Bagged some bellies at the local Asian Mkt

[takem01]

Starting to cure the bellies the I'm going to give to friends & family for Christmas. Really nice, meaty cuts. But they're only about 3/4 # for each cut (about 3/4-1 lb per).  Question is if this will affect cure time or not. I'm planning 6-7 days cure. Is that overdoing it or not. Can you "overcure"?

[Habanero Smoker]

Those are small cuts. I've never cures bacon, that weighted less than 4lbs.

The size and thickness does effect the cure times. 

You can over cure in a couple of ways. One is to add too much cure #1 in your cure mixture, which may add excessive nitrites to your meat. Another way is to have the correct curing formula, but cure too long. This may create a bacon that is too salty.

Are you dry curing, or wet curing? What is your curing recipe?

If you have a spare piece that you can check after 3 or 4 days, that would be good. After 3 or 4 days take a piece, take a slice of it from the middle and fry it at medium heat. If you do not see any greyish areas in the meat as it cooks, it is fully cured. If you see, greyish areas, continue to cure for a couple of more days.

[takem01]

Hey, Habs.
This is the cure I'm using.

INGREDIENTS

One 3- to 5-pound pork belly, skin removed
MAPLE RUB:
2 tablespoons dark maple syrup (Grade B or dark amber)
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon pink curing salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

I guess you'd call it wet curing, but I'm not familiar with the terminology. Made up 2 2 gallon ziplock bags. One with the narrow cuts (total of 4 lbs) with a single batch of the cure.  The second has 3 2 lb cuts, so it got a double batch of the cure because it totaled 6 lb.

Sounds like your plan is right on point. I'll test the narrow cuts after 4 days. If they check out, I'll rinse and freeze until the large cuts are cures and then thaw & smoke. Pull the narrow cuts sooner than the larger cuts (what's a good IT?.

[Habanero Smoker]

This would be classified as a dry cure, even though it is a paste. A wet cure, is a liquid brine solution. When sodium nitrate and/or nitrite is added to the solution, you may also see it referred to as a "pickle" or "pickle brine". Using a wet brine, the curing time is generally faster.

The 6lbs. bag may cure faster. Though the second Ziploc bag contains a total of 6lbs. one batch of the cure mixture would have been sufficient. In your case it is not the total weight, but the thickness and size of the individual pieces that determine the curing time. You should flip the bags over every day, and "massage" the bags each time you flip them to ensure that you redistribute the cure mixture that is making contact with all sides of each piece.

[takem01]

I'm doing the flip and massage thing.  The reason I thought it might be a wet cure is all if the liquid that's being drawn out of the meat.

[Habanero Smoker]

Looks like your bellies are curing fine.

[takem01]

Ok, so how do I attach a pic to share how the finished product looks?