Help with first time bacon.

[hooked on smoke]

Greeting's,
I decided to give home made bacon a try and could use some guidance.
I am thinking about the dry cured method. I'm unclear on the whole percentage calculations.
Do I weigh the pork belly the multiply the weight by the suggested percentages,
1.5% salt, and so on? I am not too mathematically gifted.
If someone would be willing to share a step by step process, I would really appreciate it. I'm new so please go easy on me.
With best regards,
Hooked on smoke

 

[Straw_Sticks_Bricks]

I started making my own bacon last year and for the first batch I'd recommend the wet cure method in https://www.smoking-meat.com/make-your-own-bacon-at-home. Mostly because that is what I used for my first batch. The wet cure is simpler to do and lets you focus on other aspects of the process.

That being said, to answer your question on weights, you are on the right track. 1% salt means that for every 100 grams of meat you need 1 gram of salt. I prefer to use grams for all measurements involved in curing to reduce the chances of confusion. You are also correct about weighing the meat yourself. Nitrate/nitrite concentration is very important in curing and you don't want to trust your health to the attentiveness of whoever slapped the weight label on your food. I'll also add that when weighing, you want to use a kitchen scale rated for a max weight decently above what you are weighing. For example, the weight in the picture above is listed as 9.49lbs, which is about as much as I'd want to put on a scale rated for 11lbs. For weighing bacon/sausage meat I have a bread scale rated for 33lbs.

With that in mind I will try and give a step by step process for how to do the math. I will assume that the weight listed above is accurate.
1. You weigh the meat and the weight comes out as 4304.6 grams.
2. Convert the salt percent into a decimal so 1.5%/100 = 0.015.
3. Multiply the decimal amount by the weight of the meat so 4304.6x0.015=64.569.
3. Pay attention to the accuracy on your scale and round appropriately. A scale that displays down to the 1/100th of a gram might only be accurate to 1/10th of a gram. I usually round to the nearest 10th of a gram because even if the scale is more accurate trying to add or remove 0.1g of anything is an exercise in frustration.
4. Repeats steps 2 and 3 for all ingredients.
5. Do other stuff.
6. Enjoy bacon.

One last note. When I find a recipe I like I usually enter it into a spreadsheet that I set up so that I only have to enter the weight of the meat and it will automatically calculate all salt, cure, spice weights for me. It saves time when making it again.

And good luck on the bacon, once you make your own you won't want to buy it from the store again.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Weigh your belly in pounds and convert to grams by multiplying pounds x 454, this will convert the weight to grams.

You will need a good gram scale that will read 0.00 in grams. The tenths of a gram is most helpful.

From there take the meat weight and multiply it by the different percentage.
I use
1.5% salt
.25% cure #1
.75% sugar

so let’s say your belly piece weighs 5 pounds, we multiply 5 x 454= 2270 grams, then we do the math for each one,

2270 x .015= 34g salt

2270 x .0025= 5.67g cure #1

2270 x .0075= 17g sugar

place dry ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. Sprinkle evenly on both sides of the belly. Then into a zipper bag, remove as much air as possible zip up and into the fridge for 10-14 days flipping the bag over every other day or so. When done remove from the bag and pat dry (no rinse needed) and smoke. Enjoy.

 

[JckDanls 07]

Here's the easy button... Put in your weight (After slicing off the skin and trimming)... Select the percentages you want and it calculates for you..

EQ Dry Cure Calculator

Calculate dry cure ingredient amounts for your bacon and cured meats.

digging-dog.vercel.app

 

[hooked on smoke]

Awsome! Thank you so much. When I do this I'll be sure to share.

Thanks again, you all are great.

 

[JckDanls 07]

As SmokinEdge said... Split the total spices in half (after mixing together)... I also weigh this (since we have the scale out) and split in half by weight... Use half on one side ... Other half on the other side...

 

[indaswamp]

Guys got you covered....good luck with your bacon. Post smoke pics. when you are finished!!

 

[hooked on smoke]

As SmokinEdge said... Split the total spices in half (after mixing together)... I also weigh this (since we have the scale out) and split in half by weight... Use half on one side ... Other half on the other side...

Good idea. Thanks.

 

[hooked on smoke]

Guys got you covered....good luck with your bacon. Post smoke pics. when you are finished!!

Will do.
This forum is great!

 

[JckDanls 07]

This forum is great!

Isn't it though... It's the only social media I do...

 

[hooked on smoke]

I started making my own bacon last year and for the first batch I'd recommend the wet cure method in https://www.smoking-meat.com/make-your-own-bacon-at-home. Mostly because that is what I used for my first batch. The wet cure is simpler to do and lets you focus on other aspects of the process.

That being said, to answer your question on weights, you are on the right track. 1% salt means that for every 100 grams of meat you need 1 gram of salt. I prefer to use grams for all measurements involved in curing to reduce the chances of confusion. You are also correct about weighing the meat yourself. Nitrate/nitrite concentration is very important in curing and you don't want to trust your health to the attentiveness of whoever slapped the weight label on your food. I'll also add that when weighing, you want to use a kitchen scale rated for a max weight decently above what you are weighing. For example, the weight in the picture above is listed as 9.49lbs, which is about as much as I'd want to put on a scale rated for 11lbs. For weighing bacon/sausage meat I have a bread scale rated for 33lbs.

With that in mind I will try and give a step by step process for how to do the math. I will assume that the weight listed above is accurate.
1. You weigh the meat and the weight comes out as 4304.6 grams.
2. Convert the salt percent into a decimal so 1.5%/100 = 0.015.
3. Multiply the decimal amount by the weight of the meat so 4304.6x0.015=64.569.
3. Pay attention to the accuracy on your scale and round appropriately. A scale that displays down to the 1/100th of a gram might only be accurate to 1/10th of a gram. I usually round to the nearest 10th of a gram because even if the scale is more accurate trying to add or remove 0.1g of anything is an exercise in frustration.
4. Repeats steps 2 and 3 for all ingredients.
5. Do other stuff.
6. Enjoy bacon.

One last note. When I find a recipe I like I usually enter it into a spreadsheet that I set up so that I only have to enter the weight of the meat and it will automatically calculate all salt, cure, spice weights for me. It saves time when making it again.

And good luck on the bacon, once you make your own you won't want to buy it from the store again.

Great share, thanks! This is why I like this forum so much. You all are very helpful.
Have a great day.

 

[hooked on smoke]

Okay, questions,
Sugar, is that brown sugar, plain Ole sugar or does it matter?

Salt, course kosher or table salt?

I already have cure #1. It's a bit over a year old but I keep it vacuum sealed.

Would it benefit in any way if the belly is seasoned then vacuum sealed for the 14 days?

Thanks again, I really appreciate you all.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Okay, questions,
Sugar, is that brown sugar, plain Ole sugar or does it matter?

Salt, course kosher or table salt?

I already have cure #1. It's a bit over a year old but I keep it vacuum sealed.

Would it benefit in any way if the belly is seasoned then vacuum sealed for the 14 days?

Thanks again, I really appreciate you all.

I prefer plain white sugar but brown sugar is fine to use.

Salt should be fine granulated non-iodized. Pickling and canning salt or regular table salt or my favorite granulated sea salt.

Some do a vacuum but I think it’s a bit counterproductive in the diffusion and osmosis process. You can use a vacuum bag if you like I just would seal it loose.

 

[hooked on smoke]

I prefer plain white sugar but brown sugar is fine to use.

Salt should be fine granulated non-iodized. Pickling and canning salt or regular table salt or my favorite granulated sea salt.

Some do a vacuum but I think it’s a bit counterproductive in the diffusion and osmosis process. You can use a vacuum bag if you like I just would seal it loose.

Great info. Thank you.

 

[DougE]

Eric SmokinEdge got you covered. If you feel like you need confirmation of your calculations, Just PM one of us with the meat weight and your results for it. Any of us will gladly run the calcs to double check.

 

[rexster314]

diggingdog site is great. I've been using it for 8 years or better. And we dry cure up to 300 lbs a month of pork bellies

 

[Winterrider]

Just out of "curiosity", I read somewhere that Kosher salt is not recommended for making bacon. The reason was it dissolves to quickly before it gets a chance to do its thing. What you say ?

 

[SmokinEdge]

Just out of "curiosity", I read somewhere that Kosher salt is not recommended for making bacon. The reason was it dissolves to quickly before it gets a chance to do its thing. What you say ?

Ive used a lot of kosher salt over the years to cure. It works just fine in brines, but in dry rub applications the size of the crystals are to large and dont blend well with the cure #1 and sugar they classify themselves away from the salt. So using a granulated salt mixes better and stays mixed together much better for a more uniform application. Just my experience.

 

[Astralogics]

Ive used a lot of kosher salt over the years to cure. It works just fine in brines, but in dry rub applications the size of the crystals are to large and dont blend well with the cure #1 and sugar they classify themselves away from the salt. So using a granulated salt mixes better and stays mixed together much better for a more uniform application. Just my experience.

Same observations here. At first I thought I was just being nitpicky, like when I do fried rice, I like all the ingredients to be roughly the same size. But overtime, I was seeing that smaller salt granules just worked better.

 

[DougE]

Just out of "curiosity", I read somewhere that Kosher salt is not recommended for making bacon. The reason was it dissolves to quickly before it gets a chance to do its thing. What you say ?

I've used it in dry curing without any issue, but I now use non-iodized table salt because the particle size is about the same as the cure#1 and granulated sugar.