# First time bacon



## poacherjoe (May 28, 2022)

Okay Jake got the fire going in me so here's my  questions . I bought a pork belly with the rind on it and I skinned it so now I have  15 pounds of meat that I cut into 6 chunks. I used 1 cup of maple syrup and 1/2 cup each on brown sugar and Kosher salt with 2 tablespoons of cure and BP. This gooey mix was rubbed into the meat and placed in ziplocks and into the fridge. I will flip them everyday .The chunks vary in thickness so how long should they stay in the fridge ? They varied from 1" to 2" in thickness . And I paid 20 dollars for the belly, Was that a good price?


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## Nefarious (May 28, 2022)

Pictures would help!


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## poacherjoe (May 28, 2022)

Nefarious said:


> Pictures would help!


I didn't think that would be needed for the questions that were asked . I figured that anyone who works with pork belly's would be understanding of me not understanding ! Does that help ???


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## Sven Svensson (May 28, 2022)

I used to use that method and it was always chaos. I would never go over 2-3 days as the salt level was way too high in the finished product. In fact, before I switched methods I never went over 48 hours and was experimenting with even less. 

I now use the weight method and am much happier with super consistent results and using much less products to cure.


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## poacherjoe (May 28, 2022)

Sven Svensson said:


> I used to use that method and it was always chaos. I would never go over 2-3 days as the salt level was way too high in the finished product. In fact, before I switched methods I never went over 48 hours and was experimenting with even less.
> 
> I now use the weight method and am much happier with super consistent results and using much less products to cure.


Well it's my first time and my buddy gave me a chunk that he made using this recipe and I liked it so that's why I did it and it only cost me 20 bucks so that didn't break the bank. I will try other ways in the future.


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## Sven Svensson (May 28, 2022)

After the cure, be sure to rinse it well. Then, before smoking cut a slice and fry it. If it’s too salty soak it in cold water for a couple hours then test it again. I used that method for 10 years or more.


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## TNJAKE (May 28, 2022)

poacherjoe said:


> Okay Jake got the fire going in me so here's my  questions . I bought a pork belly with the rind on it and I skinned it so now I have  15 pounds of meat that I cut into 6 chunks. I used 1 cup of maple syrup and 1/2 cup each on brown sugar and Kosher salt with 2 tablespoons of cure and BP. This gooey mix was rubbed into the meat and placed in ziplocks and into the fridge. I will flip them everyday .The chunks vary in thickness so how long should they stay in the fridge ? They varied from 1" to 2" in thickness . And I paid 20 dollars for the belly, Was that a good price?


I would have weighed each slab and applied cure, salt sugar by weight percentage. I cured mine for 14 days and most other forum members do the same


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## SmokinEdge (May 28, 2022)

poacherjoe said:


> Okay Jake got the fire going in me so here's my  questions . I bought a pork belly with the rind on it and I skinned it so now I have  15 pounds of meat that I cut into 6 chunks. I used 1 cup of maple syrup and 1/2 cup each on brown sugar and Kosher salt with 2 tablespoons of cure and BP. This gooey mix was rubbed into the meat and placed in ziplocks and into the fridge. I will flip them everyday .The chunks vary in thickness so how long should they stay in the fridge ? They varied from 1" to 2" in thickness . And I paid 20 dollars for the belly, Was that a good price?


Biggest problem I see (assuming you used cure #1) is you have double the amount needed. This takes your PPM nitrite pretty high. Salt should be fine all in around 2.25%. Nitrite travels about 1/4” per day from all sides but with belly because of fat layers that slow down nitrite you need to stay in cure about 1 week but 2 is better for flavor development. It’s going to be sweet too, but I guess you knew that.


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## TNJAKE (May 28, 2022)

SmokinEdge said:


> Biggest problem I see (assuming you used cure #1) is you have double the amount needed. This takes your PPM nitrite pretty high. Salt should be fine all in around 2.25%. Nitrite travels about 1/4” per day from all sides but with belly because of fat layers that slow down nitrite you need to stay in cure about 1 week but 2 is better for flavor development. It’s going to be sweet too, but I guess you knew that.


Since he mixed all the ingredients in one large batch will be impossible to know how much cure is on each individual slab


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## SmokinEdge (May 28, 2022)

TNJAKE said:


> Since he mixed all the ingredients in one large batch will be impossible to know how much cure is on each individual slab


Correct. 
1 level teaspoon of cure #1 to 5 pounds meat, or in this instance, 3 level teaspoons would have been the correct amount for 15 pounds, not two Tablespoons. In a slurry it will be difficult to know how much cure was added to each slab. Not a good method for sure.


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## Sven Svensson (May 28, 2022)

SmokinEdge
 is right about the cure. That’s double the amount I used. I’d cut that down to 1 tbs to be safe.


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## mneeley490 (May 28, 2022)

Well, on the plus side, $20 for 15 lbs. of belly is a very good price.
But in addition to what the others have said above about cure and salt, I found early on that too much syrup or sugar will make the bacon burn very quickly in the frying pan.
We all have had our learning curves.


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## poacherjoe (May 28, 2022)

Well it's only been in the fridge for 3 hours so should I take it out and rinse it off and start over to avoid the double dose of cure??


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## SmokinEdge (May 28, 2022)

poacherjoe said:


> Well it's only been in the fridge for 3 hours so should I take it out and rinse it off and start over to avoid the double dose of cure??


I would let it ride Joe. PM sent.

That said, if you get serious about making artisan bacon, let us know, lots of us here can put you on the right track. I don’t recommend the method you are using, but it will make bacon.


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