Help with bacon

[tinboatrobb]

Thanks for the tips. I do not have a curing chamber. Wow, quite a wide variety of opinions on ratios. I thought 2 sugar to 1 salt was too much but you are using 1 to 1. When you say pink salt you are referring to Prague #1 not himalayn salt correct?

That is correct.

 

[wolf]

Curious, do you have a curing chamber for your salami's?

Yes i do but im only experimenting with it just made some up its all covered as I write this with some beauty white mold and slight green tinges , It seems so weird to do this old school way of meats but it intrigues me and a buddy of mine is REALLY into it, so we are doing some homemade recipe with rosemary and garlic coriander, whole peppercorn etc

 

[Rain City]

Is it not easier to have a consistent product by basing the amount of salt on the amount of meat you have? That way there's no risk of it being too salty regardless of your ratio. You also then don't need "time" the cure as accurately. Just leaver' there until you're certain its penetrated. And last aren't there maple extracts that would allow you to add maple flavor without basting or adding more expensive syrup to your brine?

I've never made bacon but I've made montreal smoked meat and in that process you rinse out the salt so no big deal. For my salmon I've now just started basing the amount of salt on the amount of fish and have found it to be completely fool proof.

 

[Brian Reiber]

Wow, something else I'm hooked on. I ended up smoking all of it today. The smoked bacon is awesome, the smoked maple bacon is even awesomer. I can't wait to do some more. Thank you everyone for your tips. This smoking and curing of fish, meat, and game is such a satisfying process to me.

Brian

 

[Brian Reiber]

Yes i do but im only experimenting with it just made some up its all covered as I write this with some beauty white mold and slight green tinges , It seems so weird to do this old school way of meats but it intrigues me and a buddy of mine is REALLY into it, so we are doing some homemade recipe with rosemary and garlic coriander, whole peppercorn etc

Looks great. I made a nice Spanish chorizo in January. I hung them in my pump house for about 3 weeks. Same deal, nice fine white penicillin formed on it. I added a little bit of cure as I'm still learning and dont want to make anyone sick. I am intrigued and want to work my way up to curing like they did in the "old country" before the days of nitrates and nitrites.

 

[fish brain]

Why do you need that calculator? It's a 2 to 1 ratio which is exactly what I did. It doesn't matter if your base measure is grams, ounces, cups, lbs, dump truck loads etc. Just 2 to 1. As for the cure I measure that out based on the lbs of meat that I'm curing. It sounds like we are using the same proportions. I added maple syrup in addition to my 2 to 1.

Yes it's 2:1 but measured according to the weight of each piece of meat. In my opinion a dry rub is not a brine and if you want every piece to be the same you have to use the same ratio across the board. So each belly or portion will have a different weight if ingredients rubbed into it. Making a bulk batch and rubbing everyting down will no doubt work, but it won't all taste the same.

 

[wolf]

Making a bulk batch and rubbing everyting down will no doubt work, but it won't all taste the same.

I beg to differ as I have a HUGE pan I mix my brown sugar ,salt, cure into it by hand thoroughly mixing my dry brine I make big batches.
I sometimes do 16 bellies at at time at 20 lb avg , and they always turn out one thing you have to remember is mix ingredients thoroughly, when you think its enough "it isnt" do more! think of it like bread when you knead it more is better. and make sure you measure properly . I have to tweek my brine about 3 times (over 5 years) just to make it find that perfect balance. Learn from my failures lol im more then willing to help anyone.

 

[getbent]

Thanks for the tips. I do not have a curing chamber. Wow, quite a wide variety of opinions on ratios. I thought 2 sugar to 1 salt was too much but you are using 1 to 1. When you say pink salt you are referring to Prague #1 not himalayn salt correct?

Yes Prague #1

 

[fish brain]

I beg to differ as I have a HUGE pan I mix my brown sugar ,salt, cure into it by hand thoroughly mixing my dry brine I make big batches.
I sometimes do 16 bellies at at time at 20 lb avg , and they always turn out one thing you have to remember is mix ingredients thoroughly, when you think its enough "it isnt" do more! think of it like bread when you knead it more is better. and make sure you measure properly . I have to tweek my brine about 3 times (over 5 years) just to make it find that perfect balance. Learn from my failures lol im more then willing to help anyone.

That's good to know, thank you for sharing. obviously you are getting the right amount of cure, not too much or too little per volume of meat? Other than consistency, this is what I worry about the most.

 

[wolf]

When I was working at making TONS of sausages( at a company) I thought Id do a test I grabbed some meat patty mix about the size of a burger patty and left it in fridge over night it browned up a bit so did the same the next day but put a VERY tiny amount of cure on it like a few grains just that lil bit made a red spot over night about the size of a quarter, so made me think you dont need much to cure some meat and it defiantly spread...YEAH I know too much thinking but when I do stuff I want to know all the ins and outs as much as possible..

So when you do bacon and it sits for 8 to 12 days im sure that stuff is doing its thing as EVEN thru that thick of meat it cures and ive never seen any brown what so ever on my bacon...look at how thick this piece was and anyone who knows me i have big hands

 

[fish brain]

When I was working at making TONS of sausages( at a company) I thought Id do a test I grabbed some meat patty mix about the size of a burger patty and left it in fridge over night it browned up a bit so did the same the next day but put a VERY tiny amount of cure on it like a few grains just that lil bit made a red spot over night about the size of a quarter, so made me think you dont need much to cure some meat and it defiantly spread...YEAH I know too much thinking but when I do stuff I want to know all the ins and outs as much as possible..

So when you do bacon and it sits for 8 to 12 days im sure that stuff is doing its thing as EVEN thru that thick of meat it cures and ive never seen any brown what so ever on my bacon...look at how thick this piece was and anyone who knows me i have big hands

I try to learn something new every day, and this is something I learned today.
I worry a lot about the cure, maybe I dont need to as much.
Thank you

 

[wolf]

No problem if you really think about it that HUGE thick bacon I did was about 3 inchs thick if not more and it defiantly made its was to the center core , granted it had brine on both side over a week but still amazing stuff, thats why you need so very little of it . I have a buddy who has gout really bad and when it eats normal store bought crap it flairs up.. but when he has my stuff he is ok doesnt need to take his meds etc to counter it ..not saying go beyond the recommendations, alot of our everyday foods have alot of natural nitrates in them. You would be surprised which foods have lots. Celery being one thats very high

 

[Sea Chaser]

Talking to a butcher about bacon the other day he says to soak the bacon in water for a day after the 8-12 day brine to cut the saltiness down. You guys do that?

 

[Brian Reiber]

Talking to a butcher about bacon the other day he says to soak the bacon in water for a day after the 8-12 day brine to cut the saltiness down. You guys do that?

I didnt. Just a good rinse. It wasnt too salty at all. I only brined them for 5 days though.

I know what your referring to though. I salt steaks often and if you dont really rinse them they can be pretty salty.

 

[wolf]

Talking to a butcher about bacon the other day he says to soak the bacon in water for a day after the 8-12 day brine to cut the saltiness down. You guys do that?

Dont really need to if you have already reduced the salt if its been marinating for 12 days that salt is gonna be prevalent no matter what you do, you can always add salt later cant take it out..

 

[tinboatrobb]

One batch we did was too salty, all we did was soak the slices in cold water for 10 mins before cooking. That made a huge difference in saltiness. After that we use way less salt.

 

[ILHG]

Why do you need that calculator? It's a 2 to 1 ratio which is exactly what I did. It doesn't matter if your base measure is grams, ounces, cups, lbs, dump truck loads etc. Just 2 to 1. As for the cure I measure that out based on the lbs of meat that I'm curing. It sounds like we are using the same proportions. I added maple syrup in addition to my 2 to 1.

Your bacon will be perfect every time. You cant over/under on anything because it's done by weight. The ingredients will be a percentage of meat weight. Only way to do it