dry brining

[micman]

Can anyone help with this question, I used a recipe from M. Rulhman's Charcuterie book and I didn't have my glasses on and well I used 1 1/4 dry brine on my bacon instead of 1/4 like the recipe said. Will this hurt the bacon will the cure salt be to strong for human consumption.

Mick

[viper125]

5 times to much! I would say so but better wait till hab answers hes the guru on the cures. Seems like a dry rub you may be able to take it off. Is this been curing a while or you just did it or what. You also out to post the recipe so he can see the amounts and the weight of the meat.

[Habanero Smoker]

Can anyone help with this question, I used a recipe from M. Rulhman's Charcuterie book and I didn't have my glasses on and well I used 1 1/4 dry brine on my bacon instead of 1/4 like the recipe said. Will this hurt the bacon will the cure salt be to strong for human consumption.

Mick

I wouldn't call myself a guru. I still make plenty of mistakes.  :)

First what type of bacon, and how many pounds.

I'm not sure what you are referring to. Is the 1-1/4 referring to cure #1 or the brine mix, or salt, and what kind of measurement is that referring to such as cup, teaspoons, tablespoon etc. If it is the recipe for their belly bacon, the only reference in the recipe that refers to 1/4, is for 1/4 cup of kosher salt.

How long has it been curing. If you mistakenly added 5 times too much cure #1 I would rinse the cure off immediately. If it hasn't been curing long, you may be able to reapply more cure. Also if you added too much salt, the same applies.

[micman]

bacon weighed just about 8 lbs, the basic dry brine recipe is 1lb kosher salt, 13 ounces dextrose, 3 ounces pink salt. for the amount of dry brine is 1/4 cup about 50 grams to  a 3-5 lb pork belly slab. It has been sitting for 1 day. so could I rinse it of or start over with a new slab.

Mick

[micman]

Actually its been two days and I just pulled it out of the ziplock bags and well it is bright red and looks like its done is now flushing in water. Hard all the way through in most areas, think it might be pooched, not sure.

Mick

[Habanero Smoker]

I prefer their other Basic Dry Brine recipe that requires white sugar, and I use pickling salt. With that recipe it will measures the same as Morton's TQ. Though I adjusted the cure #1 to 2.5 ounces to get it closer to TQ's amount.

I see in their basic dry cure recipe that it states to use 2 ounce per 5 pounds, but nothing about volume; unless you are doing the dredging method. If you used the dredging method correctly as it is described in their book, then it shouldn't matter how much cure mix you placed in the pan. You just dredge the meat, lightly shake off the excess, and when finished dredging throw the remaining cure away.

If you applied all of it directly to the meat), you used about 2.5 times too much cure (I measured and weighed the recipe with the white sugar, 1/4 cup is about 2.40 oz; which is good to cure 4 pounds or (3 - 5 pound piece)). With the recipe that uses dextrose I believe you would need to use a larger volume to get to 2 oz, so the 2 oz per 1/4 cup may be accurate.

It's early so my math may be wrong. Let's say your cure mix weighs 2 oz per 1/4 cup. You added 10 oz (4 oz was needed); the basic dry cure is very close to .01 (1%) sodium nitrite. With my calculation if you had cured for the full time that will give you 781 ppm. That is higher than the maximum for whole muscle meat and 3.5 time more than what is recommended for bacon. You removed the cure in 2 days, so I would say you are still within safe limits.

Let it rest at least 12 hours (24 would be better) before smoking/cooking, to allow the cure to fully distribute throughout the meat. If the meat is red all the way through, it is fully cured, but I can't tell you what the ppm will be. With that much extra cure and salt, the curing time will be faster, so it is probably fully cured. If there is some grayish color to the meat in the center, it is still good to use but you will need to treat it as fresh belly.

[micman]

Habs thanks for the quick input, your advice is greatly appreciated, I will let it sit and then check it if I have any doubt I will throw out and start over.

Mick