Yet another bacon cure question

Habanero Smoker · November 05, 2010, 01:52:26 AM

Quote from: jiggerjams on November 04, 2010, 08:43:29 PM
Ok I have been at work a while now with the Maverick probe in the fridge for about an hour as I have been puttering around. The Maverick is holding at 39F. So It appears the temp of the fridge is good. The fridge at home was reading 37F so I have warmed it up a bit and will check the temp when I get home.

I am going to remove and rinse the bellies here at work and then it is time "to bring home the bacon!" for a taste test and a refrigerated air dry. By reading other posts it sounds like I might have the family coming down the stairs thinking it is breakfast time when I start frying the test slices. This would be a good problem to have.

JJ

The refrigerator temperature at your work is almost perfect for curing. A drop of 2 degrees to 37°F, would not make too much of a difference. Those two slabs may just be one of those that the texture will not change too much or loose little liquid. I wouldn't be surprised if both slabs came from the same hog.

Quote from: chooch on November 04, 2010, 03:37:43 PM
I just started a cure using the Hi mtn buckboard on a 4 lb slab of belly (half the belly) and used a rate of 1Tbs + 1&1/4 tsp per pound which is directly shown in the dirs. I'm wondering tho if the rind being on one side is gonna slow down the cure at all or if it was a waste to apply cure to that side. Either way the belly is of normal thickness so I'm guessing I'll be ok. The dirs state to cure for 10, turn after 5. Using a glass pan I'm holding on to the liquid which I'm thinking should be saturated with cure and when I turn it over the meat side will again contact a fair amount of cure. Gonna start the mape cure method to coincide with the 10 day cure from buckboard so I can get both slabs in the smoker at the same time, hopefully using the same temp system advised for the buckboard.

Interesting tidbit there about the meat not turning gray when fried to show adequate cure. Those are the things one usually only learns thru experience, and I'm glad I found it out beforehand ;)

I generally remove the skin prior to curing, and it is not easy. You don't have to remove the skin. The curing action does take longer through skin (and fat), than it does through muscle tissue; but you will still need to apply the cure on all sides. You want it to start curing on all sides right from the start. I like to overhaul (in this case turning the meat over) daily or every other day.

I am not recommending the latter two following, since I have only used the method of applying the cure evenly on all sides. If you search and check out a variety of recipes on the internet you will find a wide variety of recipes that use a dry cure on bacon. Some say to apply the cure equally on all sides; whether it has skin or not. Some will advise to apply it heavier on the skin side. Some will advise applying much heavier on the muscle side (for example 25% to the fat side (skin removed) and 75% to the muscle side - with the skin on 90% on the muscle side. When I have cured bacon with the skin, I apply it evenly on all sides and never had a problem.

jiggerjams · November 05, 2010, 02:22:07 AM

Great info Habs. As I am now approaching the smoking stage do you advise to circulate the racks back to front and top to bottom? I was thinking on putting the slimmer smaller pieces on the bottom with the maverick inserted and then when they are finished drop the next rack down etc. Yours or anyone elses input is appreciated.

JJ

Habanero Smoker · November 05, 2010, 01:33:02 PM

I rotate top to bottom; front to back. If there is a quite a difference in the size between the smaller ones versus the larger ones, I will place those on the bottom and just rotate front to back every 1:30 - 2:00 hours, and monitor the internal temperature on all racks, using a couple of probes and an instant read.

jiggerjams · November 05, 2010, 01:36:15 PM

Great advice. I will do my best to get pics. I am a newbie in cameras and uploads too!

jiggerjams · November 05, 2010, 02:28:32 PM

Habs just as an update the last slab I questioned never did firm up and I want it to catch the smoking cycle with the rest of them. It has the cured color, just didn't firm up. I rinsed and sampled and it tasted pretty close to the rest of them. I gave my 11 yr old son a sample and he said "It tastes like a honey flavored hot dog". I guess that is close enough. It did cook pink, not grey so that is a good sign.

I rinsed it and is now chillin' we will see what happens.

Again thank you for everything!

JJ

Habanero Smoker · November 05, 2010, 02:32:23 PM

Great! Every once in a while you will get a cut of meat that act that way. It's probably linked to how it is fed and how much exercise it gets.

jiggerjams · November 05, 2010, 04:40:37 PM

Interesting and makes sense.

jiggerjams · November 07, 2010, 10:21:45 PM

For those following the thread. Mission Complete and Successful!! I have taken pictures and they will be posted in a separate thread. Unfortunately right now the Mrs. is sleepin'. Her camera, her deal.

A big two handed cheer to those that helped me mmet my goals. CHEERS!!

JJ

Habanero Smoker · November 08, 2010, 01:19:04 AM

I'm glad everything turned out well.

chooch · November 10, 2010, 05:10:34 AM

As for my slab, I just applied the HMTN evenly on all sides per the dirs. I flipped yesterday and noticed it was firming up nicely, with the color paling up a bit. I left the skin on because it seemed quite the pita to remove and I woulda taken off some of the fat which I gotta have in my bacon! I started the brine rind side down for the first 5, then flipped Monday and noticed the firmness.

There should be a problem if I let this sit in it's cure juice for another 5 days if it's not as firm as I'd like is there?

I figure I shouldn't be adding any more cure to it now anyways. Starting the Maple Cure today.