Curing time confusion...

[IamMadMan]

I would suggest that you read this thread, bproffer had a similar issue, follow his same issue ending in a great result.

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3431219

 

[thirdeye]

...One of the main reasons people find Morton TenderQuick to be overly salty is because it contains no sugar. Morton TenderQuick is formulated as a general cure (meat, fish, poultry) and is also used for curing beef (corned beef), where sugar would be unwanted. For making bacon and ham, maybe the selection of Morton Sugar Cure would be a more suitable choice, but totally not necessary because you can add the sugar yourself to the mixture. Sugar helps to cut the salty edge in taste of the final product and can vary greatly in any recipe. Sugar is not necessary for curing, it is strictly for rounding out and balancing the flavors (salty, sweet, savory). Sugar levels can be adjusted to an individuals personal taste without affecting the curing process.

Actually, TQ does contain sugar in an attempt to round out the salt but many of us will add some brown sugar or maple sugar or some of both when making a dry cure or wet cure. I do this on my belly bacon as well as my Buckboard bacon. And although the name "Sugar Cure" implies something sweet...(and it used to be more sweet), today it is the exact same formulation as TQ. Years ago the price of sugar forced Morton's to alter the formulation but they did not want to loose name recognition so they kept the Sugar Cure name. The bags of each mention something along the lines that TQ and Sugar Cure can be used "interchangeably". I've called the Morton's quality engineers and the one I spoke to confirmed this.

 

[thirdeye]

Using Tender Quick to cure bacon and I'm totally lost on the amount of time needed to cure the meat. On the bag of TQ is says 4 to 8 hrs and for larger cuts 24 hrs. Every place I've looked (15+ sites & thousands of posts here) all talk in days/weeks.

I'm aware that the thickness of the meat plays a role but clueless as to what the "rule" should be.

I'd like to be able to cure the meat but I'm also trying to figure out how to keep the salt on the lower side. We are a "low salt" household and the last batch of bacon I did was way to salty.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Take a look at THIS RECIPE AND TECHNIQUE for belly bacon by Lynne on my Cookin' Site. It covers many of your questions and might give you some ideas, plus it's loaded with nice photo's (Lynne is a great photographer) This particular page is one of the most popular on the site and I've received at least 100 e-mails from folks reporting good success.

 

[Scuffletown Smokers]

I had the same question about a month ago when I did my first bacon. I use tender quick and left it on there for seven days and it was perfect.

 

[sturev]

Take a look at THIS RECIPE AND TECHNIQUE for belly bacon by Lynne on my Cookin' Site. It covers many of your questions and might give you some ideas, plus it's loaded with nice photo's (Lynne is a great photographer) This particular page is one of the most popular on the site and I've received at least 100 e-mails from folks reporting good success.

Thanks thrideye! Yes, I've been to your site many times; LOVE it! The first time I did bacon, I did it very similar to Lynne's but the meat came up to temp in the 1st 2 hrs so it didn't get to stay in the smoke that long. That's the main reason I picked up the AMAZENPS.

Thanks again and as always, this site/group of people are the best! :clap2: