Uneven Cure at 10 Days

[thelion85]

10 days ago I put two pieces of pork belly with dry cure in gallon ziplock bags in the fridge.  The pieces were longer than fit in the bag, so I folded the last quarter onto itself.  Unfortunately I had to go out of town unexpectedly, and totally forgot about the bacon.  When I returned on Sunday (after 6 days) most of the belly was sufficiently cured, but of course the folded over parts didn't get sufficient cure exposure and were still pretty red and firm.  I rubbed more cure into those areas, flipped the bellies to expose the uncured areas to the cure liquid, and put back in the fridge.  By now the redness has faded some, and the texture has improved, but parts still don't look quite cured.

At this point, after 10 days of curing, can I go ahead with smoking it, or are there concerns about food safety and an incomplete cure? If it needs to cure further, should all of it stay in the cure, or should I just cut off the pieces that are incomplete?  And what is the outer limit on how long pork belly can stay soaking in a cure?

Any/all advice appreciated!

 

[diggingdogfarm]

Color is not very reliable in determining how well something has cured.
Color can vary for different reasons.
I would give it a few more days to cure and then go ahead with the smoking.

Ideally, the belly should be coated with cure well from the start and the liquid allowed to drain away from the belly because exposure to the liquid may lead to nitrite burn, but it's not a precaution that everyone takes.


~Martin