# Dry cure measurements



## oleolson (Dec 12, 2015)

I picked up a 4.5 lb piece of pork belly from Costco and am looking for the amounts of salt, brown sugar, and cure I should be using for this size.  I plan on cold smoking it and slicing it into bacon slices.  Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks!


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## lamar (Dec 13, 2015)

The amount of cure depends on what king of cure you are using.  The package should tell; you how much per pound of meat to use.    If you are using Morton's Tender Quick,    it has salt already in it.    Do a search for Bear's recipe for bacon and you will find all you need to know about making bacon.

Good luck

Lamar


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## oregon smoker (Dec 13, 2015)

OleOlson said:


> I picked up a 4.5 lb piece of pork belly from Costco and am looking for the amounts of salt, brown sugar, and cure I should be using for this size.  I plan on cold smoking it and slicing it into bacon slices.  Any help would be appreciated.


Ole,

Here are links to two different dry bacon cures , two opinions two applications both are excellent choices.  I personally use a variant of BearCarvers due to the lower salts, I tried various wet cures and my wife could not tolerate the sodium at the finish. I then worked with these two dry methods (with better success for Mrs OS) , and after multiple batches I then modified it to our liking (major health reasons) Now we have our solution to our bacon quandary. I have links below for you,

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/96761/smoked-bacon-step-by-step-with-qview

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/159333/bears-step-by-step-index#post_1149932

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/108099/bacon-extra-smoky

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/178233/mr-ts-sugar-cured-bacon

Keep On Smokin,

Tom


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## oleolson (Dec 20, 2015)

Awesome!  Thank you!


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## dirtsailor2003 (Dec 20, 2015)

Give this a read. Everything you need to know about cure is here in one place.

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


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## gibsorz (Dec 21, 2015)

If you are using cure #1, a member on this site created an excellent calculator. 

http://www.diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html?result=7560+8618&secret=

This will work with both dry cures and brine. For a brine combine the weight of the water along with the weight of your meat and place that in the weight of the meat box.  I adjust parts per million to 120 for bacon. Everything else I keep at 156.


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