Beginner bacon - pork belly

Do you want to use a dry cure?
Do you have a preference with Tender Quick or Cure #1 (Instacure #1, Prague #1)?
Or would you like to do a brine cure, possibly injecting some of the brine and using the remainder as a cover brine?
And last... do you want a cold smoke, or hot smoke?

My preference is:
1. A dry brine with 1.7% salt, 1% sugar, 0.25% cure #1. Additional seasonings are crushed bay leaf, cracked pepper and garlic powder.
2. A 12 to 14 day cure time, a rinse, soak, reseason with black pepper and garlic, and a 12 to 20 hour equalization time.
3. Cold smoke for 6 or 7 hours each day for 2 or 3 days.
4. Two days of mellowing

Then it looks like this

scotts1919 said:

Happy new year all! Haven't posted in a bit due to a busy end of year. Hope all is well with everyone!

Quick question. I was at Costco today and picked up a 10lb pork belly. Been wanting to do bacon for a long time and I think I want to do it! Whats a good beginner guide for some basic bacon? Wouldn't mind a peppercorn or maple or some kind of flavor. I will plan to cold smoke it on my Yoder 640s, any tips with that? What about the brine process? Looking for any help at this point.

Thanks much guys!

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Some good basics here:

https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/salting-brining-curing-and-injecting/curing-meats-safely

and here:

https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/pork-recipes/how-make-smoked-bacon-home

BTDT. Now I use TenderQuick according to the box directions, vacuum bag the belly, in the fridge a week or a little more, turning the meat every once in a while. Cold smoke 24 hours, refigerate, slice and done. Flavors like maple don't penetrate the meat so unless you inject all you get is what is on the surface. I had read this, then verified with a PhD meat scientist at our local university.

LEM sells kits: https://www.lemproducts.com/category/bacon-ham-seasoning Their maple bacon kit made me and the kitchen smell beautifully like maple, but the pork belly was unimpressed. Ditto the pepper bacon.

The more bacon I've made the lazier I've gotten and the bacon still tastes the same.

I do thirdeye's technique minus the equalization for 12-20 hours and the 3 days worth of smoke. I take mine from the bag its brined in, rinse, cold smoke for 6ish hours and at least a 2 day mellow. It's hard to beat your own bacon. Especially if you do the math on the store bought stuff.

If you get stuck and need more help, I suggest you flick Iamadman a message.
http://bbq-brethren.com/forum/member.php?u=26473

scotts1919 said:

Thanks for all the info guys.

Yes I wax planning on using cure #1 Prague powder.

Anybody try this recipe - https://jesspryles.com/recipe/how-to-make-bacon/
Seems OK. How does the ratios of salt/Prague sound to the amount of meat?)I have a 10lb which I will cut in half go make 2-5lb slabs.

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You could use Thirdeys proven recipes that he makes and eats
Your call

I agree, Thirdeye has a great proven reference.


for additional reference, if needed, here is a quick summary of a course I teach to local culinary students.
https://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/group.php?do=discuss&group=&discussionid=151

I am a HUGE proponent of the equilibrium type cure demonstrated in thirdeye's post & IamMadMad's linked thread. It absolutely nails the salt/sugar level - Every. Single. Time.

Although Jess Pryless has some fun recipes - that bacon you linked (and all other bacon "recipes" with generalized volumes instead of exact weights), is a hot mess, and a crapshoot, at best. Some batches will turn out fine, others will be too salty, others not salty enough, etc. Also, her cure #1 amount is too high. An equilibrium cure like thirdeye's or IamMadMad's avoids all of this.

Here's some handy tools for doing your weights. Please note that different brands of kosher salt have vastly different weights per volume, so weighing is again very important!

http://www.diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html
https://www.dadcooksdinner.com/salt-by-weight/

I too am very interested in making bacon and have a few questions. I hope this isn’t considered high jacking the thread, I apologize if it is.

1. I know the danger zone for meat is between 40*-160* and shouldn’t be there for more than 4 hours. I also know that cold smoking can be done as high as 80* to maybe 100*. Is it safe to cold smoke at 80* for more than 4 hours because the bacon was been cured or are you only able to cold smoke that long because it’s winter and is below 40* where you live?

2. Why is cold smoking better than warm or hot smoking?

3. Do you need a meat slicer to cut the bacon or is it easy enough to slice with a knife?

Thank you for any insight to these questions.

scotts1919 said:

Thanks for all the info guys.

Yes I wax planning on using cure #1 Prague powder.

Anybody try this recipe - https://jesspryles.com/recipe/how-to-make-bacon/
Seems OK. How does the ratios of salt/Prague sound to the amount of meat?)I have a 10lb which I will cut in half go make 2-5lb slabs.

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This is a pretty hot recipe, it is workable with the high amounts of salt and sugar, and the the Cure #1 is way high... the standard is 1 level teaspoon for 5# of meat. This recipe calls for 1 teaspoon for 3# of meat. When I run the numbers for the percentages (based on weight of the belly) I prefer I come up with:

13 grams of sugar (about a tablespoon +/-)
23 grams of salt (a little over a tablespoon)
3.4 grams of Cure #1 (this is 0.25% and the recommended amount)

If you decide to use the sugar and salt per this recipe, please use the correct amount of Cure #1.

You'll get different answers from different people, but here are mine:

CivilTrojan said:

1. I know the danger zone for meat is between 40*-160* and shouldn’t be there for more than 4 hours. I also know that cold smoking can be done as high as 80* to maybe 100*. Is it safe to cold smoke at 80* for more than 4 hours because the bacon was been cured or are you only able to cold smoke that long because it’s winter and is below 40* where you live?

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Curing is a caveman tool to preserve meat. That's what today's salt and sodium nitrite cures emulate. Smoking and drying fish, drying jerky, etc. all have he same objective. My guess is that the cavemen salted their bacon more heavily than we do. Another example is today's country hams, which rely solely on heavy salting and drying, never seeing refrigeration.

CivilTrojan said:

2. Why is cold smoking better than warm or hot smoking?

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The is a school of thought (including ThirdEye and IAmMadMan IIRC) I think who see advantages to partially cooking/to 150deg. I cold smoke because I am lazy. Two full mazes give me 22-24 hours of unattended smoking and great bacon. (Well, not completely unattended; there is a 3-minute halfway stop to light the second maze.)

CivilTrojan said:

3. Do you need a meat slicer to cut the bacon or is it easy enough to slice with a knife?.

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Depends on how thick you want to slice. Thin, long slices require a big slicer. Thin, half length slices can be done with a smaller slicer. I cut my bellies in half the long way anyway. So, short bacon for me. The halves are easier to vacuum bag and easier to hang.

Until I bought my slicer I took my bacon to a chef friend who had the good big slicer. It cost me a tithe. A hidden benefit was I didn't have to clean the slicer, which is a PITA.

I too am very interested in making bacon and have a few questions. I hope this isn’t considered high jacking the thread, I apologize if it is.

1. I know the danger zone for meat is between 40*-160* and shouldn’t be there for more than 4 hours. I also know that cold smoking can be done as high as 80* to maybe 100*. Is it safe to cold smoke at 80* for more than 4 hours because the bacon was been cured or are you only able to cold smoke that long because it’s winter and is below 40* where you live?

It is safe to warm smoke at 80° and above for more than 4 hours. Cold smoking on a cool day just gives you additional insurance. Some days I've cold smoked bacon for 8 hours and the internal temp stayed in the low 30's. As you approach 100° and above you are now smoke-cooking the bacon. If you kept increasing the pit temp and took the belly to 145° it is technically fully cooked but the fat does benefit from pan frying.

2. Why is cold smoking better than warm or hot smoking?

You need to decide which method you like better. I think cold smoking gives a better depth of flavor and for 2X or 3X cold smoked bacon you can smoke for say 4 hours on one day, refrigerate and repeat on day 2 or even day 3.

3. Do you need a meat slicer to cut the bacon or is it easy enough to slice with a knife?

A slicer helps, but this was sliced by hand using my 12" cimeter. Blade length helps when lining up for a long cut because one stroke is the way to go. Also chill the slab in the freezer before slicing.

Scotts, You'll absolutely love the product you get by making your own bacon.

thirdeye said:

My preference is:
1. A dry brine with 1.7% salt, 1% sugar, 0.25% cure #1. Additional seasonings are crushed bay leaf, cracked pepper and garlic powder.
2. A 12 to 14 day cure time, a rinse, soak, reseason with black pepper and garlic, and a 12 to 20 hour equalization time.
3. Cold smoke for 6 or 7 hours each day for 2 or 3 days.
4. Two days of mellowing

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I think the only thing I would add to this good advice is a link to a cure calculator. This way you can weigh your meat, enter in the percentages to be used (supplied by thirdeye above) and then you have exact weights to be used for the weight of your meat being used. You will need a nice scale that does grams, etc. But you'll be able to use this not only for your bacon making, but your sausages making too!


http://www.diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html - cure calculator

Dan

gonefishin said:

Scotts, You'll absolutely love the product you get by making your own bacon.



I think the only thing I would add to this good advice is a link to a cure calculator. This way you can weigh your meat, enter in the percentages to be used (supplied by thirdeye above) and then you have exact weights to be used for the weight of your meat being used. You will need a nice scale that does grams, etc. But you'll be able to use this not only for your bacon making, but your sausages making too!


http://www.diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html - cure calculator

Dan

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Yes, Martin's calculator is the way to roll. I was taught the long-hand calculation because bacon pre-dates the internet, and I do too. :biggrin1:

Fun Fact, the digging dog calculator is so accurate, it calculates and adjusts for the salt carrier within the Cure #1 blend. So for example, when I calculate 1.7% ... the true number might be 1.8%.

One more question. Is mellowing just sitting in the fridge uncovered? Thanks for answering my other questions!

CivilTrojan said:

One more question. Is mellowing just sitting in the fridge uncovered? Thanks for answering my other questions!

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Yes, uncovered on a rack is mellowing, it can 'mellow' any bitterness if the smoke happened to be a little strong or improve the flavor in general. (if you wrapped it, condensation might form and you don't want that). "Blooming" comes into play as well after smoking. It's easier to notice after hot smoking, but blooming at room temperature will let the color darken a hair. Blooming is really obvious on cured and smoked sausage.

I use white sugar in my bacon formulation, but if you use light brown or dark brown sugar you will get a richer flavor and the outside will be a little darker. The downside to using brown sugar is you have to be more careful when frying as the edges can burn if you are not careful. Adding some maple sugar to the sugar component is another option.