I need advise on belly curing and making my own cure

[jborque]

For my first attempt at curing/smoking bacon, I bought a box of skin on bellies and center cut 2 of them then removed the rind before curing. I used the sides and ends, rind on, as crackling meat (delicious!). I purchased brown sugar cure from Southern Indiana Butcher Supply. I prepared per the instructions , 2 pounds cure per gallon of water as a cover brine for 7 days. After curing, I soaked in clean cold water for 20 minutes each side, dried and hung overnight. Next morning I smoked to 150 degrees internal, sprayed with cold water, soaked for another 40 minutes making sure to rub any particulates off while in the water, dried and bloomed for 4 hours then hung in the cooler.
Next morning I sliced and cooked. Too salty. I put both slabs in soaking in a lug of water for 3 days and on the 4th day at 5 am when the temperature was 31 degrees I put them on cold smoking for 3 hours. The end result was acceptable but not what I sought to achieve.
After all that here is my question and request. Because these were center cut bellies that were no more than 11/2" thick I probably made two critical errors, 1. the 2 pounds per gallon ration of cure to water was excessive, what do you guys think I should have used? 2. the seven days of cure time was probably excessive, some advise on the time of cure please.
I also really want to make my own cure since just freight cost is excessive now days . Suggest a time tested brown sugar or just sugar cure recipe that is old time and simple, nothing fancy please.

Thanks in advance

 

[bregent]

2lbs of sugar cure does sound excessive. If you want to stick with a wet brine, try Pop's : https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/pops6927s-wet-curing-brine.110799/
It's probably the most popular wet brine used on this site.
I always use a dry brine. You can use a cure calculator to calculate the amounts: http://www.diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html

 

[sawhorseray]

Two pounds of cure per gallon of water is WAY WAY to much sodium nitrite! For two gallons six level tablespoons of Cure #1 would be well within limits for a seven soak, I wouldn't eat that stuff. RAY

 

[tropics]

Curing with Pop's Brine

Making the curing brine: I measure out (for 2 gallons): 2 heaping tablespoons of curing salt ( always put that in first, on the bottom) 1 cup sugar 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup plain, non-iodized table salt Then I pour two gallons of water into the bucket: and stir until dissolved. (This...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

I use Pops but only do 1 gal with half the cure #1 and salt and sugar
I also cure for 14 days
Richie

 

[BigW.]

I think he used something similar to this:

Golden Brown Sugar Cure

Golden brown sugar cure is used to brine cure ham, bacon, poultry, and fish. Ingredients: Salt, brown sugar, dextrose, sodium nitrite 0.79%, 1% propylene glycol. Manufacturer recommends 2lb per gallon of water for a 10% pump. Quantity: 1 lb; 5 lb; 20 lb; 45 lb.

store.butchersupply.net

The weight was cure + salt+ sugar etc

 

[DanMcG]

We'd need to know the breakdown of the ingredients in the cure before we could judge if it's to much. But if that's what is written on the label, it's probably correct.

 

[sawhorseray]

Ooops, sorry, I thought he was taking Cure#1 when he said "cure". I'm curing 15 pounds of loins for Canadian bacon my self at the moment, six level tablespoon to two gallons of water, cured in 5-6 days. RAY

 

[rexster314]

The digging dog calculator is good for any cut of pork for sure. Pork loins, belly bacon, pork shoulders, etc. I have my ratios set which doesn't require a soak, and never comes out salty.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Don’t brine belly. Use a dry cure. Make it yourself.
The recipe is easy. You want to equilibrium cure the belly so that it is how you like it. Repeatedly over and again. Salt, sugar and cure #1 go onto the meat as a percentage of meat weight to % of salt, sugar and cure#1. In this way you always know how the finished product will be.

 

[daspyknows]

I used Pops brine recipe for 14 days on a pork belly. After a week I cut into thirds and added the flavorings (maple, hoisin and Chinese 5 spice) for 7 more days in the brine. I let dry over night. Yesterday I smoked them between at between 175 and 200 for about 8 hours to an IT of 155 over apple and maple wood. Tasted a sample last night. Not salty at all. I need to slice and will then post pics.

 

[Fueling Around]

jborque
You didn't do anything wrong on your side with cure to water and pork. The problem is the packaged cure has more salt (and probably more sugars) for your taste. Thus the ask for help?
I use the Dr Blonder calculators for salt and nitrite levels as you can choose dry or wet brine.
salt brining
nitrite
I use a nitrite of 150 ppm and brine of 1.5-1.75%. Sugar I got 2-3 times the salt

 

[mike k.]

Two pounds of cure per gallon of water is WAY WAY to much sodium nitrite! For two gallons six level tablespoons of Cure #1 would be well within limits for a seven soak, I wouldn't eat that stuff. RAY

Ray, 32oz of cure is sufficient for 800 lbs of cured meat. I challenge the possibilities of that amount of salt even dissolving in a gallon of water. At that concentration, one tablespoon of it will kill you dead. The reason why Sodium Nitrate is set by law to around 6% and colored pink is to prevent mistakenly consuming a lethal dose. Simple equation is 4oz per 100lb. of meat not including spices and liquids. Use nitrates not nitrite for bacon type meats. Forget buying Prague #1 or 2. Just a bunch of BS. Just get cheap old fashion Sodium Nitrate 6% consentration online for a couple buck a pound and use that for all your needs. 4oz -100lb and we keep you alive and effectively cure your meats. Buy a stainless injector needle for a couple bucks and use it to speed up the curing time process.
It is a USDA- FDA fact that high temp cooking 275 plus of nitrites can produce cyanide gas and other molecule poisoning situations. If you need other help just let me know. Do whatever I can to keep you safe. Michael Kemsky

 

[mike k.]

Don’t brine belly. Use a dry cure. Make it yourself.
The recipe is easy. You want to equilibrium cure the belly so that it is how you like it. Repeatedly over and again. Salt, sugar and cure #1 go onto the meat as a percentage of meat weight to % of salt, sugar and cure#1. In this way you always know how the finished product will be.

SmokinEdge is right. I found dry rub and then vacuum packing the belly and setting it in the cooler for a couple weeks makes a nice final product. Brine cannot penetrate the fat without injection or pressure. So soaking it may flavor the exposed meat but would take a extreme amount of time to get through the fat. Maybe never. We (in the factory) have a needling machine that punctures and flavor injects bellies every 1/8 square inch to eliminate brine processing. Pumps in smoke, brown sugar, salts, maple, curing salts and flavors. Maybe you could slice it first and drop it in brine to get a complete density cure. That's not something I have tried just a thought outside the box. Be careful with curing it can get you sick if not used as intended. Excessive amounts causes ED. Also known as saltpeter. Michael Kemsky