First timer with bacon. Questions on salt and cure time

[seaduds]

I followed Meadhead's method and adjusted using his calculator from 3lbs to 3.75 lb pork belly. (2.5 inches at thickest)

My cure ended up as follows

• 4.5g speed cure
• 1C distilled water
• 8 Tbsp light brown sugar
• 6 tsp kosher salt (diamond crystal)
• 1 Tbsp black pepper

Questions:

1. The belly I have is 2.5 inches thick at one end, and much thinner at the other. His calculator says 8.5 days for full cure penetration at that thickness. Will there be negative effects on the thinner portion, or once it becomes fully saturated in cure is there no issue with remaining in longer?
2. I used diamond crystal kosher salt, and meathead equates 1 unit of mortons to 1.8 units of diamond crystal. Do I need to add another 4-5 tsp of salt to the cure? I'm 4 days in at this point.
3. I'm always nervous on my first attempt at stuff like this, my cure ratios don't have any glaring issues do they?

 

[thirdeye]

I'll try and locate Meatheads calculator and procedure.

Can you explain why you adjusted the weight of pork?
1. No the thinner meat will not be 'over cured'
2. Diamond is larger than Morton's so it takes less when using volume measurement.
3. I need to look at the calculator you used. Most calculators (manual or spreadsheet) give information in grams which is much better than volumetric measurements.

EDIT - I did locate the calculator I think you used, and this is for a wet cure but does not take into account sugar and salt. Walk us through how you arrived at all of your amounts.

 

[SmokinEdge]

What is “speed cure” exactly?

 

[pc farmer]

If you weigh everything in grams its much easier. This is the calculator I use. 3 pounds converted to grams.

 

[pc farmer]

What is “speed cure” exactly?

Just cure #1 most times. Sometimes they have added other seasonings IF it came in a packet of seasoning. I throw them away and just use the seasoning and add my own cure #1.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Just cure #1 most times. Sometimes they have added other seasonings IF it came in a packet of seasoning. I throw them away and just use the seasoning and add my own cure #1.

Is it 6.25% cure #1?

 

[pc farmer]

Is it 6.25% cure #1?

Yes

 

[seaduds]

I'll try and locate Meatheads calculator and procedure.

Can you explain why you adjusted the weight of pork?
1. No the thinner meat will not be 'over cured'
2. Diamond is larger than Morton's so it takes less when using volume measurement.
3. I need to look at the calculator you used. Most calculators (manual or spreadsheet) give information in grams which is much better than volumetric measurements.

EDIT - I did locate the calculator I think you used, and this is for a wet cure but does not take into account sugar and salt. Walk us through how you arrived at all of your amounts.

His procedure and calculator are linked in my original post.

I adjusted because his recipe is for 3 lbs of pork belly and I have 3 lbs 12 oz.

My adjustments were due to my meat weighing roughly 1/3 more than his recipe calls for.
His recipe calls for:
3/4 cup distilled water, I added an extra 1/4 cup as that's an increase of 1/3
6 tablespoons dark brown sugar, I added 2 Tbl to increase by 1/3
4 1/2 teaspoons Morton's kosher salt, added 1.5 tsp to increase by just over 1/3
4 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper, increased a bit since it's just seasoning
1/2 teaspoon Prague Powder #1, increased to 4.5g (it's actually a bit over 4.5) by using meatheads calculator and plugging in 3.75 lbs of meat.

 

[seaduds]

What is “speed cure” exactly?

From the package:
ingredients: salt, sodium nitrite (6.22%), dextrose, red 3, and less than 1% glycerine added to prevent caking

 

[seaduds]

If you weigh everything in grams its much easier. This is the calculator I use. 3 pounds converted to grams.

Thanks! Just double checked my measurements on there and I seem to be in the acceptable range, it seems. I just get nervous on the first go-around with this kind of thing.

 

[thirdeye]

Be sure and let us know how it comes out, pay attention to the saltiness and the sweetness, these are the variables you can change to dial in the perfect flavor. The key is consistency from batch to batch. Usually Meathead is very detail oriented and almost too specific, but this 'basic bacon' write up is an exception. In my opinion there is no reason to have to ballpark ingredients when dry or wet curing since formulas exist for both methods and there are also online calculators. But I'm sure everything will come out okay, but next time you can explore more accurate measuring and maybe even cold smoking.

 

[seaduds]

Be sure and let us know how it comes out, pay attention to the saltiness and the sweetness, these are the variables you can change to dial in the perfect flavor. The key is consistency from batch to batch. Usually Meathead is very detail oriented and almost too specific, but this 'basic bacon' write up is an exception. In my opinion there is no reason to have to ballpark ingredients when dry or wet curing since formulas exist for both methods and there are also online calculators. But I'm sure everything will come out okay, but next time you can explore more accurate measuring and maybe even cold smoking.

I absolutely will, thanks! And I agree; having used his recipes before, this seemed a bit basic.
I double checked everything with the calculator (which I was happy at least used weight for the curing salt) but tend to worry about these things my first couple tries, so I thought I'd reach out here to soothe my worries.
My hopes are that this will go well and I'll make quite a bit more this winter with intention to gift/trade with friends locally.

 

[seaduds]

Update:
The belly has been curing for 10.5 days and I just threw it on the smoker. It smelled normal but I do have a question regarding appearance.

I cut a test slice off the end and the interior of the belly has firmed up from what I can see, except the center of the thickest portion, which is red and is the consistency of raw steak still.
Is this indicative of the cure not penetrating fully, or is that just due to lack of oxidation like the rest of the meat?

I think I'll be trying this again in the near future and using a recipe without sugar, or with low sugar. I generally enjoy crisp bacon and I'm seeing lots of people comment that sugar can cause bacon to burn before crisping.

Be sure and let us know how it comes out

I'll update later today once it's done smoking and chilling in the fridge.