New Member here with Bacon question

gunguy1 · June 21, 2008, 08:10:42 AM

Hi everyone. I have been reading this forum since purchasing my digital bradley 6 rack smoker back in March. I have a question regarding slab bacon. I just want to make sure that i am curing it correctly. Its my first and here is what I did.

I bought a 12.2LB of pork belly with the skin on. I rubbed 12 ounces of the Newly Weds Foods Complete Sugar Cure, which is a salt, sugar, sodium nitrite cure, that i bought from the internet (Ask the meat man). Their directions call for 1 ounce per pound of belly. I then cut the belly up in thirds and stacked them skin side down into a plastic container. They are sitting on a rack that raises them about an inch from the bottem, and put the container in the fridge. The temp of the fridge is approx. 36.

It has been two days now and I see the liquid on the bottem of the container. Should I leave the peices stacked on top of each other, on the rack? Or should i remove the rack and lay the three peaices on the bottom, so they can lay in the liquid? When and how should I overhaul? I plan on curing these for 8 days and then rinse. I am then going to let each peice soak in a apple cider/maple syrup mixture overnight and then smoke the next day.

What do you guys think? Did I do everything right or am I missing something? Thanks

Tiny Tim · June 21, 2008, 09:21:34 AM

I have not yet done bacon, but I have read that the belly should be in contact with the liquid, so it can flow into and out of the meat, completing the curing process.

Somebody else will be along shortly to verify, correct, and hopefully further explain the process.

Welcome to the board.

Mr Walleye · June 21, 2008, 10:51:55 AM

GunGuy.... Welcome to the forum!

I don't have any experience with pork belly or the particular cure your using but I have done a lot of Canadian Bacon. I usually do my curing in a ziplock bag, then in a container in case of a leak. This makes flipping it over every few days real easy. I think you do want it sitting in the liquid that is produced when dry curing. Hopefully someone will be along soon with a little more side bacon experience. The rest of your plan sounds good.

Mike

Smoking Duck · June 21, 2008, 11:56:56 AM

Welcome, gun guy.

Ditto on what the others have said. I would definitely get them into a zip lock bag and try to remove as much air as possible. I just put 6 pounds of belly into the cure yesterday and I vac sealed each 2 pound piece. This keeps them pretty airtight and also keeps them in contact with the juice.

I am not all that experienced with bacon yet (only done Canadian bacon twice and this is my first run at belly bacon), so someone with more experience should come along soon.

SD

HCT · June 21, 2008, 01:19:57 PM

When I make bacon I keep the belly flat in a zip lock or vacuum seal. I'll turn them once or twice a day as I remember too. Enjoy your belly, there's no turning back to store bought.

Habanero Smoker · June 21, 2008, 02:25:06 PM

Bacon curing is fairly forgiving if you catch errors early.

I have to agree with placing them in sealable bags, and expelling as much air as you can, and keep the bacon in contact with the liquid. If it is not necessary to have the refrigerator at 36°F, raise it to at least 38°F; 40°F would be better. A colder environment slows down the cure time.

I would suggest the next time you make bacon, cut before you apply the cure. that way you will be applying cure to all exposed surfaces of the belly.

Oh! By the way welcome to the forum.

gunguy1 · June 21, 2008, 04:07:44 PM

Well, I have decided to take each piece and vacuum seal them. I forgot to mention that after cutting the slab into three peices, I did rub cure into the cut sides, with the excess that fell off...So, there shouldnt be a problem. I will raise the temp of the fridge to 40. Thanks for all of your replies.

gunguy1 · June 24, 2008, 07:18:46 AM

Ok...its day number 5 that my bacon slabs have been curing. Here is my next dilemma. So I vacuum sealed each peice. One of the pieces didnt vacuum fully, but was sealed. So, last night, I vacuum sealed it. So, now all three are good to go. However, there does not seem to be any liquid in the bags, or maybe very little by looking at them. Is That normal? I am probably just worring to much, but I just want them to turn out good. After they are done curing...probably Saturday, is there any signs that I should look for, to make sure the curing worked? Or does everyone just assume that if it doesnt smell bad, it worked?

Thanks

Mr Walleye · June 24, 2008, 08:06:18 AM

GunGuy

To me the biggest thing I notice when the cure has done it's magic is the meat is a fair bit firmer. You don't have to open the bag, you should be able to feel it being firmer. The only other way is to cut it and have a look to see if the cure fully penetrated the meat.

I'm sure Habs will be along and comment further on this. He's our resident guru! ;)

Mike

Habanero Smoker · June 24, 2008, 02:25:37 PM

I've never tried vacuum sealing during curing, so I don't know if you can tell by feeling them unless you unseal it. I have had bellies that gave off very little liquid. In these times with refrigeration, one does not have to be too concern, as long as you handle the meat properly prior to curing. The noticeable sign of it not being fully cure is the coloration, and it not having that full bacon like flavor.

La Quinta · June 24, 2008, 04:21:42 PM

Hey Gunguy...I had the same "worry" the first time I did belly bacon...I had very little liquid come out...but lemme tell ya...it came out awesome so fear not!! I still don't know why...but...it didn't matter...the flavor was awesome!! And the color...although not anywhere near as "red" as what you buy was still ok. Friends and family want more...so...ya can't argue with that!!

Oh yeah...Welcome!! :)

gunguy1 · June 25, 2008, 09:12:55 AM

Thanks for the boost of confidence. :D I cant wait to try it. If it is half as good as others on this board have made, I will never buy bacon from the store again. I'll post some photos when its finished.

KyNola · June 25, 2008, 01:10:17 PM

Gunguy,
First of all, welcome to the forum. You are in for a treat when you taste your bacon for the first time. I made bacon the first time a while back and yesterday my wife said "I need to call Hughes(our belly supplier) and get a couple more bellies. We need bacon. My wife has NEVER volunteered to call Hughes before. The girl likes her bacon. I taught her how to trim and cure it so she is now all about it.

KyNola