Makin' Bacon

Nice looking bacon there Que'n RN. Looks pretty lean. Care to share your technique?

Very nice looking result!

Started with a 10 pound pork belly from the butcher.
Dry brine 1 pound kosher salt, 8 oz sugar, 10 teaspoons pink salt.
cut pork belly in half, covered each with enough dry brine to cover
one slab I left as is, the other I added 1/2 cup real maple syrup for added flavor. Placed in 2 1/2 gal ZipLock bags and let set in the fridge for 6 days. Turning bags over each day.

Smoked at 160 degrees in SMO45 to 140 degrees (4 hours) with 4 oz hickory.

Pulled and rested 1/2 hour.

Foiled and placed in fridge overnight.

sliced/fried/ and ENJOYED the next morning.

Yielded just over 7 1/2 pounds of bacon.

Took some samples to work this morning. What a great hit.
Everybody loves bacon! Still got plenty for the freezer and
lots'o BLTs!

Thank you Q. I think I'll give this a try in the near future.

Pags- let me know how yours turn out.

Leonard

looks really nice. exactly what do you mean by 'pink salt' as there are a number of alternatives.

Bought it from a local spice shop as "curing salt"
That's all that was on the label.

quote:

Originally posted by Que'n RN:
Bought it from a local spice shop as "curing salt"
That's all that was on the label.

does the label specify the contents? gotta be carefull as there is a big difference between Tender Quick and prague powder.

Que'n RN - That's so beautiful looking bacon there. Looks like you have a good source for bellies

One thing I question is the amount of pink salt in the cure.

quote:

Originally posted by Que'n RN:
Dry brine 1 pound kosher salt, 8 oz sugar, 10 teaspoons pink salt.

10 teaspoons of pink salt is equivalent to 2 ounces. The standard rule of thumb for pink salt usage is 1 ounce per 25 pounds of meat. The cure formula you used looks like the "Basic Dry Cure" from the book "Charcuterie" written by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn. Their formulation has been questioned and criticized by many. Was it?

quote:

Originally posted by TN Q:
looks really nice. exactly what do you mean by 'pink salt' as there are a number of alternatives.

TN Q - Pink curing salt is a blend of sodium nitrite (6.25%) and sodium chloride (93.75%). It goes under a variety of names such as Prague Powder #1, Insta-Cure, DC Curing Salt, etc. As I understand it, the curing salt was originally tinted pink so that people would not mistake it for table salt.

I do understand about curing salts; #1 with nitrite for short cures to include cooking, smoking, and #2 with nitrate for long dry cures. Unfortunately many do confuse these with Tender Quick as well. I asked mostly because 10 tsp of #1 is quite a large amount for only 10 lbs of meat, as the recommended ratio is 1 level tsp for each 5 lbs of meat.

I only mention this because excessive nitite may be considered toxic.

quote:

Originally posted by TN Q:
I do understand about curing salts; #1 with nitrite for short cures to include cooking, smoking, and #2 with nitrate for long dry cures. Unfortunately many do confuse these with Tender Quick as well. I asked mostly because 10 tsp of #1 is quite a large amount for only 10 lbs of meat, as the recommended ratio is 1 level tsp for each 5 lbs of meat.

I only mention this because excessive nitite may be considered toxic.

You're right in that many confuse the usage of Tender Quick with the traditional curing salts, which in the wrong hands might be a little dangerous.

I haven't used Tender Quick for many years, but as I recall it was a pre-mix blend of salt, sugar, and both sodium nitrite and nitrate.

I use the same ratio as you - 1 tsp per 5 lbs. of meat.

WOW- aparently I don't know what I'm dealing with. Thanks to all for your warnings. I got the original recipe from an online search.

I'll check my Charcuterie book for the basic rub- but that sounds right. Wasn't aware there was criticism on the amount of pink salt being used.

I'll check with my spice shop for the original container- they dish it out of a larger container and sell you what you need.

I'll repost when I find out.

PLEASE REPLY IF I NEED TO CHANGE ANYTHING!!!

My original recipe was from http://makeprojects.com/Project/Homemade-Bacon/218/1

I checked Ruhlman/Polcyn- Charcuterie- their recipe is exactly the same.

I checkedwith my supplyer for pink salt and they told me it's sodium nitrite 6.25%.

I'm all ears guys!

Leonard

you can check out the report in the link in my post above. Check the toxicity section where it mentions how much is toxic. Personally when I use #1 cure I follow the recommended amount on the bag which retales to the 1 level tsp per 5 lbs of meat. It's worked for me so far; no need to temp mother nature by using larger quantities.