First Bacon and I'm waiting on cure

[duffygould]

Howdy Folks,
So I'm living in Italy and I just picked up a belly yesterday from the local butcher and then proceeded to look at the local grocery stores as well as restaurant supply stores for some cure salts, #1 or anything. I didn't find anything. So I ordered something on Amazon.it but it won't get delivered until Mar 14th-18th. So my question is: Will the belly be okay to just hang in the fridge until then? Or do I need to put it in the freezer until I can get the cure on it? And lastly, would it be better to do a salt/sugar cure for the time being in the fridge until I can get the cure in the mail? Thanks for any info you can help with!

 

[pops6927]

You can put it in the freezer overnight to get a "hard chill" on it and remove it and put it into the refrigerator until your cure comes to extend it's shelf life!

 

[tx smoker]

What Pops said is spot on...as is pretty much everything he says Another question would be is the belly cryovaced or just wrapped in butcher paper? If it's in a cryovac package and sealed, you should be fine with it in the fridge. If just wrapped in paper, you'll probably want to at least par freeze it for a while as Pops said. I'm no expert in this area but my first thought would be to NOT start curing with salt and sugar before the Cure #1 arrives. If I had to guess you're probably best off to do all of the cure at the same time.

Robert

 

[duffygould]

Thanks, Pop6927 and tx smoker,
I threw her in the freezer last night to get it out of the garage freezer. It's not in a vacuum pack so I was starting to get worried about it. Anyways I've got some stuff on the way now but do either of you recommend any products for curing that I can get from Amazon.com for future cures? Thanks again for helping me out!

 

[duffygould]

Just to update my process thus far.
I was able to get some cure from the Amazon.it locally here and did the measurements and mixing from the bacon calculators. I'm not sure how it'll turn out in the end since the stuff I got isn't sold with any English directions any translatable directions either. I have two batches going just in case one method works out better than another. But here are a few pics for the process thus far.

Belly all cut and trimmed up.

Split up and ready for the weigh-in.

On the scale to get the cure measurements right.

Cure mixed and applied into each ziplock bag.

Today, 9 days later I rinsed them off, dried them off and laid them out on the rack to put back into the fridge till tomorrow when I'll cold smoke them.

Test Fry went deliciously well! Had the pan a little hot so I burnt them up but man that was some amazing overcooked bacon! I can't wait to try it after smoking it too.

Here's a second batch I started last night that has the german cure and sugar added only. No salt mixed in. So this has more of the cure compared to the first batch. I think this cure is more like a comparison to MTQ so I went with a 1TBLS per 1LBS of meat and Roughly 2 TLBS of sugar per LBS as well. We'll see how that goes as well.

 

[Murray]

Your pictures didn’t show up, at least on my end. Get your adding pictures to the forum sorted out and post a picture of the cure you purchased, including the directions. Somebody on this form might be able to translate or recognize the label and be able to help

 

[tx smoker]

No pics here either

Robert

 

[chef jimmyj]

Prague Powder, Cure #1, Pink Cure, is pretty universally the same, 6.25% Nitrite. There are some European Blends that have a little less Nitrite but, that isn't something you are likely to find in the States. I'm not seeing Pics either...JJ

 

[tx smoker]

Prague Powder, Cure #1, Pink Cure, is pretty universally the same,

This is all very true, but DO NOT get Cure #1 confused with Cure #2. Not sure what the science is behind it but they are totally different animals, both are pink, and both look almost identical. Heck, I've even seen a couple people get confused over "pink salt" and use pink Himalayan sea salt thinking it was cure. Yep, it can get a bit confusing till you learn the differences.

Robert

 

[duffygould]

Ok thanks for the heads up on the pics. I had insert links from Google Photos but I guess that doesn't work so I've edited the post above and insert files for the pictures. Please let me know how that one works now. Here is the cure that I got:

Today I went ahead and seasoned up the belly and fired up the AMAZN in my UDS.

 

[GATOR240]

Very nice job on your first batch of bacon! It is well worth making it yourself as you will find out.

 

[chef jimmyj]

Anyone read German? From what I am seeing this is 0.4%-0.5% Sodium Nitrite...A long way off from Cure #1's 6.25. It would be necessary to follow the Package Directions and NOT go by our .25%by weight.
It would not be a Safety issue to use this in our amounts, WITH BACON AND BACON ONLY, but there could be a quality issue. The amount of Cure may not be sufficient to give that Pink Color to the center...JJ

 

[Murray]

I was playing around with a german to english translator Nattriumitrit translates to Sodium Nitrite, no translation for Siedesaiz and Trennmitte translates to center of separation .