First Time with Bacon

[JBCWCHS06]

Just finished my first batch of bacon and very unhappy with the result. Did a cure with curing salt, kosher salt, pepper, brown sugar and maple syrup. Let it cure for 5 days. Then rinsed off the cure patted dry and let it sit in my fridge for over 12 hours. Smoked it at 185 until it hit 150 which took forever almost 7 hours. Went to slice it after it cooled for 2 hours and fried some of it up and was severely disappointed. It looked and tasted just like a smoked ham. Have read that just happens sometime with a hot smoke bacon but wasn't for sure. What could've I done wrong. Thinking next time I'm going to do a dry cure for 7 days and then a cold smoke for at least 8 hours.

 

[DougE]

I do 2 weeks cure. Sure, the meat is cured sooner, but the extra time adds to flavor development. It also needs time to rest after smoking to let the flavors even out. Give us your exact recipe so we can see what you did and maybe tell you where you can do something different for better results aside from what I already said.

 

[JBCWCHS06]

I do 2 weeks cure. Sure, the meat is cured sooner, but the extra time adds to flavor development. It also needs time to rest after smoking to let the flavors even out. Give us your exact recipe so we can see what you did and maybe tell you where you can do something different for better results aside from what I already said.

5 Pound Slab of Pork Belly from Costco
Cured it in a mixture of 1 1/4 TSP of Prague Powder, 5 TBSP of Kosher Salt, Maple Syrup, and Brown Sugar and 5 TSP of Black Pepper for 5 days. Turning it and massaging it everyday.
Then rinsed it off as good as I could and patted it dry and put pepper on top.
Sat in fridge for 12 hours to get a pellicle.
Smoked at 185 in the cooler part of my smoker for 7 hours until it hit 150 with my probe thermometer on my Pitboss.
Sat back in fridge for 2 hours to cool down. Then sliced.
Came out almost like a chewy ham I mean it's good for like a ham taste but was expecting bacon and didn't get that at all.

 

[SmokinEdge]

5 Pound Slab of Pork Belly from Costco
Cured it in a mixture of 1 1/4 TSP of Prague Powder, 5 TBSP of Kosher Salt, Maple Syrup, and Brown Sugar and 5 TSP of Black Pepper for 5 days. Turning it and massaging it everyday.
Then rinsed it off as good as I could and patted it dry and put pepper on top.
Sat in fridge for 12 hours to get a pellicle.
Smoked at 185 in the cooler part of my smoker for 7 hours until it hit 150 with my probe thermometer on my Pitboss.
Sat back in fridge for 2 hours to cool down. Then sliced.
Came out almost like a chewy ham I mean it's good for like a ham taste but was expecting bacon and didn't get that at all.

Doug has you covered on process.

All cured pork is “ham” in flavor. Its all the same meat, same cure.

However, cure for longer, 14 days is a real good target. But then smoke, hot or cold then rest about 1 week. The thinner slicing and fat content with smoke is what gives that true bacon flavor. Stick with the process, don’t give up. None of what we do in smoking meat is an instant gratification. Things worth while take time.

 

[JBCWCHS06]

Doug has you covered on process.

All cured pork is “ham” in flavor. Its all the same meat, same cure.

However, cure for longer, 14 days is a real good target. But then smoke, hot or cold then rest about 1 week. The thinner slicing and fat content with smoke is what gives that true bacon flavor. Stick with the process, don’t give up. None of what we do in smoking meat is an instant gratification. Things worth while take time.

Definitely going to give it another try. Kind of addicted to all this stuff with smoking and such now. Think I have my game plan for my next batch already going to cure it 10-14 days and have my cure figured out . Is it necessary to let it sit another day after rinsing off the cure to develop the pellicle. Then cold smoking for probably 8-10 hours. But didn't think about letting it sit for a couple of days before slicing it. Excited to give this another try soon. Luckily had the other half of the belly in the freezer thawing now then time to get to work again

 

[DougE]

You don't need to rinse after curing. I don't.

Try doing your cure by weight. It is most accurate and much easier to adjust salt and sugar to taste (cure should remain at 0.25% which will give you 156ppm nitrite). 200ppm nitrite is the FDA limit in a dry bacon cure, but the standard is to use 156ppm to give some wiggle room yet still be effective.

0.25% cure#1
1.5% salt
0.75% sugar

So for a 1kg (1000g) piece of meat, your cure mix would be:

2.5g cure#1
15g salt
7.5g sugar

 

[philpom]

It's hard to say from the photo but is the skin still on that belly slab? I'd remove that before the cure, nothing will penetrate that well. I have had excellent results just using tender quick per package quantity rubbing it in well before adding any other flavors, vacuum pack and flip daily for 7-10 days depending on the size. Placing back in the fridge overnight after the smoke helps give those perfect thin slices. You could also target a lower IT, something closer to 140°f. I've never used a Costco belly but the one you used might be the leanest I've ever seen. Try looking for one with big bands of fat.

Good luck, the folks above offered excellent advice!

 

[JBCWCHS06]

It's hard to say from the photo but is the skin still on that belly slab? I'd remove that before the cure, nothing will penetrate that well. I have had excellent results just using tender quick per package quantity rubbing it in well before adding any other flavors, vacuum pack and flip daily for 7-10 days depending on the size. Placing back in the fridge overnight after the smoke helps give those perfect thin slices. You could also target a lower IT, something closer to 140°f. I've never used a Costco belly but the one you used might be the leanest I've ever seen. Try looking for one with big bands of fat.

Good luck, the folks above offered excellent adv

I want to think the belly was skin removed when I remove it from the package it's a nice white color I'll take a picture of the one I have thawing out just to make sure. Definitely going to use everyone's advice for next go around super excited to give this another try and go really slow with it this time

 

[JBCWCHS06]

There is the picture of the pork belly from Costco. I don't think it has the skin on it but I could be wrong. As soon as I get it thawed I'm throwing the cure on so it can cure for 10-14 days before cold smoking.

 

[JLeonard]

Thats what great about this forum.....Lots of folks that are willing to help out in a constructive manner.
And the first batch might not have been what you were exactly looking for, but still looks edible. Heck I've had a few that I wouldnt have fed to the dogs!!!
Keep working at it, you'll find the perfect formula for you. Then you can play with different seasoning for different taste.

Jim

 

[cptnding]

There is the picture of the pork belly from Costco. I don't think it has the skin on it but I could be wrong. As soon as I get it thawed I'm throwing the cure on so it can cure for 10-14 days before cold smoking.

Costco bellies definitely do not have the skin on.

 

[thirdeye]

The skin-on Costco pork bellies have "skin-on" in small print below the pig. Your photos look like you have skinless bellies. I would agree with the others about precise weighing ingredients based on percentages, and the 14-day cure time, and the long rest BEFORE smoking, and some mellowing time BEFORE slicing. All these extra steps help texture and flavor. You mentioned 'Prague', and I'm guessing it was #1, and not #2?

I'm not big on using maple syrup while curing, but I've brushed it on while smoking. I prefer using lower smoker temps, and usually will smoke for 6 or 7 hours, then chill overnight and repeat the next day, or sometimes a 3rd day. Once your internal temp reaches 145° you have a ready-to-eat product, but frying or baking will improve it. On my 2X or 3X bacon, my internal is in the low 100°s, so my bacon must be cooked.

 

[JBCWCHS06]

Thanks for all the help everyone. Think I'm going to look for a cure recipe with maybe the Prague Powder #1, Salt, and was wondering if it's possible to do brown sugar instead of actual sugar or could I use both. And going to go with a 10-14 day cure and then cold smoke for 8 hours on a Saturday and let it sit a couple of days before slicing to let that smoke penetrate even more. Third eye when you say internal low 100° are you talking about the temp of the pork belly when you are done or the temp you smoke at.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Thanks for all the help everyone. Think I'm going to look for a cure recipe with maybe the Prague Powder #1, Salt, and was wondering if it's possible to do brown sugar instead of actual sugar or could I use both. And going to go with a 10-14 day cure and then cold smoke for 8 hours on a Saturday and let it sit a couple of days before slicing to let that smoke penetrate even more. Third eye when you say internal low 100° are you talking about the temp of the pork belly when you are done or the temp you smoke at.

Here is a good place to start for a dry rub cure.

Salt) 1.5%
Cure #1 (Prague) .25%
Sugar) .75%

This is to meat weight. I use small grained non-iodized salt like natural sea salt. I also usually use raw sugar or just plain white sugar. The brown sugar being moist can be a pain but you can certainly use it, although I would mix the salt and cure and apply that first evenly then weigh the brown sugar and apply even. Otherwise you won’t distribute the cure #1 evenly. Do it once and you will see what I mean. That’s why I use a dry sugar product because it mixes up with the salt better.

Also some like more salt up in the 2% range and sugar can be anything you want in percentage but I find that keeping sugar at half the salt or even slightly less makes the best balance of flavor, YMMV.

 

[tallbm]

Just finished my first batch of bacon and very unhappy with the result. Did a cure with curing salt, kosher salt, pepper, brown sugar and maple syrup. Let it cure for 5 days. Then rinsed off the cure patted dry and let it sit in my fridge for over 12 hours. Smoked it at 185 until it hit 150 which took forever almost 7 hours. Went to slice it after it cooled for 2 hours and fried some of it up and was severely disappointed. It looked and tasted just like a smoked ham. Have read that just happens sometime with a hot smoke bacon but wasn't for sure. What could've I done wrong. Thinking next time I'm going to do a dry cure for 7 days and then a cold smoke for at least 8 hours.

I hot smoke mine to 140F internal temp I believe.

Going over that you may have gotten too cooked.

Also if you cold smoke you will need to manage a different/new quirk. Stale smoke.

If you don't have a draft pulling air/smoke out of your smoker then the smoke will linger, get old and stale, and leave a strong nasty taste on the meat. Gotta keep the smoke moving and fresh and exiting the smoker while new smoke comes in.

Just bringing this up so you can prepare to manage a different quirk and not get disappointed by a separate issue. :D

 

[JBCWCHS06]

Smoking Edge was curious could I just mix that cure up and then use it on meat as I want to have seen a YouTuber do that and that seems like the easiest way to do it to me. And would I put the cure on it then pat it in then maybe sprinkle it with brown sugar after the fact and pat it in. Has anyone used pepper in there cure. Oh and tallbm would doing the smoke tube on my bottom rack of my smoker and putting the bacon on the second rack by the smoke stack take care of that problem.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Smoking Edge was curious could I just mix that cure up and then use it on meat as I want to have seen a YouTuber do that and that seems like the easiest way to do it to me. And would I put the cure on it then pat it in then maybe sprinkle it with brown sugar after the fact and pat it in. Has anyone used pepper in there cure. Oh and tallbm would doing the smoke tube on my bottom rack of my smoker and putting the bacon on the second rack by the smoke stack take care of that problem.

No, you have to mix this up for each piece of meat, it’s not a general cure because you can’t know how much salt, cure sugar you are applying one piece to the next. This is a specific process for each belly, it’s the best method. And yes I would do the brown sugar second after the salt and cure #1.

 

[DougE]

Smoking Edge was curious could I just mix that cure up and then use it on meat as I want to have seen a YouTuber do that and that seems like the easiest way to do it to me. And would I put the cure on it then pat it in then maybe sprinkle it with brown sugar after the fact and pat it in. Has anyone used pepper in there cure. Oh and tallbm would doing the smoke tube on my bottom rack of my smoker and putting the bacon on the second rack by the smoke stack take care of that problem.

Sure, you could premix and apply the mixture by weight, but unless you do a ton of bacon, it is easier to just weigh everything out per piece of meat, to me.

And would I put the cure on it then pat it in then maybe sprinkle it with brown sugar after the fact and pat it in.

Yes

Has anyone used pepper in there cure.

Sure, I dust pepper and granulated garlic on my bacon on occasion, but the flavor from spices mostly remains on the surface of the meat, so don't expect big things from doing it.

 

[thirdeye]

Third eye when you say internal low 100° are you talking about the temp of the pork belly when you are done or the temp you smoke at.

I'm talking about the high range of the bacon temp. Fall and winter are my favorite seasons for bacon, so outside temps might be in the 40°s, 50°s or 60°s and my regular smoke generator doesen't make much heat. So the temp and the Cure #1 are my safety nets.

On colder days, I switch to an old school aluminum box smoker with a hot plate to burn flavor pellets, and it makes more heat in order to overcome the outside temps. The bottom line is..., I want a lot of draw/draft so I get free flowing gentle smoke.

 

[DougE]

No, you have to mix this up for each piece of meat, it’s not a general cure because you can’t know how much salt, cure sugar you are applying one piece to the next. This is a specific process for each belly, it’s the best method. And yes I would do the brown sugar second after the salt and cure #1.

It can be done. You just mix cure and salt in the correct percentages and figure how much of the mixture is needed per meat weight. I don't do it that way, but it can be done.