Bacon/Curing Failure

[airedale]

We were running low on bacon, so I went to the store to buy a pork shoulder and a loin, thinking I'd try Canadian bacon. (My wife cooks with the bacon and likes buckboard rather than belly) As it turned out, all the store had were shoulders and loins that had been shot up with flavored water. No thanks.

They did have a lower shoulder, aka "picnic ham" that was unmolested. I bought it figuring that it would probably work. I cut it up basically by separating the major muscles. It ended up a little under 4.5# so using the label instructions of 1/2 oz./# I dry brined it with 2 1/4 oz of Tender Quick. I vacuum bagged it and, since one of the pieces was maybe 2 1/2" thick I left it in the fridge for 11 days, turning it at least once a day, then cold smoked it.

So tonight we went to slice the thick piece and it was not cured all the way through. Basically it was raw meat right in the center. The cure had worked its magic maybe an inch or a little less into the meat.

The meat was good, about the right salt level without rinsing, and with 12 hours of smoke it is really flavorful. Not a lot of fat, though. So I think I'll not try to cure this cut again.

Major lesson learned, though: When curing something thicker than a pork belly the cure needs a little more patience.

 

[Joshw]

I have made buckboard bacon, or in my area, it is called Hillbilly bacon, out of butts and it turns out great. But I have always wet brined. Now to the purpose of my post. I am novice when it comes to curing, so I have noob question. Can you dry brine in a vacuum bag? I thought part of the dry brine process was to remove liquid?

 

[airedale]

I have made buckboard bacon, or in my area, it is called Hillbilly bacon, out of butts and it turns out great. But I have always wet brined. Now to the purpose of my post. I am novice when it comes to curing, so I have noob question. Can you dry brine in a vacuum bag? I thought part of the dry brine process was to remove liquid?

Well, the real purpose of the effort is to raise the concentration of sodium nitrite and salt in the meat to a level that will kill botulism bacteria and, I guess, other enemy bugs.

So the amount of cure depends on the weight of meat to be cured plus the weight of any added water. I have never seen the point of buying extra cure to treat water that I was going to throw away anyway. So I just rub the curing salts plus any flavor stuff onto the pork and vacuum bag it. During the curing process, the salt draws water out of the meat then, as the salt permeates the meat the water is mostly drawn back in. So at the beginning (day 2 maybe) there is water sloshing around, basically a liquid solution of the salts.

The goal is an "equilibrium cure" where the concentration of the salts is the same everywhere: all through the meat and in whatever little water is left in the bag. (That water's weight was accounted for when the meat was weighed, so having it does not affect the salts concentration)

Note that once the meat is at equilibrium nothing more happens, so it can sit in the fridge in the brine without harm. My problem with this batch is that the meat didn't sit in the fridge quite long enough.

IIRC there are other cures that use only salt and part of their objective is to dry the meat to the point where the bugs don't like it. I know nothing about that road.

@IaMadMan will probably jump in here at some point as he is a scholar of this stuff and may want to comment on this explanation.

 

[jham0077]

I cure my own bacon, but by no means am I an expert. I guess I "dry brine". It never stays dry as the salt draws moisture out of the meat. After about 2 days there is quite a bit of liquid in the bag. I flip it every day. I use cure salt and the equilibrium recipe. I used a thicker piece once, some country style ribs. They didn't cure all the way through. Turned out like country ham kinda.

 

[Lomey]

I have made buckboard bacon, or in my area, it is called Hillbilly bacon, out of butts and it turns out great. But I have always wet brined. Now to the purpose of my post. I am novice when it comes to curing, so I have noob question. Can you dry brine in a vacuum bag? I thought part of the dry brine process was to remove liquid?

I dry brine my belly's in a vacuum bag with great results. I've always done it like that.

 

[Joshw]

That's why I love this site. Knowledge just seems to find you.

 

[IamMadMan]

Before I comment I just want to clarify there is a great difference between an equilibrium brine and a wet cure, I am sure you and many others here know this, but this is directed to any newcomers to curing.

An equilibrium cure uses very little water, in the case of a whole pork belly (not a piece), it's merely just under a cup of water for best results. I find using too much water dilutes the flavor of the finished product.

A wet cure is calculated by liquid volume and the calculated absorption (referred to as "pick-up ratio") which is usually estimated to be about 4%. With a wet cure, one also injects a 10% amount of the solution calculated and based on the weight of the meat only. The brine solution is injected deep into the meat along the bone to prevent bone sour or internal spoilage.

Now onto my response....

Logically speaking, without seeing or being present, I am merely making an assumption here, so forgive me if I am wrong...

You bought what you called a "picnic" which traditionally still has the skin intact. The cure does not penetrate the skin and layers of dense hard fat directly under it with an effective level of absorption and equalization. The cure when applied to the meat (without skin) will travel about a 1/4 per day, with skin in place the absorption is severely hindered on that side. That is why most hams we buy at the store are stitch pumped and then sit in the wet cure before packaging. Equalization over time.

You split the picnic open and removed the bone which would have given you a great start on rubbing in the dry cure and calculating the cure time. You stated you did separate the individual muscles. If you also removed the skin, you cut the cure time because you are now curing from both sides.

Your calculations of 11 days for 2.5 inches of thickness would be correct if the meat was left open and separated. The only thing I could see that may have gone wrong is how old was the tender quick? and how cold was the curing refrigerator? While sodium nitrite itself is stable, moisture, sunlight, and temperature will effect the longevity of the item. When as a bonded cure (tender quick) the salt will absorb relative humidity which could effect shelf life (don't see this as the case). Also if your curing refrigerator is very cold, the curing action is slowed down and more curing time will be required. However if you left the skin in place, any cure applied to the skin would not have been absorbed into the meat, so this amount of the cure may have been wasted and could have hindered you to a weak/incomplete cure process.

Yes you are correct, with a dry cure or with an equilibrium cure, one can leave the meat with the cure longer with no adverse effects. This is because the amount of cure is precisely calculated to the weight of the product. At the end of the cure time the nitrite has been absorbed and with chemical reactions within the meat it has been released as a gas. The meat will not "over-cure" or get nitrite burn if proper calculations based on weight were done. However this is not the case with a curing brine, it will continue to absorb the cure past the estimated 4% pickup ratio.

There is also combination curing where you couple the dry application of cure with an injection using a small portion of the cure. Although it is not a common practice, it has been done by many, but stick to your calculations.

Also see.....
http://www.mortonsalt.com/article/meat-curing-methods/
http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/ai407e/AI407E14.htm

 

[airedale]

... there is a great difference between an equilibrium brine and a wet cure, I am sure you and many others here know this, but this is directed to any newcomers to curing. ...

You bought what you called a "picnic" ...
Your calculations of 11 days for 2.5 inches of thickness would be correct if the meat was left open and separated. The only thing I could see that may have gone wrong is how old was the tender quick? and how cold was the curing refrigerator? While sodium nitrite itself is stable, moisture, sunlight, and temperature will effect the longevity of the item. When as a bonded cure (tender quick) the salt will absorb relative humidity which could effect shelf life (don't see this as the case). Also if your curing refrigerator is very cold, the curing action is slowed down and more curing time will be required. ....

Thank you. Maybe we need a little button here like a stewardess call button to make sure you show up when needed! :thumb:

Re wet cure, you'r right, I was keying off the poster's question which I assumed related to adding water to an equilibrium cure. As I said, this has never made much sense to me although I could see that your idea of adding a cup of water might help the meat-in-bag have more uniform coverage of the solution.

Re the picnic, the reason for this post was that I did all that stuff. It did not come with skin, but I did seam-butcher (amateur hour = crudely) and separated it into about 5 individual pieces. It was just the one thick piece that didn't cure completely even after 11 days so I thought it would be useful to add a post on the problem so that it would come up when people searched on bacon. This especially because I remember posts here where people insisted that they successfully cured their bacon in only a few days.

Re curing fridge it is the same one that has served me well with 7 day belly bacon cures. Re the Tender Quick, it seemed to be fine. No clumping, etc. It is a couple of years old and has been kept in a poly bag with the top taped shut. Not really sealed but not just out in the ambient humidity either. I have been assuming that an inorganic like sodium nitrite would not have had shelf life issues, so maybe that it part of the question.

 

[rexster314]

I do about 150 pounds of bellies each month. I use Digging Dog's cure calculator. I don't trim or cut the bellies. After application of the cure, I put the belly in a new, 13 gallon trash bag, twist the open end, and secure it with a zip tie. Put them in my reefer. I'll flip them at least once during the cure process. When done in about 8 days, I'll smoke 'em and slice them whole on my 12" Hobart slicer.