Pork Belly for Bacon

[Lordkifar]

Hello folks, I am about to purchase a couple of pieces of pork bellies and cure them to make bacon....Just had a couple of questions:

Is it approximately a day of curing time per pound?

Also, I had a thread on here where the poster had cured the pork belly but it turned out to be too salty.....most threads I read on here and other places simply rinse and smoke. Should I let it soak first? If so for how long?

Thanks.

 

[JDM46]

I divide my pork bellies into thirds. (Average weight of about 4 pounds each).
Apply my dry rub.Seal in a zip lock bag and into the frig for 10 days. Flipping the bags everyday. Day 10,remover from bag and rinse well. At this point i slice off a piece and fry it up for a (is it too salty test). If it is too salty, I soak it in cold water for 30 minutes. Test again and then smoke.

 

[Lordkifar]

Thanks for the info...so it is more like 2days/pound...good to know.

Excellent tip on how to test the saltiness....will definitely do that.

 

[MisterChrister]

1/4" per day cure penetration plus 2 days. Keep in mind it's penetrating from both sides. So a 2" thick slab needs 6 days minimum. It's curing 1/4" per day from both sides, so the cure reaches the middle by the 4th day; plus add your 2 days base. Longer is OK, too. I've gone up to 2 weeks when I got too busy to smoke it.

If you do a dry cure rub, do everything by weight for what's called an "equilibrium cure". If you measure correctly, you literally CAN'T over salt or under cure. It's the way to go, in my opinion. I've settled on:

2.5% of the meat weight in salt (flexible between 2%-3% to your taste)
1.25% of the meat weight in brown or raw sugar (flexible between (0.75%-1.5%)
0.25% of the meat weight in cure #1 a.k.a. Prague Powder, etc. This measurement is ABSOLUTELY inflexible. This is one-fourth of 1% of the meat weight. This gives you the recommended USDA/FSIS 156ppm concentration.

Cure for the appropriate time, give a quick rinse and pat dry (NO soak needed, ever!), then chill on a rack in your frig for 6-12 hours to form the dry pellicle, then smoke. Easy peasy, good to go!

 

[Fatback Joe]

What he said ^^^^

EQ cure is the way to go.

 

[Lordkifar]

1/4" per day cure penetration plus 2 days. Keep in mind it's penetrating from both sides. So a 2" thick slab needs 6 days minimum. It's curing 1/4" per day from both sides, so the cure reaches the middle by the 4th day; plus add your 2 days base. Longer is OK, too. I've gone up to 2 weeks when I got too busy to smoke it.

If you do a dry cure rub, do everything by weight for what's called an "equilibrium cure". If you measure correctly, you literally CAN'T over salt or under cure. It's the way to go, in my opinion. I've settled on:

2.5% of the meat weight in salt (flexible between 2%-3% to your taste)
1.25% of the meat weight in brown or raw sugar (flexible between (0.75%-1.5%)
0.25% of the meat weight in cure #1 a.k.a. Prague Powder, etc. This measurement is ABSOLUTELY inflexible. This is one-fourth of 1% of the meat weight. This gives you the recommended USDA/FSIS 156ppm concentration.

Cure for the appropriate time, give a quick rinse and pat dry (NO soak needed, ever!), then chill on a rack in your frig for 6-12 hours to form the dry pellicle, then smoke. Easy peasy, good to go!

Wow...thanks for that...very informative. I was planning to follow this guide but if i choose to add 1/3 cup maple syrup and/or 1/3 cup whiskey, do the numbers change?

 

[MisterChrister]

Wow...thanks for that...very informative. I was planning to follow this guide but if i choose to add 1/3 cup maple syrup and/or 1/3 cup whiskey, do the numbers change?

Anything that gets added needs to have the weight accounted for in the cure calculations. Sometimes I add 1/4c water just to help the dissolving action start, then I factor in the water weight and increase the cure accordingly.

To be honest, I'm not a fan of adding much during the curing stage; not much of the extras seem to truly penetrate the meat. I'll sometimes paint some maple syrup on towards the very end of the smoke, so as not to inhibit smoke absorption into the meat, this is also when I add coarse black pepper, right at the end.

 

[Norm]

Chris is spot on in how to do bacon, pretty much how I do mine too. I've tried the add this or that while curing and can't tell any difference.

 

[Lordkifar]

Thanks folks....that is great info!

I guess I figured it would make it like what i buy in stores but probably best to just add it during the smoking phase as you suggested.

 

[RolandJT]

Agree with everyone on the dry cure and the ratios.

BTW--the maple syrup is the sugar if you use it. Don't use 1.25% sugar and also add maple syrup.

 

[airedale]

... 0.25% of the meat weight in cure #1 a.k.a. Prague Powder, etc. This measurement is ABSOLUTELY inflexible. This is one-fourth of 1% of the meat weight. This gives you the recommended USDA/FSIS 156ppm concentration. ...

Yes. Equilibrium cure is The Way To Go.

Not mentioned yet: The required quantity of cure is TINY. I have found that the best way to measure it is to use my powder scale, but there are also small, sensitive, digital scales available on eBay that I have seen recommended. Your regular kitchen scale will not handle this tiny amount.

RE "no soak" I have found that cooking a small piece and soaking if necessary to make the belly less salty is a good thing to plan. If you do't need to soak, fine. But sometimes I do.

 

[Lordkifar]

Luckily i have a kick butt kitchen scale....otherwise what kind of chemist would i be :-D

 

[rob g]

I used the Morton's Tender Quick for my dry rub. The cure, salt and sugar are already mixed to the correct proportions. You just need to weigh the meat and add 1 tablespoon (30g) of TQ per lb of meat. I add a bit of brown sugar or a splash of Maple syrup to the bag before leaving it for 10 days.

This was yesterday's finish on 1 belly. 8 hours of smoke with apple pellets in an amazn tray. I tried to cold smoke but it ended up as a warm smoke between 95F and 115F.

 

[MisterChrister]

Beautiful color, Rob! I love my A-Maze-N AMNPS pellet tray, too!

 

[Lordkifar]

Looking great Rob!
Just put mine to cure.....now i wait.....i did however butcher one side of one slab and removed too much fat....rookie mistake....but should be still ok

 

[IamMadMan]

For Dry Cure Only....

Curing time will vary according to your meat product. Safe dry curing times are calculated according to the thickest part of your meat. Standard curing time is one day for every 1/4" of meat measured from the center. So a two inch thick pork belly would measure one inch from the center, thus taking four full days to cure, not including the day you start the process.

The only exception to this is if you are using pork belly with the skin still attached. The cure does not easily penetrate the skin, so you have to calculate the curing time based on the total thickness of the meat. So if you had a two inch thick belly with the skin on, it would take eight day to cure the pork belly for bacon.

Place the pork belly in a fridge that has the temperature set to keep the meat in the range 34 -39 degrees F. Flip the bag every day during the cure time. You will notice when you flip the bag for the first time that there may now be liquid in the bag, which indicates that the curing process is underway. Do not drain the liquid from the bag, this liquid is important to the process.

 

[defib]

I use the Dry rub recipe from the charcuterie book, then add garlic powder, black pepper and maple syrup. Make a paste and coat the meat. I cure for 10 days minimum. I don't cold smoke. I also cut the meat and fry up a piece to check salty content and flavor. I haven't had to soak yet. But have soaked my homemade corned beef brisket before smoking for pastrami.

 

[Norm]

I'm running low myself so after the 1st of September I'll order some Berkshire bellies from my local supplier.

Beautiful job on the bellies Rob!