no juices coming from bacon??

[goosegodz]

Hey guys,

I'm on my 3rd bacon smoke and wanted to try something different. I picked up a 12 LBS belly and after a little trimming and cleaning up i go 2 5 lbs pieces. Now the 1st I tried 10's maple recipe. Juices are flowing and looking great!! For the other piece i mixed up a batch of the cure from the recipe site for a basic cure(used 1TBS per lb once mixed)and added some tex-mex kinda ingredients. I have no juices at all from this piece of belly. Fridge is constant 40, I'm at a loss,

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Todd

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi goosegodz,

Welcome to the forum.

Some times I come across a piece of meat that releases a small amount of juices. So that could be one of the issues.

A little more information would be helpful.

1- Does this belly have a lot more fat then the other two times you have cured bacon?

2- How many days has it been curing?

3- When you mixed the Basic Cure did you follow the directions exactly as stated, or did you substitute kosher salt for the pickling salt?

[goosegodz]

The belly is more meat than fat. Today is day 6 of the curing process and i followed the directions for the basic cure to a T. It has started to firm up but no where near the firmness of the maple bacon curing beside it.

This smoking thing is very addictive and thankfully my wife and children love it!! I should start posting pics since i smoke something different once a week...

Thanks for your help,
Todd

[Habanero Smoker]

Some times a piece does not respond the way it is expected to. It's the salt that pulls the juices out of the meat, so lack of liquid is not always a sign that it is not curing; it could just be the cut that is being cured. If it still doesn't firm up by day seven I would give it an additional two days, but take the other one out of the cure. They can still be smoked at the same time; just tightly wrap the maple cured bacon and store in the refrigerator until ready to smoke with the other piece. After smoking/cooking you find that the bacon did not cure all the way through, then treat it as fresh pork.