How to tell/know when bacon is ready to smoke?

[AndyInNYC]

I've had my bacon in a dry cure for 12 days. Is there a way to tell/test that it's ready to smoke?
I'd like to double cold smoke tomorrow/Sunday.

I know 12 days is good if I didn't make any mistakes, but I don't know how to test my intermediate product.

Here are some pictures.

Andrew

 

[TNJAKE]

I go 14 days then I dry for a couple uncovered. Your bacon is cured at 12 days. What exactly are you wanting to test?

 

[Steve H]

It should be firm to the touch.

 

[TNJAKE]

Beef Belly Bacon

Howdy fellas and non fellas. Finished up my beef bacon today. Turned out great so wanted to post. Started off with a almost 11lb slab of Certified piedmontese beef belly. Cured it with.... .25% cure #1 1.5% sea salt .75% brown sugar Lightly vac sealed to the cure can move around but most...

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Howdy fellas and non fellas finished up some bacon today. Started with a 3.5lb premium belly from Home place pastures. Wish I'd had more but belly is hard to find around here and these are around $10lb which isn't really sustainable for bacon. Cured for 14 days .25% cure #1 1.75% brown sugar...

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[DougE]

If you did it right with your dry cure calculating for each piece of meat and applying the right amount to each piece:
0.25% cure1
1.5% salt (you can go more, but I wouldn't go much lower).

You're fine. I go 14 days for flavor development, but the meat is cured before that.

 

[DougE]

We expect the salt/cure to move about 1/4 inch into the meat per day. Since we apply the rub to all sides, you are looking at 1/2 inch per day. A 3 inch thick piece will technically be cured in 6 days ........ add a day for safety.

This is the minimum curing time. Going longer ....... out to 14 days gives you much better flavor development.

 

[SmokinEdge]

I've had my bacon in a dry cure for 12 days. Is there a way to tell/test that it's ready to smoke?
I'd like to double cold smoke tomorrow/Sunday.

I know 12 days is good if I didn't make any mistakes, but I don't know how to test my intermediate product.

Here are some pictures.

AndrewView attachment 709156

View attachment 709156

With dry cure it’s really just time that tells you when. It’s accepted that cure travels 1/4” per day from all sides. This is pretty close to true on muscle meats or cutlets, but pork belly is different because it is made up of layers of meat and fat. Cure travels slower through fat layers because they are much lower in water content. As such for bellies I use the 1/4” per day from one side rule as a minimum. A 2” thick belly will be cured in 8 days not 4 days and then a couple days for flavor development. My minimum belly time is 10 days but I prefer 14 days if schedule permits.

 

[Fueling Around]

I understand the "weekend is here" so go ahead.
You're cold smoking which doesn't entirely stop the cure penetration.

I've had my bacon in a dry cure for 12 days. Is there a way to tell/test that it's ready to smoke?
...

Not really.

It should be firm to the touch.

Good advice. Really not anything else outside of time and proper method.

 

[AndyInNYC]

Well, it is rinsed and dried and hanging out in the outdoor fridge for a day.

And yes, the weekend is here.


Andrew