Before you smoke it and after you wash off the cure, slice a bit off and fry it up. Taste it. If it's too salty, pop the belly in water for 8-24 hours to desalinate a bit.
Today I start brining my second pork belly! Results are amazing! My wife uses the final product in vegetables and many of her Chinese dishes... so tasty! I do desalinate for 4 hours as I don’t like salty bacon. I will use Red Oak and Cherry for the smoking!
Reviving this thread. I’ve got a belly in the brine, currently on day 4. Will likely have time to smoke it Saturday. I’ve been waiting for my veggie guy, he’s got some purple Cherokee tomatoes ready. I see a monster BLT in my future!
My Dad and I had an annual spring fishin' and campin' trip for years. It started with just him and I, but over the years friends and relatives joined in. One year a farming cousin joined us. He brought meats including home cured bacon. Fearing there wasn't enough, my dad cooked two pans of bacon - one pan had the bacon my cousin brought, and the other pan had store bought bacon.
When breakfast was ready, my cousin went straight for the store bought because he very seldom got it while the rest of us dove into his bacon 'cause we very seldom had it. Great memories...
Timely post. I'm starting the cure on my first home made tomorrow using a variation on Meathead's maple using molasses and espresso coffee instead of maple syrup. I know - I can't just leave well enough alone.
Grill/Smoke/Roast = SnS Grills Kettle + SnS Deluxe Insert & Drip n' Griddle
Grill/Smoke/Roast = Hasty-Bake Gourmet Dual Finish with HB rotisserie and Grill Grates
Smoke = Weber Smokey Mountain 22.5"
Pizza = Blackstone Propane Pizza Oven (Stacy's, but she let's me use it sometimes)
Indoor Cooking = LG Studio 30" gas range
Camp Cooking = Coleman 2 burner white gas stove
Thermometer = FireBoard FBX2 with 2 ambient and 6 meat probes
Thermapen Mk IV = Light blue
Thermapen Mk IV = Black
PID Controller = Fireboard Drive + Auber 20 CFM Fan (FB gen 1 fan)
PID Controller = Fireboard Drive + Fireboard 20 CFM Fan (FB gen 2 fan)
Knives
Wusthof Classic Ikon set: 9" carving knive, 2X 8" Chef's Knife, 7" Santoku and three utility knives
Kamikoto Kuro set: 7" Santoku, 6.5" Nakiri, 5" Utility
Amazing Ribs Brazilian Steak knife set
Favorite wine = whatever is currently in the wine rack
Favorite beer = Sam Adams Boston Lager or Shiner Bock
Favorite whisky = Lagavulin Distiller's Edition 16 year old single malt
Best Cookbooks - Meathead's "The Science of Great Barbecue and Grilling", Chris Lilly's "Big Bob Gibson's BBQ Book", Aaron Franklin's "Franklin BBQ"
Cookbooks to check out - Raichlen's "Brisket Chronicles" and anything by Adam Perry Lang.
Current fanboy cookbook - "Chasing Smoke: Cooking Over Fire Around the Levant"
au4stree when I first glanced at your post, I thought you said "Bacon is under rated". But then I read more carefully and gave a sigh of relief because bacon IS undefeated!
One of the absolutely most important articles you can read on the science of curing, including why nitrites and nitrates are important and why you want to use them.
I have been thinking of smoking my own bacon and found a site that does not use nitrites, just salt, sugar, and pepper.
I know that it has to be kept frozen if you don't use nitirites (Pink salt, prague power, etc.). Wonder if anyone has tried it.
The first batch I did I used a nitrate free recipe from some random site and got away with it, the flavour was great.
At the time my eldest daughter had recently graduated Biotechnology and lectured me at length about the use of curing salt for safety.
I must have discovered AR about the same time, as I recall reading up a lot about it here saying the same thing.
Bought myself some #1 Pink salt and have used it ever since, not worth rolling the dice I reckon.
Nitrites doesn't deserve all the bad press it gets, the amount you consume is minuscule per serve of bacon, do the math.
Research Botulism and see how much you want to goad that sucker, as well as anyone else that enjoys your bacon.
I have been thinking of smoking my own bacon and found a site that does not use nitrites, just salt, sugar, and pepper.
I know that it has to be kept frozen if you don't use nitirites (Pink salt, prague power, etc.). Wonder if anyone has tried it.
Don't do it. First off, botulism. Second, botulism. Third, b... well no. But nitrites exist in regular food too. The 'uncured' stuff being sold? Has celery salts. Which have... guess. Go ahead. The amount of nitrites you use is minuscule and, frankly, if you're all about health, bacon isn't precisely a healthy food in itself.
I gotta ask: then by your statement, shoud we eat ANY home smoked, non-nitrate/nitrite meat, smoked at around 200º F? The atmosphere in a smoker has plenty of oxygen in it, but humans would not like to breathe this because of the inhaled smoke.
Am I missing something? Is bacon more risky than any other meat/cut? Is it the length of time the stuff is smoked? Is it a lack of nitrites/nitrates? The time in the smoker? The smoker temperature? A combination of all of these?
So, I'm not a health expert. Personally, I'd not eat a meat that was 'cured' for a long time without pink salt containing sodium nitrite and then smoked. It's the combination of curing for days or more and the smoking that, to my knowledge, increases the risk. If you put a rub on fresh belly then smoked it, you're fine. Same for fresh sausage. That's why there's no issue with brisket, chicken, pork butt, etc. They're not cured and then smoked, they're just rubbed, perhaps with salt, and smoked.
Last edited by rickgregory; September 17, 2020, 02:54 PM.
One of the big differences between bacon smoked to 155 and brisket smoked to 200, give or take, is .... the temperature. Once that meat has been over 160F for hours, there’s nothing left alive in it.
I picked up some sliced pork bellies at Costco some time ago, and wet-cured them for five days with a salt with 0.5% NaNO2. I will smoke them tomorrow according to Prof. Meathead’s recommendation! Most of the salts Meathead references (e.g., Prague #1) have a 6.5% nitrite content, and I’m curious about the 10-fold difference in nitrite content (both were negative for nitrate) and its effect on the cure. Does Dr. Blonder have any insight?
Grew up in Claremont New Hampshire but since I left in '70 a local butcher opened North Country Smokehouse. It has taken off over the years with a great website and now some of the local NH chains carry their products. Love their bacon and the sausages are terrific. Now I haven't tried my own on the PBC but will. I'll have to do a taste test between NCS and what I produce. If curious here is their website https://ncsmokehouse.com/
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