# Dry curing temp?



## skhunter (Mar 7, 2014)

So I have 5lbs of pork belly I want to make into bacon. My plan is to rub the dry cure into the belly, then vacuum seal and refrigerate. My refrigerator only cools to 43 degrees. Is that cold enough?


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## mchar69 (Mar 7, 2014)

No. 34-40 degrees.


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## venture (Mar 7, 2014)

If your fridge is running at 43, all the food in there is in the danger zone.

I would take a serious look at that.

Good luck and good smoking.


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## skhunter (Mar 7, 2014)

OK, so I checked it again and it is at 40 degrees. What do you think about vacuum sealing the bags for curing.


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## bigwheel (Mar 8, 2014)

40 is still going to put you way to close to the danger zone for a comfortable margin of error. Never tried vacuum curing but it might work. With sausage the goods need to get some air to allow the cure to work right. Might be different on topical applied bacon cures. Let us know. If  you want to get into vacuum marinades I can recommend a very handy gizmo which is pretty cheap. This thing is so cool it drives me crazy.  Can knock a 3 day jerky soak down to two hours.  Might also work on rapid curing of bacon. Is big enough to hold 10 lbs of  bacon. 
http://www.jaccard.com/Instant-Marinaters_c_22.html


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## deucenahalf (Mar 11, 2014)

What does your dry cure consist of? List your ingredients and amounts.


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## skhunter (Mar 11, 2014)

My cure is High Mountain BBB mix. The instructions say 1 lb of cure does 25 lbs meat. My pork belly weighs 8.5 lbs. I rubbed it with 1\3 lb of the cure. In the fridge at 36 degrees for 3 days have a nice brine going, belly is stiffening up. Going to leave it 2 more days for a total of 5 as per instructions. Cure is salt, maple sugar and sodium nitrite.


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## graywolf1936 (Mar 11, 2014)

Shutter. I just used that  cure twice , check your instruction, it should say cure 10 days turning after 5 days. It also says place in refrigerator at temp 40 to 45 degrees.  You get written instruction on the web. By the way it was great,  I think we ate LTB  sandwiches for 3 days..


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## skhunter (Mar 11, 2014)

graywolf1936 said:


> Shutter. I just used that cure twice , check your instruction, it should say cure 10 days turning after 5 days. It also says place in refrigerator at temp 40 to 45 degrees. You get written instruction on the web. By the way it was great, I think we ate LTB sandwiches for 3 days..


My instructions say 10 days for curing a pork butt. It also says for a pork belly cut cure time in half. As far as temp I am now confused the instructions say 40-45,everyone here says not over 40.


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## daveomak (Mar 11, 2014)

Follow the instructions on the package......  ALWAYS .....


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## deucenahalf (Mar 11, 2014)

From the HI Mountain site...

"Cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator. Proper temperature is 40 to 45 degrees F. Let meat stand in refrigerator at least 10 days, turning on the 5th day."

.64 oz to a pound is what it called for... amount for 8.5 pounds would have been 5.44 oz..

keep following the instructions and you will be fine.


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## deucenahalf (Mar 11, 2014)

Also from the site...

"After curing, remove meat from pan and soak in water for 1 to 2 hours. Drain and rinse with fresh water, making sure excess cure is removed (rinse cavity thoroughly). Pat dry and let stand at room temperature at least 1 hour. Shape meat, tucking in edges. Place meat on smoking screen or grill. Insert internal meat thermometer and place meat in smoker. Heat smoker to 150 degrees for 45 minutes without smoke. Increase temperature to 200 degrees and start smoke. Smoke until internal temperature of meat reaches 140 degrees. Turn off heat and leave bacon in smoker for 1 hour to cool down."

Heat smoker to 150 degrees for 45 minutes without smoke. Increase temperature to 200 degrees and start smoke..

This part... most of us will let the BBB rest in the refer for 2 days.  Placing the meat on cooling racks with a drip pan underneath... this allows the meat to equalize and form a pellicle, or a shiny, and slightly sticky feel to the bacon.  This allows the smoke to "attach" to the bacon better.

When you put the meat in the smoker at 150 for 45 min it does basically the same time, but the bacon doesn't have the 2 days to equalize.

However, if someone with more know how than myself can address this last step with the why's and how's of this process... FOLLOW YOUR DIRECTION'S!

Looks like you have so far so you should be fine.


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## skhunter (Mar 11, 2014)

deucenahalf said:


> From the HI Mountain site...
> 
> "Cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator. Proper temperature is 40 to 45 degrees F. Let meat stand in refrigerator at least 10 days, turning on the 5th day."
> 
> ...


The package came with 1lb of cure packaged in 3 equal packets. I weighed them and used 1 packet. The instructions in the box also say the cure can be used for pork loin or pork belly bacon and curing time can be cut in half for thinner cuts. My pork belly is 1.5 inches thick.


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## deucenahalf (Mar 11, 2014)

Since it is on the thicker side... follow the directions and flip after 5 days and use the full ten days... I usually flip every day and massage the package getting into the crevices spreading the cure (juice) to make sure all exposed surfaces get covered equally.  and I don't think an extra two days in the refer to allow the bacon to equalize and develop a nice pellicle before smoking would hurt but like I said... Maybe someone with more experience could weigh in.

The general rule of thumb from what I have read here on the forum is 1 day per quarter of an inch, you have 6 quarters so that would put you to cure for six days and 2 days rest would be 8.  But you must follow package directions and go to 10 days.

You could then smoke on the 10th day or allow to rest in the refer for an additional two days to get a good pellicle and smoke.   That is what I did, worked great.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/...ugar-cure-so-it-is-a-long-cure-now-with-qview

Link to my thread with pics if you want to see how mine turned out.


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## bigwheel (Mar 11, 2014)

I can tell yall are too prone to buy stuff off Alfgores super cyber highway. Let us start from scratch and bring it up to speed.  Try this and report back. Thanks.

http://onceachef.com/2010/11/23/makin-bacon/


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## deucenahalf (Mar 11, 2014)

While that is a very good article for tender quick... skhunter is using Hi Mountain BBB cure so he must follow directions for his curing method.

The directions in the article is basically the same I have described above.


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## venture (Mar 14, 2014)

I would be sure that is a dedicated fridge for curing and that food is not stored in there.

Good luck and good smoking.


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