# First bacon cure and cold smoke



## TheReluctantCraftstronaut (Jan 13, 2019)

I posted this in the "pork" subforum before realizing this board was here. I didn't have any luck there, so I'm reposting. 

I have just finished curing and cold smoking bacon for the first time. Honestly just nervous about food safety with my cure. Does my process sound alright? 

Had two pieces of fresh belly, about 1.5 lbs each. Only about 3/4 to 1 inch thick at the thickest part of the belly.

I used 2.5% salt, 1% brown sugar, and 0.25% pink cure # 1. Measurements all done by weight. 

For salt, one used celtic sea salt and the other himalayan pink. 

Measured out cure mixture by weight and vacuum sealed each belly with the cure. 

Flipped the bellies each day in the fridge to help the cure do it's thing. Cured for 10 days, then rinsed in cold water and dried. The only issue I could see is that I didn't get the cure rubbed quite evenly before vacuum sealing the pork. I tried, just didn't quite get it even since the total amount of cure was so little for these small pieces of belly.  

I left the rinsed and dried bellies uncovered in the fridge overnight. Smoked them with my mes 40 and cold smoker attachment for 9.5 hours. Temp was between 80-90 F the whole time. 

Seems like things should be fine, but I am not sure how to tell.


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## fajitapot (Jan 13, 2019)

Sounds like you did just fine. But cook it before eating since the internal temperature remained so low. I'm curious though, was there any liquid in the bag at the end of day 10? There's no need to vacuum the bag before sealing, that may have inhibited the cure distribution, and 7 days would have been sufficient, but other than that it sounds like you made yourself some cold smoked bacon!


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## TheReluctantCraftstronaut (Jan 13, 2019)

fajitapot said:


> Sounds like you did just fine. But cook it before eating since the internal temperature remained so low. I'm curious though, was there any liquid in the bag at the end of day 10? There's no need to vacuum the bag before sealing, that may have inhibited the cure distribution, and 7 days would have been sufficient, but other than that it sounds like you made yourself some cold smoked bacon!



There was not much moisture present throughout the process. I think the vacuuming hindered that a bit. At the end, it had some moisture, but less than you'd expect from a thawed piece of meat straight from the store.


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## chef jimmyj (Jan 13, 2019)

You should be fine. Even without much visible moisture in the bag, vac-packaging holds moisture against the meat. Capillary action and diffusion moves the cure and salt around and throughout the meat...JJ


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