My First shot at Bacon

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treacy elliott

Newbie
Original poster
Mar 30, 2016
10
10
Tried my had at bacon for the first time. Found a recipe on Food Network website for homemade bacon. I had a 3+ pound piece of belly that I cured 10 days in the following cure:

1/4 cup Kosher Salt

2 teaspspoons pink curing salt

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

2 tablespoons red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons smoked sweet paprika

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

This quantity was for 5lb of belly.

After the 10 day cure I rinsed the belly and patted it dry and then in the fridge to air dry for a day and a half. Put it in the gas smoker with apple wood chips for 21/2 hours at around 210 to 215 degrees.


 It tasted a tad salty, but I was happy how it turned out. I think I have to be a bit more aware of the cure and cure time. probably a little less cure and 7 days instead of 10 for the cure time. I'm open for suggestions.
 
" probably a little less cure and 7 days instead of 10 for the cure time." One should not adjust the amount of cure or the time in the cure. You should ALWAYS follow the directions on the package the cure comes in both for amount of cure and the time for the cure.
 
The cure recipe was for a 5 lb. belly, mine was just over 3 lbs. and called for 7-10 days curing. In your experience, is it acceptable to use a recipe and time in the process of curing that is for a larger piece of meat? Or is 2lbs. difference negligible?
 
Way too much cure. Typically you would use 1 teaspoon per 5 pounds of meat. For your 3 pound hunk of belly you should've used 3.4 grams of cure #1, 24.03 grams of salt and 13.61 grams of sugar.

It is much better to weigh everything here's a few threads you should read up on before attempting your next bacon adventure.

Everything you need to know about curing salts:

http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?736-Curing-Salts

If you don't own a good digital scale to weigh meat, cures, spices, this is the simplest way to make bacon:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/110799/pops6927s-wet-curing-brine

If you own a scale here is one of the best calculators around for curing bacon:

http://diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html
 
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