Gonna make a first attempt at homemade bacon. I've checked out a few different recipes, including Meathead's, and I think his is going to be the one I go with.
my question is, any downside to the pork belly during for longer than the suggested time in the recipe?
Logistics as to when I begin the cure, and when I have a free day to smoke it may be up to a week or more.
If you are doing 3 pound chunks of pork belly, it should be 5-6 days in the cure. If you want to put the rub on and leave it for up to a week in the fridge, it will be fine. I wouldn’t leave it in the curing solution for longer than 6 days though.
Last edited by STEbbq; January 21, 2024, 12:26 PM.
It's ok to leave in the wet cure a couple extra days, it is cured, after all. Once fully cured, it won't get "more cured." But it will start to degrade in texture, and more of the flavor will leach out into the water and end up poured down the drain.
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You can go an extra 20% on the curing time. After that things can break down in the cure. (More on that in the main curing article.)
if you need more time, simply take it out of the cure and let it sit. It will be just fine. I only desalinate for about 8 hours or so. Some do say the recipe is a bit salty, so you might wanna do 24 hour.
The key here is to make the recipe as close to the directions as possible for your first run. Then play with it from there. However, one thing you do not want to do is play with concentration of the cure. Let that remain constant. You can add more sugar, syrup, spices etc. just do not deviate from the basics of what the calculator is telling you. (Other than going 20% longer)
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I have used Meathead's maple syrup bacon recipe. Be sure to get Prague No. 1 curing salt and weigh it out. Do not substitute any other curing or pickling product. Have used his calculator for pork belly, beef navel (belly), and beef brisket point. We prefer the pork to the beef, but beef is pretty good.
I think the calculator should require more time. I typically add at least 1 day. I mix up the brine in a big bowl, put hunks of meat in zipper bags upright in sink, then dip brine into each bag. No precise measuring. Turn bags every day. One hunk per bag.
Thus far have not rinsed or desalinated meat after brining. I do with pastrami, but not bacon.
Smoker is a CampChef propane SmokeVault, with wood chunks and water pan of hot water. All vents wide open. Monitor temp with a Combustion Inc wireless probe.
Dunce question: I haven't made bacon in several years, since I found Costco's applewood smoked thick cut. Still, I have a pork belly (or 2) in the garage freezer that are begging for it. I typically put the whole thing, or as much as fits, into a 2 gallon Ziploc. Is there an advantage or improvement in cutting into pieces for the brining, or is it just to make the pieces fit the bags you have?
I would refer to Step 1 of Meathead's calculator (https://amazingribs.com/tested-recip...ly/#calculator) as you do not want your eaters to ingest too much sodium nitrite. I have made the Maple/Brown Sugar and just Brown Sugar recipes at least 20 times each with the 150 ppm target and the results are terrific. Like you, I have had time conflicts and had to extend a day or so, but have always checked the cure time with the slider in the calculator. If you think you are going to have too large a gap of time between target cure date and smoking date (up to a "week or more", you write), consider instead removing the pork belly from the brine and place it, uncovered, on a wire rack on a tray in the refrigerator. (I sometimes had to recruit a family member to do this for me while away.)
My solution to reduce the frequency of the time conflicts, incidentally, was to buy *thicker* pieces of pork belly that would take more time to cure and fit better with my travel schedule. Once smoked and cooled, I would wrap in butcher paper and then plastic wrap to freeze. I found the butcher paper resulted in less frost on the bacon than when frozen with plastic wrap alone.
Good luck.
Last edited by jehlydonuts; January 22, 2024, 01:14 PM.
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