Hi all! Have a couple questions regarding a batch of bacon (my first!) I've got curing. Lurked in the SMF a bit over the past 5 or 6 years, but figure now was a good to join. This is my first post.
Am in the early days of my first bacon cure. Have a copy of Marianski's book and followed his recipe for dry cured bacon using 3% salt. Bought a 13 pound belly (skinned), and cut it into 3 slabs based on space constraints. Weighed each slab, proportioned cure mixes for each slab, and applied about half of the cure to each slab. Have each slab in a 2 gallon ziplock with most of the air evacuated, and they have been residing in my bacon crisping drawer in the refrigerator since Sunday evening. I have a couple questions I hope someone can answer for me:
In looking at the bacon wiki on this site, I see a 3 part application of cure at 3 or 4 day intervals is standard. I apparently missed that part in Marianski's book, and applied 1/2 the cure mixture initially. Was planning on applying the second half of the cure mixture in 5 or 6 days. Should I do this earlier, or delay it a day or 2?
I used kosher salt in my cure mixture (I have an electronic scale and weighed everything to 0.1 gram accuracy). Noticed the kosher salt is much coarser than the #1 cure, and had some concerns about the cure being uniformly distributed throughout the mixture. Is this typically an issue, or should I just crack a beer and dream about the 13 pounds of bacon that is soon grace my presence?
Thanks in advance!
Mike in Missouri
PS: Don't forget - this Saturday August 30th is International Bacon Day!
Am in the early days of my first bacon cure. Have a copy of Marianski's book and followed his recipe for dry cured bacon using 3% salt. Bought a 13 pound belly (skinned), and cut it into 3 slabs based on space constraints. Weighed each slab, proportioned cure mixes for each slab, and applied about half of the cure to each slab. Have each slab in a 2 gallon ziplock with most of the air evacuated, and they have been residing in my bacon crisping drawer in the refrigerator since Sunday evening. I have a couple questions I hope someone can answer for me:
In looking at the bacon wiki on this site, I see a 3 part application of cure at 3 or 4 day intervals is standard. I apparently missed that part in Marianski's book, and applied 1/2 the cure mixture initially. Was planning on applying the second half of the cure mixture in 5 or 6 days. Should I do this earlier, or delay it a day or 2?
I used kosher salt in my cure mixture (I have an electronic scale and weighed everything to 0.1 gram accuracy). Noticed the kosher salt is much coarser than the #1 cure, and had some concerns about the cure being uniformly distributed throughout the mixture. Is this typically an issue, or should I just crack a beer and dream about the 13 pounds of bacon that is soon grace my presence?
Thanks in advance!
Mike in Missouri
PS: Don't forget - this Saturday August 30th is International Bacon Day!