pit Boss
I said it's not worth the risk , because when I compare what I know you did , and what I don't know for sure , I come up with that reply .

I can't assume your fridge temps are good
Fresh vac sealed pork can go 20 to 30 days in the fridge around the temps I listed .
Taken out of the original vac sealed package is 5 days . Since you salted the surface , and IF your fridge temp was good , you could be OK . In my opinion it's not a given .

Then you get to my next question , how close was it to the use or freeze by date ? Did you salt and go into the fridge 1 week before that , or 2 days after ? Then another 2 weeks before cooking ?
Just all things I think play into the one that was not correctly cured .

You state the temps at 180 cook , 150 internal . Are those actual? Therms good , or was it 10 degrees lower .
Again , normally not a big deal but since you were 2 weeks in the fridge uncured it could be an issue in my opinion .
I'm not suggesting you toss it . I gave my initial reply of " risky " but also some things to think about .
Start buy cutting it open at the thickest part , and see what it looks like . My gut feeling tells me it's gonna have a cured look to it into the center .

 

[SmokinEdge]

I did 1.5% salt, 1% sugar and .25%TQ by weight. I realize my mistake was in thinking I could use TQ like #1 cure
Should it still be safe to eat??

While it won’t be cured from nitrites, it is salt brined so should make some delicious bbq and/or burnt ends.

 

[Blue Collar Pit Boss]

I had that feeling , that's why I wanted to make sure .
Correct amount of Tender quick for whole muscle meat is 1 Tablespoon per pound .
The correct amount for doing sausage or ground meat is 1 1/2 tsp per pound .
Just so you know .

I would say it'd not worth the risk .

It won't be fully cured . Atleast not from the TQ . 2% salt will have an effect on it .

If the fridge temps during the 14 days rubbed with the salt were between 34 and 38 ,
and you got it to temp in 4 hours when smoking ,,,

I'd be interested to see what a cut shot looks like .

Here is a picture cut thru the middle

While it won’t be cured from nitrites, it is salt brined so should make some delicious bbq and/or burnt ends.

Thanks everyone. Lot of good information here. Yes, the fridge temps are good and I did hot smoke at 180 after some cool smoke. Total cook time to reach 150 internal was just at 4 hours.

 

[chopsaw]

Here is a picture cut thru the middle

My gut feeling tells me it's gonna have a cured look to it into the center .

That's exactly what I thought it would look like . I wouldn't be worried about eating that .
Thanks for the picture , and I hope I added some things to think about when doing this stuff .
Enjoy .