First time doing an equilibrium cure

[Fueling Around]

I would slice a piece off and fry it before you smoke it , if it's to salty soak it in fresh water to remove some salt then test again.

My idea is to just soak overnight in a large bucket of water. It was already determined your salt and sugar levels were very high.
But Jim's suggestion is great. Maybe you like the higher salt and sugar.

Last night, I rendered off a batch of bacon ends and pieces I got cheap from a regional company.
This is my last package I will get from them. I scraped so much sugar residue from my ci skillet that cheap isn't worth it for finished product.

 

[Kyleblun]

I smoked it and fried up some today. I soaked it in water after washing off the cure but it is a bit too salty. Thanks to everyone for the advice and tips.

 

[bill1]

More beer, less meat.

 

[olaf]

I smoked it and fried up some today. I soaked it in water after washing off the cure but it is a bit too salty. Thanks to everyone for the advice and tips.

I think it helps with salty bacon to slice it thin

 

[Kyleblun]

More beer, less meat.

I don't understand?

 

[Kyleblun]

I think it helps with salty bacon to slice it thin

Thanks for the tip. Will try really thin slices

 

[Kyleblun]

Marianski is the man to follow...

View attachment 508921

Thanks for the recommendation. I got this book and started reading it last night. I like the in depth scientific approach so that the reader understands the science behind curing.

 

[Kyleblun]

I think it helps with salty bacon to slice it thin

Just an update. I sliced it thin and it was way better. Thanks again for the advice

 

[tallbm]

Just an update. I sliced it thin and it was way better. Thanks again for the advice

Hi there and welcome!

Pro-tip for bacon as well as sausage.
If you don't get the measurements right to begin with or are using a store bought or untested recipe you can do the following:

Before you smoke it do a test fry of some of it. If it is questionable that it is too salty then it is absolutely too salty in my experience lol.

With bacon you soak in cold water, changing the water every 3-4 hours or so and that will pull the excess salt out. Do this until the test fry and keep soaking until it fries properly lol.
For sausage... mix in more meat if too salty, mix in more seasoning if too bland.

Those tests will save your but big time until you perfect the measurement's up front.

If you make your own seasoning up front you can measure things upfront knowing how much salt% you like and just making sure it penetrates in enough time and you avoid the issue all together.
For online recipes calculate the salt/sugar and cure #1 amounts they are suggesting and see if the % and numbers fit, if not adjust them to be correct as many recipes online are just copy and pastes of other peoples bad measurements :D

Finally, store bought seasonings... trial and error so soaking will save you. Take notes on how much to dial up/down the seasoning to get things right.

Measure all seasoning amounts by weight if you can so you can be super precise and scale up without issue. Going by volume (tablespoons/cups) can have problem scaling up or down as you do more/less meat due to the margin of error in volume measurements.

I hope this info helps ya :)

 

[olaf]

Any suggestions on a maple cure recipe for my next batch?

Either use diggingdog calculator or make your own with MS EXCEL cure at 156ppm
salt at 1.75-1.95% sugar about 2% this will give you straight up bacon at a salt and sugar content that most people would like.
Substitute maple sugar, whether you want all maple or half some white or brown it's all up to you. I currently go 1.85% salt 1.95% sugar 40% maple 40% brown 20% white. I'm still trying to get the perfect recipe though.

 

[Fueling Around]

Just an update. I sliced it thin and it was way better. Thanks again for the advice

If you ever get the chance to try a Tennessee country ham, sliced very thin is the only way to eat that as well. It is not my preferred piece of pork. Never got the chance to wash (soak) the slices to see if it reduced the salt.
Now dried (chipped) beef is another story. I can get that up here in Minnesota. Almost as salty as country ham and needs to be paper thin. I wash it to reduce the salt.


tallbm has a lot off great advice.
Remember after soak rinsing intact pieces of meat, it take time to re-equalize the salt from the interior to the exterior.

 

[daveomak]

This is a very good commercial cure... I've been using commercial cures for about 8 years on bacon as a dry rub.....

It's NOT just for turkeys....

Ingredients
Salt, Cane and Maple Sugar (100% Maple Syrup), Sodium Nitrite (1%).

Walton's Complete Turkey Cure - Excalibur Seasoning (waltonsinc.com)

Use this as a dry rub... I do...
Use at a rate of 6.25/1 x 1.1 g per pound = 7 grams per pound to get the correct nitrite amount...
The salt content will be approx. 1.2 to 1.4% salt....
Try some and if you need more salt, add about 0.1 grams per pound to get to 1.7%...


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