bacon...brine...and when it's ready

[Cheech]

Last week I put six half-bellies in the fridge to brine.  I use Rhulmans book and recipe for bacon.  The concept is to flip them every two days so that they are in constant contact with the liquid, then after 5 to 7 days (when they are stiff) they are ready for smoking.

Some of these bellies produced some liquid, and some produced none.  Some are stiff after 6 days and some are as soft as can be.  They all had the exact same brining procedure done on them.

Is it possible for a belly to be cured but still squishy to the touch?

[Habanero Smoker]

It is not unusually for some bellies to produce more liquid than others, and some produce very little liquid. The fattier the bacon, the less firm it will feel, but after six days it shouldn't feel squishy. That is in this case squishy would mean that it still has the firmness of fresh belly.

You can continue to cure that piece or pieces that have not firmed up for a couple of days. If it still feels soft, even in a few places, the only way to determine if has fully cure would be to take a test slice out of the thickest area, and fry it. If the center of the slice turns greyish during cooking it is not fully cure, and it should be treated as fresh belly.

A couple of questions answered would be useful. Did you make a separate batch for each section of belly you cured? If not how did you determine how much cure mixture to place on each piece? Did you stack them while they were curing, and if stacked, did you rotate their position every two days? Was the "squishy" piece in a colder part of the refrigerator? (that will slow down the curing process). Is the squishy piece fattier than the other cuts?

[Cheech]

I bought 6 half-bellies.  Each one was put into it's own zip lock bag with the amount of cure called for in Rhulmans recipe...just going by memory I think it was a 1/4 cup.

They were then stacked in three columns of 2 each.  They were flipped over every two day.  I'm not certain if the top and bottom locations were switched along the way.  The fridge is really cold too.

I thought about adding just a bit of water to the ones that lack liquid...my thinking is that this would ensure the "brine" was in contact with all of the meat.

[iceman]

I bought 6 half-bellies.  Each one was put into it's own zip lock bag with the amount of cure called for in Rhulmans recipe...just going by memory I think it was a 1/4 cup.
They were then stacked in three columns of 2 each.  They were flipped over every two day.  I'm not certain if the top and bottom locations were switched along the way.  The fridge is really cold too.

I thought about adding just a bit of water to the ones that lack liquid...my thinking is that this would ensure the "brine" was in contact with all of the meat.

The colder the fridge temp the longer it takes to cure. If it's to cold the curing process will just about stop.

[Cheech]

As I look at the situation I see that i have 5 pieces that are spot on...and one piece that looks like it's made no progress at all. 

I'm starting to wonder if maybe i got distracted in my process and forgot to add the curing salts to that particular bag.  I loaded the other stuff in there...ie garlic, black pepper etc.  But I'm really wondering if I forgot the salts.  I mean it feels just like you'd expect a plain raw belly to feel...floppy. 

I took a slice off the end and it's pink/red on the inside.  I dunno.  I added two tablespoons of curing salt and threw it back in the fridge to see if it makes a difference over the next few days.

I'm going to throw the 5 good ones on the smoker tomorrow and keep an eye on the last one.

[Grouperman941]

I think you should just smoke the oddball and see what happens. They don't always look and feel like they should.

[KyNola]

Arbitrarily throwing curing salt on something is not a good idea, especially 2 tablespoons.

Habs gave you sound advice about taking a slice of the belly in question and frying it to see what color it turned.  Gray means it is not completely cured.

[Cheech]

After I fried the two slices they weren't gray...and weren't red.  It was just kind of white.  Not sure what that means.  I guess if it's not the color of bacon then it's not cured?  And it wasn't the color of bacon.

[Grouperman941]

Arbitrarily throwing curing salt on something is not a good idea, especially 2 tablespoons.

Ack. I missed that part. That piece of bacon might be doomed.

[Cheech]

OK...tell me if this sounds like a decent plan.  The "mystery" slab looks and feels like an uncured piece of belly.  The color after cooking test was inconclusive to my admittedly untrained eye...though I lean toward uncured because the slices didn't look like any bacon I've ever made. 

I put two tbs of salts on it a few hours ago (I had read on another website that this is an acceptable practice if your belly hadn't firmed up after a week).

After having that small amount of salt on it the slab has put off more liquid in the past few hours than in the past 7 days.  This looks to me like another clue that this thing went uncured.

One option is that I can throw the belly out and just chalk it up to not paying attention and make a note to do better next time.  Or, I can add the correct amount of cure and see if it actually firms up over the next 5 days or so.

If it firms up it would seem to me to indicate that it never had any curing salts on it at the start.

If it stays limp I'll just throw it out as that would seem to indicate that this particular piece of meat is just one that will never firm up.

It seems like a good plan from where I'm sitting, but I'm still pretty new to making bacon.  This is only my third or fourth batch...and it's my first time to have to trouble shoot something like this.

What do y'all think?

[Habanero Smoker]

Uncooked meat, whether it is fresh or cured will look red when you slice into it. You did not take the slice from the area I suggested, which is through the middle of the thickest part. Taking it from the end does not give you a good indication if it is completely cured. The end areas cure faster then the thickest area.

Your posts have confused to me; as to whether you are adding an additional two tablespoons of salt, or cure #1, or a combination of both. Adding more salt will firm up the bacon, because it is the salt that has more to do with firming up the meat than the sodium nitrite. But that doesn't address whether or not you added a cure or enough cure at the beginning. So I would still treat it as uncured, and cook it as I would a fresh belly.

If you are not sure how much or if any cure was added at the beginning, how do you determine what is the correct amount to add now? Just adding more curing salt (especially two tablespoons), when you don't know how much or if any you added to begin with is not a safe thing to do. If you added two extra tablespoons of cure #1, you should rinse it off right away. I would not throw it out the belly, but treat it as fresh pork belly, and search the internet for some fresh pork belly recipes, and there are a lot of them out there. I have cooked a few fresh bellies, and love it; especially the Asian style recipes. Since it has been already brined to some extent, if you use a fresh pork belly recipe, you should reduce the salt that the recipe calls for.

[Cheech]

Uncooked meat, whether it is fresh or cured will look red when you slice into it. You did not take the slice from the area I suggested, which is through the middle of the thickest part. Taking it from the end does not give you a good indication if it is completely cured. The end areas cure faster then the thickest area.

Your posts have confused to me; as to whether you are adding an additional two tablespoons of salt, or cure #1,

So I would still treat it as uncured, and cook it as I would a fresh belly.

Sorry for the confusion...when I said I added more salt I was referring to the "basic dry cure" from the recipe.  I got loose with my terminology.  I'd never just start throwing pink salt on something. 

I'll wither go the fresh belly route or toss it.  Too many issues at this point.  It's only $12 worth of belly. 

[Habanero Smoker]

I have made Jamie Oliver's Pork Belly Roast a few times and like it.

You can follow the recipe as is, but I like to add some smoke to mine. I first score the skin prior to marinating. After marinating I pat off excess marinade,  I apply the smoke to the pork belly at 180°F - 200°F, after smoking I basically follow the cooking instructions in the recipe linked above.  I  transfer to 400°F - 425°F oven to crisp the skin. Because the belly is partially cooked, when you see the skin start to bubble and turn brown, turn the oven down to 325°F. After turning down the oven temperature it does not take another 1.5 hours, so you will need to start checking after about 45 minutes sometimes sooner. I also add his seasoning of fennel seeds and sea or kosher salt as a rub prior to smoking. I coarsely grind the fennel seeds.

[Cheech]

thanks!