Pork Belly Curing Very Slowly

[mjacobsen]

All,
I'm curing pork belly presently, which happens to be the third time I've done it. The first two times I used a dry cure (dry in the sense that I didn't add water, but the slurry formed after a day or so) with Morton Tender Quick, put the belly in a bag, and stuck it in the fridge for 7 days. Worked like a charm, even though these were thick bellies (1.5+ inch). The bacon was awesome.

However, for this round, I opted to use prague powder #1 from Hoosier Hill Farms. I checked on the slabs (2.5 lbs per slab, 1 teaspoon of pp#1 each) after 6 days, and maybe a quarter inch on each side had been cured. The inner-most half inch was still raw. Desperate to speed the process, I added 3/4 cup of water and about 1/4 teaspoon more pp#1 to each slab. Here I am at 8 days, and the center 1/3" or so is still not cured. I added a half teaspoon of pp#1 and a tablespoon of kosher salt to each slab in a last ditch effort to get these things done. I'm genuinely shocked at what is going on. If I'm lucky it'll be 10 or 11 days, and these slabs aren't anywhere near as thick as the first two rounds (with the Morton Tender Quick).

Any thoughts? I'm concerned that I may have overdone it with prague powder in a moment of frustration, but every recipe I've seen estimates that a 1 inch thick slab should take 7 days max. At what point do I just throw in the towel and start over? Further, what did I mess up that I can avoid next time?

Thanks.

Matt

 

[SmokinAl]

I let my bacon cure for at least 2 weeks, no matter how thick it is, and yes you way over did the cure #1.
Here is a calculator for cure #1, so next time you can get it right.
http://diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html
Al

 

[atomicsmoke]

What makes you think the inner layer was not cured?

 

[mjacobsen]

What makes you think the inner layer was not cured?

At the 6 day mark, I cut into the belly, and saw that the inner 1/2 inch was still the raw, ruby red color. I cut out a piece and fried it up to be certain. Sure enough, it firmed up and cooked like raw pork, with a graw/white hue. Nothing like bacon.

I cut into it again last night, and still saw that crimson center (albeit deeper in the meat, but still present).

The other times I've done bacon it has had a nice uniform distribution of the pink hue that is so characteristic of bacon.

SmokinAl - I confess that I'm confused about the various recipes and sources. Manufacturer recommends .5 teaspoons for the weight of meet I'm using. The tool you linked recommends .6 teaspoons, and the recipe (from Ruhlman and Polcyn's book) recommends 1 teaspoon. Further, the times that are suggested are so wildly different that I can't even establish a pattern. Amazingribs.com says it should be done in as little as 3 days, Polcyn suggests 7 days, I've seen some folks on this forum say 3 days +2 for good measure, and your data point suggests 2 weeks.

Is there any rhyme or reason to this? Thanks for the tips guys - I really like curing projects (coming from a strictly BBQ background), but I'm looking for more concrete direction.

 

[atomicsmoke]

The colour of the raw meat is not a reliable indicator for curing. Fried meat, yes. If it turns grey when cooked is not cured.

Like Al said, give it two weeks next time. That's what i do too (and use less cure than you do).

 

[atomicsmoke]

At the 6 day mark, I cut into the belly, and saw that the inner 1/2 inch was still the raw, ruby red color. I cut out a piece and fried it up to be certain. Sure enough, it firmed up and cooked like raw pork, with a graw/white hue. Nothing like bacon.

I cut into it again last night, and still saw that crimson center (albeit deeper in the meat, but still present).

The other times I've done bacon it has had a nice uniform distribution of the pink hue that is so characteristic of bacon.

SmokinAl - I confess that I'm confused about the various recipes and sources. Manufacturer recommends .5 teaspoons for the weight of meet I'm using. The tool you linked recommends .6 teaspoons, and the recipe (from Ruhlman and Polcyn's book) recommends 1 teaspoon. Further, the times that are suggested are so wildly different that I can't even establish a pattern. Amazingribs.com says it should be done in as little as 3 days, Polcyn suggests 7 days, I've seen some folks on this forum say 3 days +2 for good measure, and your data point suggests 2 weeks.

Is there any rhyme or reason to this? Thanks for the tips guys - I really like curing projects (coming from a strictly BBQ background), but I'm looking for more concrete direction.

I always go for the lowest amount, which here i've seen 120ppm for skinon and 108ppm for skinless.

For your 2.5lb slab (assuming with skin) that would be 2.18g. Do you have a gram scale?

 

[mjacobsen]

I always go for the lowest amount, which here i've seen 120ppm for skinon and 108ppm for skinless.

For your 2.5lb slab (assuming with skin) that would be 2.18g. Do you have a gram scale?

I do indeed. I measure everything by mass, not volume, whenever possible. However, it's skinless.

Here's the thing that's really throwing me right now. All of my data points with Morton Tender Quick show a much faster cure time. However, everything I've read on the topic says they should be indistinguishable because the relative amounts of nitrite are the same for a given curing activity. What other factors could be contributing to the slowness of the cure? Further, are folks who say 3-5 days just full of it? There's no way that's possible.

Last thing - does it hold true that increasing the nitrite concentration in a solution should accelerate the curing process? If so, supposing I've way overdone the PP#1, shouldn't it be curing faster than expected?

I'm sure I'm overthinking this. Just trying to get something quantitative that I can use to measure the actual process....

 

[atomicsmoke]

For 2.5lbs skinless 108ppm translates into 1.96g cure.

I am not familiar with MTQ.

Using more cure than the minimum will speed up the process. But you don't know how fast and how much more nitrite will you get in the meat.

I don't know if you can cure bacon in 3 days. Maybe if using a lot of cure.

I don't recommend doing that. Like said i aim for as little as possible.

You are overthinking it. A watched pot....
Curing with minimum amount of cure is equalization cure. You can't overdo it. But you have to let the biochemistry do it's job.

Edit: made a mistake. It's called equilibrium cure not equalization cure.

 

[mjacobsen]

Thanks man. I'll just sit tight and wait it out I guess. I know I boosted the nitrite a bit, but I'm not too concerned about health implications. From my reading, an adult would have to eat 20+ lbs of product at 200 ppm nitrite.

 

[DanMcG]

Desperate to speed the process,

That was your first mistake, you can't rush dry curing whole muscle cuts. in your efforts you have a belly with about 580ppm of nitrite.

 

[mosparky]

just a thought, what is the temp in your fridge ? I'm really new to this, but have read that curing can be slowed or totallly stopped if the fridge temp is too cold. It is one thing that has not been mentioned here yet.
I spent alot of time getting my fridge set to just the right temp range, then the she-beast found the ice cream in the freezer was a bit softer than it should be and missed with the settings. Now it's all jacked up, but her ice cream is solid...LOL.
I think the proper temp range is 36-40 deg F.

 

[mjacobsen]

That was your first mistake, you can't rush dry curing whole muscle cuts. in your efforts you have a belly with about 580ppm of nitrite.

Fair point. As someone who collects a lot of data during cooking, it was really odd to observe what I currently consider to be an outlier. The only adjusted variable here is the prague powder #1 instead of morton tender quick. I'm hoping to hear from someone who can comment on experiencing different cure times between them.

 

[mjacobsen]

just a thought, what is the temp in your fridge ? I'm really new to this, but have read that curing can be slowed or totallly stopped if the fridge temp is too cold. It is one thing that has not been mentioned here yet.
I spent alot of time getting my fridge set to just the right temp range, then the she-beast found the ice cream in the freezer was a bit softer than it should be and missed with the settings. Now it's all jacked up, but her ice cream is solid...LOL.
I think the proper temp range is 36-40 deg F.

I'll double check that tonight - good thought. It was never an issue with previous cures, so I assumed the fridge settings were fine.

 

[atomicsmoke]

Fair point. As someone who collects a lot of data during cooking, it was really odd to observe what I currently consider to be an outlier. The only adjusted variable here is the prague powder #1 instead of morton tender quick. I'm hoping to hear from someone who can comment on experiencing different cure times between them.

Ha ha....i think it will be difficult to find someone with good experience on both TMQ and PP#1. People here seem commited to one or the other.

 

[daveomak]

Adding more cure will get more cure into the meat surface... The penetration time, to the center of the cut, remains the same... That is governed by molecular exchange... equilibrium...
TQ and Cure penetrate at the same rates.. You can't beat physics...
All indicators are, your temperature is too low.....

 

[DanMcG]

Good call mosparky, I was focused on the amount of cure and never gave that a thought.

 

[bregent]

Thanks man. I'll just sit tight and wait it out I guess. I know I boosted the nitrite a bit, but I'm not too concerned about health implications. From my reading, an adult would have to eat 20+ lbs of product at 200 ppm nitrite.

Not sure what you read, but they may be talking about toxicity and lethal doses. The issue here, particularly with bacon, is staying within guidelines to reduce the possibility of nitrosamine production, which have no safe levels. At this point your are at more than 5X the allowable rate for bacon as defined by USDA guidelines.

Personally, I would toss it and start over.

 

[indaswamp]

Not sure what you read, but they may be talking about toxicity and lethal doses. The issue here, particularly with bacon, is staying within guidelines to reduce the possibility of nitrosamine production, which have no safe levels. At this point your are at more than 5X the allowable rate for bacon as defined by USDA guidelines.

Personally, I would toss it and start over.

X2.

 

[mjacobsen]

I appreciate the input on the nitrite/nitrosamine conundrum. To be fair, even within USDA ppm guidelines, it seems to me that bacon (homemade or store-bought) can produce nitrosamines if cooked at a high enough temperature.

I cut into it tonight (it's now been 15 days), and there was still a ruby red center, albeit much less than before. I cut a small slice off and fried it up, and it looked to have finished curing based on the pink color persisting through to finished temperature. Tasting a sliver revealed that it was very, very salty, so much so that my wife and I agreed that it would need to soak for some time to make it palatable. Is soaking a viable method to reduce the nitrite concentration?

Another data point - the fridge was too cold (right around 32). I adjusted it so now it's running at 36.

I may cave, toss the batch, and start over. Uggg...

 

[myownidaho]

Not sure why you need to have it cured in seven days but it’s your gig. Let it sit for 10-14 days and you’ll be just fine.