Over Curing Bacon?

I've never used a recipe that calls for only 1.3 days of curing...however, I have made some super salty bacon by accident. I'd say that's probably what happens. You make salt pork.
 
I don't use the AR recipe, however I've always cured bacon 7 - 10 days. I'd say legendaryhog has it about right.
 
I have only done bacon once and have read just enough to be dangerous haha.

I would find an EQ cure recipe utilizing percentages based on the meat's weight. Then use a cure time based on 1/4" per day (divided by 2 if no skin) plus two days to be safe.
 
It does seem short, but the salt level his cure calls for is only 2% of the weight, so I doubt you will over cure it, no matter if you tripled the time or not.
 
Thanks for the help, I went home at lunch to pull it out of the cure after what would have been about 41 hours.
 

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When bacon is dry cured by properly weighing the cure, salt, and sugar according to the weight of the belly itself, it cannot get nitrite burn (over cured).

However when bacon is properly cured with a curing brine, the amount of cure is calculated in PPM (Parts Per Million) on an estimated pick-up ratio of the curing brine into the meat, at or around 4%. Yes you can over-cure and have nitrite burn with wet cures. One tell-tale sign is a slight iridescent color when freshly slicing the bacon and holding it at a rounded angle to the bright light.

The end result can be poor texture, off color, and sometimes a slight off flavor; but more importantly you can also have an elevated level of nitrites in the finished product. All of these results can vary according to the total time in the curing brine and the total % of nitrite pick up into the meat.

Wet cures have faster results do to the water and the higher levels of nitrite.
 
I do use a crude formula for my dry cure, however, I usually go by feel. When you get a pork belly it is a floppy piece. When it has cured and released some water you should have a nice, firm feeling belly. It will take some trial and error, but I have found (much like a brisket with the probe test) you will have some bellies that take a day or two longer than others regardless of how careful you do the math. Once you get the hang of it you can tell when the cure is done by feel. Once you nail it, you'll remember how it felt when it was done and you can eliminate some of the guesswork.
 
WvQ said:
Thanks for the help, I went home at lunch to pull it out of the cure after what would have been about 41 hours.
Click to expand...

It's hard to tell by a picture, but that doesn't look cured to me. How does it feel? Floppy or nice and firm? Cut off a small piece and fry it up. See what it tastes like before you proceed with anything else.
 
IamMadMan said:
When bacon is dry cured by properly weighing the cure, salt, and sugar according to the weight of the belly itself, it cannot get nitrite burn (over cured).

However when bacon is properly cured with a curing brine, the amount of cure is calculated in PPM (Parts Per Million) on an estimated pick-up ratio of the curing brine into the meat, at or around 4%. Yes you can over-cure and have nitrite burn with wet cures. One tell-tale sign is a slight iridescent color when freshly slicing the bacon and holding it at a rounded angle to the bright light.

The end result can be poor texture, off color, and sometimes a slight off flavor; but more importantly you can also have an elevated level of nitrites in the finished product. All of these results can vary according to the total time in the curing brine and the total % of nitrite pick up into the meat.

Wet cures have faster results do to the water and the higher levels of nitrite.
Click to expand...

I have heard of the exact opposite about nitrite burn, or about over cured meat being iridescent. You got any science to back that up? I'm always into expanding my knowledge.
 
I've cured quite a few. The worst that happens with too long is it gets a bit too salty. I also never use nitrite (if that's the right one). Oh yeah, it's not as pink as store product. I generally use the recipes in "Charcuterie". The maple is awesome traditional bacon; the savory is also very good.
 
I've only made my own bacon twice. Both times I did a dry cure for about 7 days followed by a good rinse. Then on a rack in the fridge for 2-3 more days to dry it out more until I smoked it. It's a little too salty for me but still much better than anything store bought. I'll probably decrease my cure time a couple days to see what that does for me.
 
I see it changed to 2-3 days, but I've followed this recipe for 2 years now. Here's a quote from down the page further...

Note - 3-5 days.

"2) Pour everything except the meat into a zipper bag large enough to hold the belly. A 1 gallon bag will hold a single 3 pound slab. Zip the bag and squish everything around until well mixed. Now add the belly, squeeze out the air as much as possible and squish some more rubbing the cure into the belly and coat all sides. Put the bag in a pan to catch leaks and place in the fridge at 34 to 38°F for 3 to 5 days. If the belly is thicker than 1.5" check the calculator here. The belly will release liquid so every day or two you want to gently massage the bag so the liquid and spices are well distributed, and flip the bag over. NOTE: If you use more than one slab in a bag it is crucial that the slabs do not overlap each other. Thickness matters!"

Fwiw, I generally cure it 7-9 days and have no issues with it.
 
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