Over salted my belly

[oregonrider]

Over the years I cured and smoked at least 20 pork belly‘s to make bacon. Years ago I made up an Excel spreadsheet to calculate the amount of curing ingredients that I use. It’s never failed me.

But… I cured a 13 pound pork belly for 15 days in the refrigerator, flipping it over every 24 hours. I rinsed then patted dry the belly, then I cold smoked it for 5 to 6 hours to form a pellicle. Then I wrapped it in cellophane and put it in the refrigerator overnight.

The next day I set my pellet grill to 180 and smoked the bacon until it reached 145 IT.
I wrapped it in foil once it cooled down and put it in the refrigerator overnight.

My bacon came out with an over salted flavor.

Does anybody have any thoughts on how to make it less salty after the fact?

 

[DougE]

I don't think there is much that can be done now that it's smoked. Had you done a test fry, you could have soaked some of it out before smoking.

 

[DougE]

sharing your cure recipe might be helpful to keep that from happening again.

 

[oregonrider]

sharing your cure recipe might be helpful to keep that from happening again.

The recipe is proven. I either mis-measured the brine or the belly.

 

[Steve H]

5 day cure for a 13 pound belly? How thick was the belly? I normally go 12-14 days for cure.

 

[oregonrider]

5 day cure for a 13 pound belly? How thick was the belly? I normally go 12-14 days for cure.

Oops. Typo. 15 days, not 5.

 

[DougE]

The recipe is proven. I either mis-measured the brine or the belly.

I wasn't necessarily calling you or your method out. Just trying to see how it got too salty in the first place. The only way my bacon could come out too salty is an error on my part since I do EQ dry brines.

 

[Fueling Around]

Sorry to jump on the Covid hysteria, but did you have it recently? Very possible asymmetric (low symptoms) which is what I had a year ago.
My salt tolerance during and after Covid dropped a lot and I was already on a low sodium regimen.

 

[oregonrider]

I wasn't necessarily calling you or your method out. Just trying to see how it got too salty in the first place. The only way my bacon could come out too salty is an error on my part since I do EQ dry brines.

No problem. I clearly made an error, I just wondered if I could do anything about it. I know that potatoes absorb salt so maybe I’ll just eat bacon with hash browns.

 

[oregonrider]

Sorry to jump on the Covid hysteria, but did you have it recently? Very possible asymmetric (low symptoms) which is what I had a year ago.
My salt tolerance during and after Covid dropped a lot and I was already on a low sodium regimen.

No Covid. Plus, SWMBO says it’s too salty.

 

[SmokinEdge]

The recipe is proven. I either mis-measured the brine or the belly.

If this is a proven recipe that you like, then you have a high tolerance for salt/sodium. This recipe has about 3.5% salt once you add in the cure #1, which is a bit high on nitrite btw. The added liquid isn’t enough to change much. Just looking at the recipe, I’d say yes, a bit salty.

 

[oregonrider]

Seems appropriate

 

[SmokinEdge]

The recipe is proven. I either mis-measured the brine or the belly.

2% all in salt/sodium is much more mainstream , I use slightly less, but here is where the Salt would be for 10 pounds at 1.75%, cure#1 at .25% to equal 2% total salt. I would recommend reducing the sugar a bit as well.

10# meat (pork belly)= 4540 grams
165 ML of water = 165 grams
Added together = 4705 grams

Solve for salt at 2% all in total:

4705 x .0175= 82.33 grams salt.

Cure #1 @ .25% = 4705 x .0025 = 11.76 grams
added together, 82.33 + 11.76 = 94.09 total grams of sodium/salt to yield 2% salt in 10 pounds meat.

Give this a try on the salt side. You may like it. Hope this helps in the future.

EDIT TO ADD:
Your recipe is all in salt/sodium at 156 grams. I really hopes this helps.

 

[tallbm]

Over the years I cured and smoked at least 20 pork belly‘s to make bacon. Years ago I made up an Excel spreadsheet to calculate the amount of curing ingredients that I use. It’s never failed me.

But… I cured a 13 pound pork belly for 15 days in the refrigerator, flipping it over every 24 hours. I rinsed then patted dry the belly, then I cold smoked it for 5 to 6 hours to form a pellicle. Then I wrapped it in cellophane and put it in the refrigerator overnight.

The next day I set my pellet grill to 180 and smoked the bacon until it reached 145 IT.
I wrapped it in foil once it cooled down and put it in the refrigerator overnight.

My bacon came out with an over salted flavor.

Does anybody have any thoughts on how to make it less salty after the fact?

Hi there and welcome!

You should be able to soak your bellies in cold water in fridge and the salt will travel out into the water.

Check it every 2-3 hours and see if it is too salty. Switch water out after about 4-5 hours for fresh water and keep going until you get desired saltiness.

You may lose some other flavor as well but it should be edible.
If you have sliced it all this would work too but could introduce water issues. Only trying will tell, and if it is too salty to eat right now well you have nothing to lose hahaha.

Finally, i too only so 2% salt max for my dry cure bellies. I do 1.65% salt in my wet equilibrium bines and cures these days as well :)

I hope this info helps :)

 

[oregonrider]

2% all in salt/sodium is much more mainstream , I use slightly less, but here is where the Salt would be for 10 pounds at 1.75%, cure#1 at .25% to equal 2% total salt. I would recommend reducing the sugar a bit as well.

10# meat (pork belly)= 4540 grams
165 ML of water = 165 grams
Added together = 4705 grams

Solve for salt at 2% all in total:

4705 x .0175= 82.33 grams salt.

Cure #1 @ .25% = 4705 x .0025 = 11.76 grams
added together, 82.33 + 11.76 = 94.09 total grams of sodium/salt to yield 2% salt in 10 pounds meat.

Give this a try on the salt side. You may like it. Hope this helps in the future.

EDIT TO ADD:
Your recipe is all in salt/sodium at 156 grams. I really hopes this helps.

Wow, super helpful. Thanks.
One clarification: Your percentage is based on the cumulative weight of the belly and the water?
I just spent an hour or so on Eat Cured Meat. He also recommends .25% so I'm changing my spreadsheet.
Here's how it comes out:

10	pounds pork belly
113.40​	gm non-iodized salt Kosher, Sea, Rock salt etc
11.30​	gm pink salt
137.50​	gm packed dark brown sugar
165.00​	milliliters maple syrup
165.00​	milliliters distilled water
3.64​	gm pepper

 

[oregonrider]

2% is the consensus???

 

[DougE]

2% is the consensus???

I do 1.75% total salt in bacon (cure+additional salt=1.75% salt)

 

[DougE]

One clarification: Your percentage is based on the cumulative weight of the belly and the water?

It's for a dry cure, unless I'm mistaken.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Wow, super helpful. Thanks.
One clarification: Your percentage is based on the cumulative weight of the belly and the water?
I just spent an hour or so on Eat Cured Meat. He also recommends .25% so I'm changing my spreadsheet.
Here's how it comes out:

10	pounds pork belly
113.40​	gm non-iodized salt Kosher, Sea, Rock salt etc
11.30​	gm pink salt
137.50​	gm packed dark brown sugar
165.00​	milliliters maple syrup
165.00​	milliliters distilled water
3.64​	gm pepper

Ok, you now have 2.5% salt and .25% cure 1 that’s all in at 2.75% total salt. I’m not going to tell you what salt % to use, but you mentioned what you made was a bit salty, so I showed you how to reduce the salt but still retain that salt hit. Do as you please and experiment a bit with this to dial in what you like. Once dialed in you can repeat that flavor dependable over and again.

Yes allowing for meat and liquid weight, adding them together to get your salt and cure numbers is called equilibrium curing. It’s dead on repeatable. I use only dry cure with no liquid most of the time, but I do occasionally create brines, and this method works there too.

 

[Fueling Around]

On your salty bacon, I would take the number of slices for a meal and poach them lightly in warn water to reduce the salt and the sugar. I don't know if it takes out the maple flavor you prefer. I do NOT like a maple flavor.