Good morning all,
I am looking for some advice on making Bacon for retail sale in a deli operation. The deli is under the guide lines of the USDA and located on Long Island, New York. I am dry curing the bellies and wanted to know if anyone else on the boards is doing the same thing and would like to share some thoughts and or processes they might have. I also have some questions you may be able to help with.
1. I cured a batch of bacon today and the color was not the typical grayish. It appeared that some of the dry curing agent ( Mortons sugar Cure) may not have permeated through out. In other words it had some raw meat looking spots on the bellie. ( 14 days of curing) This happened because I placed 2 pieces of bellied on top of each other in the same bag during the process. Should I be concerned about this or should I cook to 160* opposed to the normal 145* to be safe?
2. In the dry curing process can I hang the bellies in the walk in fridge( after applying dry cure) opposed to putting them in bags and turning every day?
Your advice and opinions are appreciated on this subject.
Thank you and regards,
Fred
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