First time using Prague #1

[PottsAndPans]

Hi Guys,
This is my first time using Prague powder and I decided to make bacon. I know this is probably a dumb question, but do you have to mix it with water prior to rubbing it into the pork belly? I used a cure mixture of PP#1, salt, sugar and maple syrup, and now I'm worried I screwed it up. Thanks!

 

[Goofball]

Did you follow a recipe?

 

[atomicsmoke]

You can dry cure bacon....meaning you rub the belly with a mix of cure#1, salt and whatever other DRY spices you like. I never made maple bacon , but from what i've seen other fellows here doing: maple syrup is added after curing (before smoking) and the belly sits with it for a while.

Water is added when you do wet curing. Look up pop's brine.

How much pp#1 and salt have you used? What's the weight of the belly?

 

[PottsAndPans]

I used a cure calculator I found on the site http://www.diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html
Belly was 1956g and I used 4.88g pp#1, 34.5g salt, 19.56g of brown sugar and then 2 tbsp of maple syrup.

I also saw conflicting information about syrup on before or after, so I just went with before...

 

[daveomak]

You did good... Store in a bag or on a rack in the refer... turn daily or so.. In 2 weeks smoke and eat...

 

[daveomak]

..

 

[mjacobsen]

Yeah, I add the maple syrup at the beginning, like the others have said. The ingredients will form a sort of paste, which isn't a big deal, since after a day or so, the meat will draw out moisture and make a slurry out of it anyway. Just apply it evenly and stick it in a food grade bag and let it work, turning/massaging it every day.

 

[atomicsmoke]

Your math is good. I don't know what the syrup does

I used a cure calculator I found on the site http://www.diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html
Belly was 1956g and I used 4.88g pp#1, 34.5g salt, 19.56g of brown sugar and then 2 tbsp of maple syrup.

I also saw conflicting information about syrup on before or after, so I just went with before...

I wasn't sure how cure will disperse in the syrup.

Between following a trusted recipe (the calculator) and with Dave's stamp of approval you are off to making great bacon.

 

[PottsAndPans]

Awesome! Thanks guys! I’ll post pictures I’m a couple weeks and let you know how it turned out.

 

[PottsAndPans]

Update: Cure worked great! Split them into 1lb slabs and cold smoked 2 for 8 hours with apple and hot smoked 2 for 5 hours with a mix of cherry and hickory. Both turned out really good, but I preferred the hot smoked. Thanks again for all of your help, I definitely wont be going back to store bought bacon any time soon.