Newbie curer, rookie smoker

[Thanielb]

Hey everyone,
Been smoking for a few years now here in Utah, mostly home-raised beef and the occasional ribs or salmon on clearance. Some pictures attached.
I've been eavesdropping on forums for a year plus now and thought I just need to join! Happy to be here.

My latest challenge is curing my own bacon. My brother in law raised a Mangalica pig, and we split it, he put all the bacon slabs in a cure for 4 weeks and then I smoked them until I got the internal temp up to 150F, he recommends drying them in the fridge uncovered for another 4 weeks, 1 week in it still won't crisp up. The flavor is good, a little sweeter than I prefer, but the fat gets transparent more like I'm cooking a pork chop. I'd like to reduce the sweetness and most importantly, have crispy bacon. Any ideas?

TIA

 

[Colin1230]

Welcome to SMF, glad you joined us. Someone will be along shortly that can help you with that bacon. Good looking cooks.

 

[Thanielb]

Welcome to SMF, glad you joined us. Someone will be along shortly that can help you with that bacon. Good looking cooks.

Thanks!

 

[SmokinEdge]

Welcome from CO.
Was the cure a brine or dry rub?

 

[Thanielb]

I just asked. The recipe he wrote down is the following per 5 pounds:
1/4 cup of sea salt
1 cup brown sugar
2 T of pepper

I got it with the cure in vacuum-sealed bags.

 

[olecrosseyes]

You wet brined the bacon I believe and smoked it to an IT of 150. You still need to fry it to get the crispness that you are looking for, maybe?

 

[Thanielb]

I just asked. The recipe he wrote down is the following per 5 pounds:
1/4 cup of sea salt
1 cup brown sugar
2 T of pepper

I got it with the cure in vacuum-sealed bags.

I just asked. The recipe he wrote down is the following per 5 pounds:
1/4 cup of sea salt
1 cup brown sugar
2 T of pepper

I got it with the cure in vacuum-sealed bags.

Dry brine is what he said. Is that my issue? Dry brine then smoking to 150F, wasn't sure about cold smoking instead

 

[Thanielb]

You wet brined the bacon I believe and smoked it to an IT of 150. You still need to fry it to get the crispness that you are looking for, maybe?

When I try frying or baking, it burns easily and stays chewy. Seems like there's still much moisture in it, but I don't want to over smoke it

 

[JC in GB]

When I try frying or baking, it burns easily and stays chewy. Seems like there's still much moisture in it, but I don't want to over smoke it

Welcome from Wisconsin.

I get a bit of chewiness in may bacon but it frys off and gets quite crisp. I am not sure if the lack of curing salt has anything to do with the crispness of your bacon or maybe the breed of hog.

That seems like quite a bit of brown sugar. I can understand why your bacon may be burning before it gets crispy.

When I make bacon, I do everything by weight. Using metric units is easiest.

Here is the formula I use when making bacon either from brine, dry, or injection cure.

1) Determine the weight of your meat in grams. (If using brine or injection, add the weight of the water to the meat weight. Amount of water is not critical but don't go less than 10% of meat weight.)

2) Determine cure #1 you will need (I use 2.5 g per kg of weight)

3) Determine the salt percentage you want in your finished product. ( I like 1.85%) Multiply weight in grams by percentage.

4) Subtract weight of Cure #1 from calculated salt weight

5) Determine sweetness of your finished product. (I usually go with 2% sugar) Multiply weight of meat in grams by percentage.

6) Mix all dry ingredients together. Mix with water if using.

7) Dry cure: Rub dry mixture over pork belly using all dry mixture. Seal in bag turn daily. Cure 10 - 14 days.

8) Brine cure: Place pork belly in bag add brine mix. Seal bag. Turn daily. Cure 10 - 14 days.

9) Injection cure: Make 10% brine and inject into the center of the pork belly along the length of the belly. Place belly in bag. Pour remaining brine into bag and seal. Turn daily. Cure 4 - 8 days. Injection cure takes less time.

10) Rinse and dry belly in fridge overnight after curing to form a pellicle.

11) Hot smoke to IT of 150.

Per kg of weight you will want these amounts for this recipe:

1 kg pork belly (or pork belly and water)
16.5 g salt
20 g sugar
2.5 g Cure #1

JC

 

[Thanielb]

Welcome from Wisconsin.

I get a bit of chewiness in may bacon but it frys off and gets quite crisp. I am not sure if the lack of curing salt has anything to do with the crispness of your bacon or maybe the breed of hog.

That seems like quite a bit of brown sugar. I can understand why your bacon may be burning before it gets crispy.

When I make bacon, I do everything by weight. Using metric units is easiest.

Here is the formula I use when making bacon either from brine, dry, or injection cure.

1) Determine the weight of your meat in grams. (If using brine or injection, add the weight of the water to the meat weight. Amount of water is not critical but don't go less than 10% of meat weight.)

2) Determine cure #1 you will need (I use 2.5 g per kg of weight)

3) Determine the salt percentage you want in your finished product. ( I like 1.85%) Multiply weight in grams by percentage.

4) Subtract weight of Cure #1 from calculated salt weight

5) Determine sweetness of your finished product. (I usually go with 2% sugar) Multiply weight of meat in grams by percentage.

6) Mix all dry ingredients together. Mix with water if using.

7) Dry cure: Rub dry mixture over pork belly using all dry mixture. Seal in bag turn daily. Cure 10 - 14 days.

8) Brine cure: Place pork belly in bag add brine mix. Seal bag. Turn daily. Cure 10 - 14 days.

9) Injection cure: Make 10% brine and inject into the center of the pork belly along the length of the belly. Place belly in bag. Pour remaining brine into bag and seal. Turn daily. Cure 4 - 8 days. Injection cure takes less time.

10) Rinse and dry belly in fridge overnight after curing to form a pellicle.

11) Hot smoke to IT of 150.

Per kg of weight you will want these amounts for this recipe:

1 kg pork belly (or pork belly and water)
16.5 g salt
20 g sugar
2.5 g Cure #1

View attachment 489380

JC

JC,
Thank you!
This is great, I'm using this on my next batch for sure.

For the few slabs that are already smoked, do you think there are any concerns if I smoke a little more to pull more of the moisture and sweetness out?

 

[JC in GB]

JC,
Thank you!
This is great, I'm using this on my next batch for sure.

For the few slabs that are already smoked, do you think there are any concerns if I smoke a little more to pull more of the moisture and sweetness out?

I am not sure how that would turn out but I don't see any issues smoking it more as long as you follow safe temperature guidelines.

As far as sweetness, I think you are stuck with this batch. Maybe try a slow rendering of cubes in the oven. May get more crisp without burning. Sugar burns... No way around that.

JC