BRADLEY SMOKER | "Taste the Great Outdoors"

Smoking Techniques => Curing => Topic started by: Chef57 on August 09, 2012, 07:50:06 PM

Title: How long to cure
Post by: Chef57 on August 09, 2012, 07:50:06 PM
I haven't used the Bradley cures before.  I have the Maple and the Honey cures right now and have used them on two of my pork belly slabs.  My question, how long do I leave the cure on?  Each piece is 2.5 lbs and vacuum sealed, though not all of the air was removed.  When I do the dry cure (salt, sugar) I leave it in the fridge for about 4-5 days and then soak the hell out of it because it is always way to salty.  I'm a Swede and love my salt but  :D ...  Thanks!
Title: Re: How long to cure
Post by: Habanero Smoker on August 10, 2012, 01:29:46 PM
I have not used any of the Bradley cures, but in their recipe they recommend one week and the belly should not be more the 2-inches thick.

You can down load their curing recipes, but note that it is 56.5 MB PDF file. The bacon recipe in on page 13.

Bradley Curing Recipes (http://www.bradleysmoker.co.uk/ftp/Bradley_Curing_Recipes.pdf)
Title: Re: How long to cure
Post by: Chef57 on August 17, 2012, 10:55:18 AM
Thanks!  I just put my bacon out to dry before smoking it.  I tried a small piece of each flavor (maple and honey) and were a tad salty but... tasted wonderful to me!  I just smoked my tried and true kosher salt cure - one piece I slathered with maple syrup and OMG they tasted good!  One thing I learned - Pecan is too strong for smoking bacon.  It left a bitter taste on the bacon.
Title: Re: How long to cure
Post by: Habanero Smoker on August 17, 2012, 12:59:52 PM
I now generally will use apple or maple, but have used pecan in the past with great results. I only use 2 hours of smoke on bacon.