Basic Hickory Smoked Bacon

[BigJohnT]

I'm looking to do a basic hickory smoked dry cure bacon. I find all kinds of maple triple smoked peppered bacon recipes but not a basic dry cure recipe.

So Cure #1 1 tsp per 5 lbs...

What else is needed?

John

[Tenpoint5]

Can't get any more basic than this http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?542-Maple-Cured-Bacon you can drop the pure maple syrup if you don't want the flavor.

[BigJohnT]

Thanks,

So the basic recipe is kosher salt, brown sugar, cure#1?

I'm just trying to set a base line for bacon flavor to see what other things like maple bring to the party.

John

[3rensho]

I'd use 10.5g of cure #1 and 100g sea salt (values taken from Len Poli's honey cured bacon recipe sans honey and brown sugar). I never use volume measure on solids - way too inaccurate as bulk densities vary all over the place

[OU812]

Another simple dry cure is 1 Tbl Tenderquick and 1 Tbl brown sugar per pound.

[BigJohnT]

Thanks guys.

I have on hand Cure #1, Morten's Tender Quick, Butcher & Packer Maple Cure plus the salts and sugars.

I think for this first one I'll use Cure#1 and salt and smoke it with hickory to see how that comes out.

Thanks
John

[Smokin Soon]

Prices are getting a little scary on the Pure Maple Syrup. Last 2 batches I used Apple Butter instead. Did not miss the Maple at all.

[KyNola]

I think for this first one I'll use Cure#1 and salt and smoke it with hickory to see how that comes out.
Thanks
John

It's going to turn out great.  It's bacon!  HICKORY smoked bacon.

Will look forward to your pics John.

[BigJohnT]

Ok, if I can get between the rain and bring the camera inside...

John

[wyoduke]

Thanks,

So the basic recipe is kosher salt, brown sugar, cure#1?

I'm just trying to set a base line for bacon flavor to see what other things like maple bring to the party.

John

I did this last time i did bacon and i triple cold smoked it tons of flavor and way better then store bought  ;D

[Habanero Smoker]

I feel that it is better to make a large batch of Basic Dry Cure instead of making small amounts for each time you want to cure something, it stores well. Also there is less chance for error. But if you are looking to create a Basic Dry Cure calculator for your site I can provide you with the basic formula.

It's early so some of my figures may be a bit off, so review my calculations. The simple formula for a Basic Dry Cure is 2 parts salt (the amount of salt is important) and 1 part sugar. Combine the weight of the two and divide by 10 (or multiply by 10%); that is how much cure you will need. This is the formula that Ruhlman & Polcyn use in "Charcuterie"; though they round off the cure to the nearest full ounce. I've also seen recipes that use ≈11%.

So for example if you use the formula in "Charcuterie", and you start off by wanting to cure 5 pounds of meat, you will need 1 teaspoon of cure #1 which weighs .20oz. To get the amount of combined salt and sugar you need to multiply the weight of the cure by 10, this will give you 2oz; so now you know the combined weight of salt and sugar. Next you need to divide 2oz by 3; this will be ≈.67. Therefore 2 parts salt will be ≈1.34oz; and 1 part sugar will be ≈.67oz. Or multiply 2oz by .67 (2/3) which will be the amount for the salt, and subtract that from 2oz to give you the amount for the sugar. So this formula uses a scant over 2 ounces of this cure mixture per 5lbs.

The recipe that 10.5 is referring to uses twice the amount of cure for the same amount of meat. The amount of cure is increased in that recipe, because it compensates for the cure that will be suspended in the syrup that may not come into contact with the meat.

[BigJohnT]

Habs,

Thank you very much for the wealth of information on bacon. And yes when time allows I'll add a calculator page to my web site. Trying to get the roof done on my shop and squeeze in a little smoking too :)

Does it matter what kind of sugar or salt?

Thanks
John

[3rensho]

Does it matter what kind of sugar or salt?

For the salt definitely non-iodized - I use sea salt from the Camarque.  Recently Demerara sugar of just the moist brown stuff from the supermarket.

Tom 

[Habanero Smoker]

For batches that are not stored Tom's suggestions will work out great. If you need to store the mixture I prefer pickling/canning salt or pure salt and white sugar. The grain size in both are closer to the grain size of the cure #1 and they will be less likely to separate during storage.

[BigJohnT]

Thanks for the info, I have pickling salt so the next batch will be with that. I don't know how this one will come out. I guess I could take it back out and rinse it off and put some new dry cure in there is has only been in the fridge overnight.

John