Yellowish colour after curing and smoking pork belly

[Adam1875]

Hi All
I just finished curing a pork belly.
first time doing it.
we also smoked it.
It has a yellowish tinge on the fat portion on the meat.
the meat smells good and the tastes is good too.
just wondering if anyone knows what this yellow discolourations is and if it's safe?
Thanks!
Adam

 

[TNJAKE]

Post a pic that isn't a pdf. I'm not gonna download an attachment from a random person. My guess is just color from the smoke though

 

[Adam1875]

Post a pic that isn't a pdf. I'm not gonna download an attachment from a random person. My guess is just color from the smoke though

hey there
i just added a non pdf file

 

[TNJAKE]

That's just smoke color. It looks super pronounced on the white fat versus how it colors the meaty parts. Looks normal to me. Wanna share your bacon recipe and process?

 

[Adam1875]

That's just smoke color. It looks super pronounced on the white fat versus how it colors the meaty parts. Looks normal to me. Wanna share your bacon recipe and process?

Thanks TNJAKE!
appreciate the POV.
happy to share the recipe.
used a few table spoons of salt and a teaspoon of white pepper. and a pinch of prouge 2 curing salt 2.5g to 1kg (i was told not to use too much of this stuff)
coated the pork belly with the salt/peper/cure mix and left in the cold cellar for a week, draining and turning every day. after 7 days put it in the cold smoker (it was really cold outside like -5C.
smoked for 2 days (my smoker is an old fridge that connect to a long metal HVAC tube....to an old charcoal bbq).
after smoking for 2 days, i put back in cold cellar and left it there until today, so it hung for a few months.....
it does taste good!!!

was just a little worried about the yellowish tinge....but i think you are right, its likely from the smke..... I really went over the top on the smoking, could have likely just done 1 day vs 2... its has a very strong smoke taste!!

 

[SmokinEdge]

Could be smoke, could be something in the cure mix or brine. How about a run down of your process, we can get to the bottom of it with a little more information.

And welcome to the forum.

 

[GaryHibbert]

Yeah, Jake's got you covered. That yellow color is just how the smoke affects the fat on the belly bacon. Nothing to worry about. My bacon always looks like that, or more so, after 12-15 hours of cold smoking.
Your bacon looks good. Do you have more pics and a write up for us too?????
BTW, welcome to the forum.
Gary

 

[DougE]

I normally get some fat yellowing at the surface on my bacon, but the fat below the surface when I slice it is white.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Oh that yellow Smokey fat.

 

[TNJAKE]

Thanks TNJAKE!
appreciate the POV.
happy to share the recipe.
used a few table spoons of salt and a teaspoon of white pepper. and a pinch of prouge 2 curing salt 2.5g to 1kg (i was told not to use too much of this stuff)
coated the pork belly with the salt/peper/cure mix and left in the cold cellar for a week, draining and turning every day. after 7 days put it in the cold smoker (it was really cold outside like -5C.
smoked for 2 days (my smoker is an old fridge that connect to a long metal HVAC tube....to an old charcoal bbq).
after smoking for 2 days, i put back in cold cellar and left it there until today, so it hung for a few months.....
it does taste good!!!

was just a little worried about the yellowish tinge....but i think you are right, its likely from the smke..... I really went over the top on the smoking, could have likely just done 1 day vs 2... its has a very strong smoke taste!!

There's a problem now. Did you use Prague #1 or #2? Also a pinch of this a pinch of that is a terrible measurement when curing meat. What temp was cellar. You hung it for several months?

 

[DougE]

There's a problem now. Did you use Prague #1 or #2? Also a pinch of this a pinch of that is a terrible measurement when curing meat

Absolutely. You don't mess around when curing. You need to know what you're doing and accurately measure out your cure #1 (cure#2 is for longer cure times like salami and the like) and salt to the weight of the meat. Pinches, and guessing when curing meat is just a recipe to get someone sick.

 

[Adam1875]

There's a problem now. Did you use Prague #1 or #2? Also a pinch of this a pinch of that is a terrible measurement when curing meat. What temp was cellar. You hung it for several months?

#2
Didn’t mean to imply a “pinch”
Used 2.5g for 1kg
Very accurately measured
Cold cellar is usually ranging 7-15dergree celsius = about 45-50 Fahrenheit

 

[JckDanls 07]

pinch of prouge 2 curing salt 2.5g to 1kg

Yea.. this is not good ... and the cellar for months is not good as well ... Please don't eat anymore until we get this figured out ...

 

[SmokinEdge]

used a few table spoons of salt and a teaspoon of white pepper. and a pinch of prouge 2 curing salt 2.5g to 1kg (i was told not to use too much of this stuff)

I’m with you so far, but I have to ask for more specific meat weight So we can understand the percentage of salt applied to the meat. The cure #2 is applied fine to meat weight, but salt is important. Did you only cure 1Kg Of belly? Or was there more?

When we cure belly here we are most always under refrigeration temperature, under 40F. What you have done is more old way dry curing, which is fine and the temperature you posted is in the correct range. This would be more like pancetta. The fact that you used cure #2 here is a good thing. For safety when long aging/dry curing we need 2.5-3.0% salt, really should be closer to 3% total salt for safety above refrigeration temps like you did here in the 50‘sF. I think you are fine but would like more specifics on salt percentage to meat weight.