Pork Belly Plus I&G

[SmokinEdge]

I’m now putting down about 13# of belly bacon and decided to cut off about 3.5# of the belly section and apply my usual dry cure but add .25% of sodium I&G. We will see what happens in about 2 weeks.

Maybe it will be more bacony, we shall see.

 

[HowlingDog]

Along for the ride. I had to Google what it was and it sounds interesting.

 

[Steve H]

In for the ride too!

 

[zwiller]

Crazy, just thought about curing with it. In for this one.

 

[02ebz06]

I need to pick up a PB next time at Costco.
Have never made bacon.

 

[DougE]

I'll ride along.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Thanks guys.
Yeah I’ve been playing with “Make it Meaty” formulation of disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate or I&G. It’s way better than MSG in my opinion. It works magic in sausage but thought with the long cure time should work well with dry curing. So we shall see. This product really brings the meat flavor in sausage, it really doesn’t elevate the spice but brings a wagon full of umami flavor.

Btw, just added 2.5 pounds of bigger belly trimmings to this test. For the first time in a loooong time I’m anxious about the wait.

 

[cptnding]

Looking forward to hearing your results. Recently got some of the same I&G and made a small test batch of breakfast sausage. Tried it side by side with my usual MSG mix and the difference was not subtle. The I&G one was by far better.
I was planning to try it on bacon this fall. The summer months are a real pain for cold smoking in the south.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Looking forward to hearing your results. Recently got some of the same I&G and made a small test batch of breakfast sausage. Tried it side by side with my usual MSG mix and the difference was not subtle. The I&G one was by far better.
I was planning to try it on bacon this fall. The summer months are a real pain for cold smoking in the south.

I hear you on the cold smoke. It’s good, but here in Colorado it’s great in fall and spring, the winter is sometimes to cold (below freezing) and summers can get hot. This is why I do all of my bacon warm to hot smoke so that I can make cured meats year around, not just in certain months. Trust me it’s delicious.

 

[zwiller]

Local processor is well known for their bacon and they run it all year. Cold smoking is not the trick. For bacon, I am mostly convinced the trick is salt up to near 3-4%. Charts in Marianski basically prove it.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Local processor is well known for their bacon and they run it all year. Cold smoking is not the trick. For bacon, I am mostly convinced the trick is salt up to near 3-4%. Charts in Marianski basically prove it.

Marianski is very good and also very salt heavy due to his adherence of the old world style with no refrigeration. I much prefer lower salt and modern refrigeration. Without refrigeration the heavy hand on salt is an absolute must, just not my palette.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Smoke day. 10 days in cure. A little short but good enough to get a base line. I had 2 other small pieces that I have been munching on along the way smoked on the pellet grill. It’s delicious and the I&G goes through and through. Will update later today.

 

[02ebz06]

Nice! I like you're smokehouse.

 

[tx smoker]

Some good looking stuff going on there Eric!! Patience can actually be the virtue people say it is

Robert

 

[SmokinEdge]

About 4 hours in getting hot outside now.

 

[slavikborisov]

Can’t beat that!

 

[SmokinEdge]

The two pieces on the right have the I&G the one on the left doesn’t.
All are done with my standard bacon rub. 1.5% salt, .5% sugar (white) and .25% cure #1 with .05% sodium erythorbate (NaE) The two pieces on the right also include .25% disodium I&G which seems to work extremely well with dry rubs.

Will bag and fridge overnight and slice in the morning. It is delicious.

Edit to add:
the pieces on the right with I&G have reduced salt to 1.25% to allow for the .25% I&G.

 

[gmc2003]

Will bag and fridge overnight and slice in the morning. It is delicious.

I'll be dropping in to see the results.

Chris

 

[SmokinEdge]

Little fry test from that small piece. It’s nice owning the bacon factory.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Decided not to slice it all up today mostly because the process was rushed over my normal process. I’ll let the slabs rest another 5 days or so for flavor development, but I did slice some in squaring the slabs for slicing and we fry tested. One slab was my traditional cure dry rub the others were same but with I&G. We all agreed that with I&G was better although not life changing but very much better. Does taste a bit like dry aged bacon without the dry age process. Let’s just say it’s another layer of bacon flavor.
Keep in mind that this dry rub has sodium erythorbate added, so those that claim an instant cure acceleration with NaE are just wrong. The nitrite cures all the way through even with the erythorbate. It works folks and zero down side to it.