Making Bacon

[brdbbq]

11 lb pork belly

[Lomey]

Good luck! Update during the process.

[IamMadMan]

Keep us posted....

[brdbbq]

2-3 LBS pork Belly
1/2 Cup Sugar (cane, Brown or coconut )
1 tbs Honey,or Maple syrup or Agave Nectar
2 tsb Sea Salt
2 tsp Smoked Paprika
1 tsp curing salt (pink salt) Prague #1
1 tsp Coarse Black Pepper
1 tsp White Pepper
1-2 tbs Apple Juice

Sriracha Lime infusion

Apply to belly vac seal marinate 7 days massage daily. Rinse then smoke till 150* IT. put in fridge for a day slice fry enjoy.

My first time and no condom....

[IamMadMan]

Originally Posted by brdbbq

2-3 LBS pork Belly
1/2 Cup Sugar (cane, Brown or coconut )
1 tbs Honey,or Maple syrup or Agave Nectar
2 tsb Sea Salt
2 tsp Smoked Paprika
1 tsp curing salt (pink salt) Prague #1
1 tsp Coarse Black Pepper
1 tsp White Pepper
1-2 tbs Apple Juice

Sriracha Lime infusion

Apply to belly vac seal marinate 7 days massage daily. Rinse then smoke till 150* IT. put in fridge for a day slice fry enjoy.

My first time and no condom....

I'm not finding fault with your bacon recipe, but if I were following this recipe for myself, I would have concerns about the amount of Cure #1 used. A single teaspoon of cure #1 is enough to cure 5 pounds of meat, you reference 2-3 pounds giving an average of 2.5 pounds of meat. Thus according to your post you are using twice the amount of cure required.

I would also be concerned with the amount of sugar vs the amount of salt at a 4.5 parts sugar to 1 part salt ratio (9 tablespoons of sugars vs 2 tablespoons of salt).

Salt is necessary to cure the meat. Salt helps to pull the moisture from the cells and dissolves the salt mixture and them distributes it back into the cell structure of the meat. So having the proper amount of salt is also critical.

While sugar is used to cut the sharpness of the salt in a cure, but your recipe is basically almost all sugar when compared to the other ingredients. Keep in mind that a lot of sugar can interfere with salt absorption and slow down the curing process.

I also highly advocate the use of a scale to weigh your ingredients according to the weight of the meat.

When curing, the items should be weighed (not measured) for accuracy, consistency, and food safety. Using the metric mode is much more accurate.

When making bacon use the following dry-cure ratios...

Cure #1 - the ratio is 0.25% (Multiplier .0025)
Salt - the ratio is 3% (Multiplier .03)
Sugar - the ratio is 1.25% (Multiplier .0125)

Weigh the pork belly in grams, record the weight and multiply using the above Multiplier to get the exact ratio for each ingredient.

[brdbbq]

Originally Posted by IamMadMan

I'm not finding fault with your bacon recipe, but if I were following this recipe for myself, I would have concerns about the amount of Cure #1 used. A single teaspoon of cure #1 is enough to cure 5 pounds of meat, you reference 2-3 pounds giving an average of 2.5 pounds of meat. Thus according to your post you are using twice the amount of cure required.

I would also be concerned with the amount of sugar vs the amount of salt at a 4.5 parts sugar to 1 part salt ratio (9 tablespoons of sugars vs 2 tablespoons of salt).

Salt is necessary to cure the meat. Salt helps to pull the moisture from the cells and dissolves the salt mixture and them distributes it back into the cell structure of the meat. So having the proper amount of salt is also critical.

While sugar is used to cut the sharpness of the salt in a cure, but your recipe is basically almost all sugar when compared to the other ingredients.

I also highly advocate the use of a scale to weigh your ingredients according to the weight of the meat.

When curing, the items should be weighed (not measured) for accuracy, consistency, and food safety. Using the metric mode is much more accurate.

When making bacon use the following dry-cure ratios...

Cure #1 - the ratio is 0.25% (Multiplier .0025)
Salt - the ratio is 3% (Multiplier .03)
Sugar - the ratio is 1.25% (Multiplier .0125)

Weigh the pork belly in grams, record the weight and multiply using the above Multiplier to get the exact ratio for each ingredient.

That's why I posted it. I read the prague powder label after reading the recipe. Things didn't add up. And total agree on metric scale. More Better

[LordRiffenstein]

I could be wrong but I've always understood that using Cure#1 when hot smoking bacon is used to retain a nice red color and not necessary for the curing of the meat.

That said, the ratios that MadMan posted are what I use myself.

[Kimo1]

Second on too much Prague #1. With 2.5# of belly you would only need 0.5 tsp (2.4 grams) which will give you around 125 ppm (100 being minimum and 200 maximum). Also, if the belly is an inch thick you should only need to cure 1.5 - 2.5 days. If it's 2 inches thick 5 - 7 days.

[brdbbq]

Originally Posted by Kimo1

Second on too much Prague #1. With 2.5# of belly you would only need 0.5 tsp (2.4 grams) which will give you around 125 ppm (100 being minimum and 200 maximum). Also, if the belly is an inch thick you should only need to cure 1.5 - 2.5 days. If it's 2 inches thick 5 - 7 days.

How do you it has cured enough ?

[Jrogers84]

Originally Posted by brdbbq

How do you it has cured enough ?

Day per 1/4 inch from the middle.

[HumboldtSmokeBBQ]

Wow, I seriously learned alot in 10 posts on this thread.

[airedale]

Originally Posted by LordRiffenstein

I could be wrong but I've always understood that using Cure#1 when hot smoking bacon is used to retain a nice red color and not necessary for the curing of the meat. ...

You are wrong, actually.

Originally Posted by Jrogers84

Day per 1/4 inch from the middle.

Be a little careful with that. First, it assumes that the cure is diffusing from both sides of the meat. That will not be the case if there is skin on one side.

Also, it doesn't always work. I recently had a piece of "picnic" pork that was about 2 1/2" inches thick with both sides exposed and after 11 days I still found a little uncured meat in the center. The 1/4" rule would have predicted that 5 days was adequate. I'm not sure what happened but I do know that curing the meat longer has no downside, while being in a hurry does. I typically do 7-9 days for pork bellies with both sides exposed and have never had a problem.

[IamMadMan]

Originally Posted by LordRiffenstein

I could be wrong but I've always understood that using Cure#1 when hot smoking bacon is used to retain a nice red color and not necessary for the curing of the meat.

That said, the ratios that MadMan posted are what I use myself.

I know many areas of Europe have unsmoked bacon (IE UK - Rashers, Germany - Bauchspeck, durchwachsener, Schinkenspeck) and is used for flavor in cooking.

After a recent trip to Europe, I realize your food purity laws are also something we could only wish for here in the US. It's a shame what we as American consumers have settled for. However the reason for the cure is two-fold...

1) Because of the extend time in refrigeration (7-10 days) cure #1 is used to prevent spoilage. Our store bought meats are trucked across country from processor, to warehouse, and then to store distribution, and our meat products are not as fresh as yours.

2) Because when smoking bacon, we usually smoke at a lower temperature gradually raising the smoker temperature over time to reach the finishing temperature of the bacon. The time in the smoker would allow the meat to be in the "danger zone" for 4 hours or more. I cold smoke my bacon for a minimum of 6 hours before applying heat, and many of us never exceed an IT of 125°.

.

[bonz50]

great thread!!!!! I've been wanting to do my own bacon for some time but I lack facilities and size for the process, but that is coming soon.

[brdbbq]

Originally Posted by Jrogers84

Day per 1/4 inch from the middle.

Measure vac packed or free state ? Kidding