# Bacon equalization temp after dry cure...



## indaswamp (Mar 7, 2019)

55*~70*???? That sound right? I'm thinking of hanging the slabs in the smokehouse in the morning and let then sit all day, then roll smoke to them @ night.



 daveomak
, is this how you do it?


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## indaswamp (Mar 7, 2019)

https://www.myrecipes.com/magazines...g-recipes/bentons-smoky-mountain-country-hams

80% Hickory/20% Apple.....


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## indaswamp (Mar 7, 2019)




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## mike243 (Mar 7, 2019)

I just drive down to Madisonville and get some bacon from them,I don't cook it in the house due to a very smokey smell that takes days to leave ,outside on the flat top is the way to go. My best buddy is good friends with him and he has shown us around his place,very nice guy and I like the ham better than the bacon.ymmv lol


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## indaswamp (Mar 7, 2019)

Thanks Holly... do you pre warm the slabs prior to introducing smoke?


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## indaswamp (Mar 7, 2019)

Holly2015 said:


> I refrigerate during the day then cold smoke at evening/night. 12 hours fringe/12 hours smoke repeat as many cycles as you like. I've gone up to 8 with good results.



Why I asked:



> *Preparation for smoking*
> Wash the bacon in warm water, hang in the smokehouse with door open and allow to dry. This may take two or three days. The meat will not take smoke until the surface is dry. If the meat is smoked when still damp, the smoke will be smudgy and the meat will not taste as good. When the bacon is dry, apply the smoke and allow about 36 to 48 hours to complete the smoking. Add sawdust or wood as needed during the smoking.



https://extension2.missouri.edu/G2528


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## indaswamp (Mar 7, 2019)

I'll add this here as well...great info:
https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/c...077cc76/Bacon_and_Food_Safety.pdf?MOD=AJPERES

I did not know that the max. ppm was different for dry cured vs. brine/pump cured bacon:

"The USDA is responsible for monitoring the proper use of nitrite by meat processors. While sodium nitrite cannot exceed 200 ppm going into dry-cured bacon, sodium nitrite cannot exceed 120 ppm for both pumped and immer-sion-cured bacon."

"Dry-cured slab bacon - 3 weeks without refrigeration"


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## daveomak (Mar 7, 2019)

indaswamp said:


> 55*~70*???? That sound right? I'm thinking of hanging the slabs in the smokehouse in the morning and let then sit all day, then roll smoke to them @ night.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



.....

Pretty much the way I do it..   2 weeks with the dry cure...  rinse and dry..  5-7 days on a wire rack in the refer...   Warm the bellies to 70-75 and add smoke for a few days....  then back in the refer on a wire rack for however long it takes...  at least 5 days...


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## indaswamp (Mar 7, 2019)

daveomak said:


> .....
> 
> Pretty much the way I do it..   2 weeks with the dry cure...  rinse and dry..  5-7 days on a wire rack in the refer...   Warm the bellies to 70-75 and add smoke for a few days....  then back in the refer on a wire rack for however long it takes...  at least 5 days...


Thanks for the reply Dave and explaining your process. This producer moves the slabs to a warm room after equalization with temps. "above 75*" to dry for 3 days. I am wondering if I could do this by hanging in my smokehouse? 
The only difference I see is that his slabs are open stacked and allowed to drain the moisture away, not put in bags like I am dry curing.... With the extra moisture would it not be advisable to hang @ temps. above 75* in my smokehouse to further dry?


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## daveomak (Mar 7, 2019)

If you cold smoke at <~70F, just get the slabs to 70+ so they don't collect condensate...   Moisture is a by product of wood smoldering...  You do not want condensate forming on the meat...  And the meat temp also needs to be above ambient..  Good air flow keeps the meat surface dry also.....
Good air flow and a trickle of smoke, for however many days, is a good recipe for great bacon....
During hid first step of equalization, the temp of 43-55F is a good temp...   Bacteria is not very active below 55F...  That's also the ~cut-off for dry aging meat...
Taken from Wedliny-Domowe...
Drying in the air. Once the meat has lost some moisture it is safer to continue drying in the air at 50-54° F (10-12° C). We don't want to dry meat in the "danger zone" 60-140° F (16-60° C) when bacteria find favorable conditions to grow. When drying is accomplished in a dehydrator (jerky) the temperature should be 145° F (63° C) which is above the danger zone.


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## solman (Mar 7, 2019)

indaswamp said:


> I'll add this here as well...great info:
> https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/c...077cc76/Bacon_and_Food_Safety.pdf?MOD=AJPERES
> 
> I did not know that the max. ppm was different for dry cured vs. brine/pump cured bacon:
> ...




Isn't applying cure and then putting into a Ziploc bag considered immersion curing, not dry cure? But all the recipes on this board for "dry curing" call for putting the pork belly in bags during the curing process. I guess I'm confused. 

“Immersion-cured” bacon is placed in a brine solution containing salt, nitrite,
and flavoring material or in a container with salt, nitrite, and flavoring mate-
rial for 2 to 3 days. Sugar, honey, or maple syrup may be added to the brine.
The meat must then be left to hang until it is cured.


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## daveomak (Mar 7, 2019)

solman said:


> Isn't applying cure and then putting into a Ziploc bag considered immersion curing, not dry cure? But all the recipes on this board for "dry curing" call for putting the pork belly in bags during the curing process. I guess I'm confused.
> 
> “Immersion-cured” bacon is placed in a brine solution containing salt, nitrite,
> and flavoring material or in a container with salt, nitrite, and flavoring mate-
> ...




Soloman, it would be nice if you linked to where you got that from....   I'm thinking that quote is from a TV star wannabe... or a writer who doesn't know much about curing...  
That's why it's important to link where you find stuff you quote...  No offense intended....  Dave


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## solman (Mar 7, 2019)

It's in the quote of my post. I see now it was unclear. Sorry for any confusion.
https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/c...077cc76/Bacon_and_Food_Safety.pdf?MOD=AJPERES


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## solman (Mar 7, 2019)

is the practice of applying cure then putting the meat into a bag a combination of traditional dry cure and immersion curing? so then is 200ppm nitrite too much, since the usda literature says 120ppm is the maximum for immersion curing?


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## daveomak (Mar 7, 2019)

Thanks solman, I appreciate that...  
My concern is this paragraph....
_“Immersion-cured” bacon is placed in a brine solution containing salt, nitrite,
and flavoring material or in a container with salt, nitrite, and flavoring mate-
rial for 2 to 3 days. Sugar, honey, or maple syrup may be added to the brine.
The meat must then be left to hang until it is cured_.

The above method is one used by commercial establishments which have a laboratory readily available to analyze the nitrite content that has been adsorbed by the meat to insure it meets compliance...
It should not be used by the home processor...
Reason:..   Without analysis for nitrites, you cannot know how much nitrite is in the meat....  ALSO, they don't mention how long the meat must hang before the "cure" has fully penetrated the belly....  how thick the belly is....  what the concentration of the brine was to start....  how much brine to use.... 
That paragraph is a total failure to educate...  The person at the FSIS/USDA complex that wrote that should be relocated...

I am an advocate for an equilibrium brine....
An equilibrium brine is where the meat and liquid are weighed..  Generally, the liquid is 25-50% the weight of the meat...  
Then salt ~2%, sugar ~1% and cure#1 0.25%  are added to the brine based on the total weight of the meat and liquid..
I believe a minimum of 1 day per 1/4" and better yet, 2 days per 1/4" are necessary for a better cure is necessary, because the sugar molecule is HUGE compared to the nitrite and salt molecules..  The longer time allows for the sugar molecule to penetrate farther into the meat.... 
The amount of 0.25%** nitrite is above the USDA recommendation....  I realize that...  Also, the nitrite will degrade over time and will definitely degrade above ~130F until only about 10-20% remains in the meat once cooked....  Well below the USDA guidelines....  **Add nitrite at a rate of 0.19% if you wish to follow commercial protocol....
NEVER add ascorbic acid to brine curing solutions...  It degrades the nitrite to nitric oxide...  That ascorbic acid should only be added to injection cured meats where the nitric oxide can do it's work INSIDE the meat, NOT in the brine bucket...


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## daveomak (Mar 7, 2019)

solman said:


> is the practice of applying cure then putting the meat into a bag a combination of traditional dry cure and immersion curing? so then is 200ppm nitrite too much, since the usda literature says 120ppm is the maximum for immersion curing?



Bag curing without additional liquid, IMO, is not considered immersion curing..  I call it "dry brining" because the liquid is part of the original hunk of meat..  it allows for all the additions to remain with the meat...   
However, when I make bacon, I add the ingredients to the surface of the meat and place it on a wire rack..  very little moisture and ingredients are lost due to the dehydration of the meat from the refer...  the meat dry ages while it cures...  the flavor intensifies making for great bacon flavor...   Any amount of ingredient loss is insignificant... a loss of 10% of the ingredients still has the belly around 140 ish Ppm, if 156 was the initial target concentration...  plenty of nitrite for a safe product...  especially since the USDA notes 200 Ppm is the maximum allowed...   all is good..


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## solman (Mar 7, 2019)

you're right that this is more science than one would think. checking the diggingdogfarm cure calculator, it has a ppm setting that defaults to 156ppm, which is what i used for my bacon cures. in another thread, i questioned the amount of salt cure mix that ended up on my hands when rubbing it in and whether it would be better to round up to the nearest whole gram to account for the loss. knowing my cure was at 156ppm (about halfway between 120ppm and 200ppm), i think i'll be just as precise next time versus rounding up.

sorry for the threadjack...


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## indaswamp (Mar 7, 2019)

daveomak said:


> Bag curing without additional liquid, IMO, is not considered immersion curing..  I call it "dry brining" because the liquid is part of the original hunk of meat..  it allows for all the additions to remain with the meat...
> However, when I make bacon, I add the ingredients to the surface of the meat and place it on a wire rack..  very little moisture and ingredients are lost due to the dehydration of the meat from the refer...  the meat dry ages while it cures...  the flavor intensifies making for great bacon flavor...   Any amount of ingredient loss is insignificant... a loss of 10% of the ingredients still has the belly around 140 ish Ppm, if 156 was the initial target concentration...  plenty of nitrite for a safe product...  especially since the USDA notes 200 Ppm is the maximum allowed...   all is good..



I guess it depends on if you will be "dry aging"....like they do with a salt box and ham.....with a hole in the bottom of the box or barrel to allow the liquid to escape. There is so much salt present that the little bit lost down the drain with the liquid is insignificant. Also, the point is to dry the meat out so you do not want the meat to reabsorb the liquid extracted by the salt....


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## indaswamp (Mar 7, 2019)

daveomak said:


> If you cold smoke at <~70F, just get the slabs to 70+ so they don't collect condensate...


Again, thanks for posting Dave. Much appreciated.
This is why I was asking about hanging in the smokehouse to rise from refrigerator temp....
I guess the slabs would be too wet to hang at room temp. having not leached water like the ones stacked in open storage.


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## indaswamp (Mar 7, 2019)

daveomak said:


> However, when I make bacon, I add the ingredients to the surface of the meat and place it on a wire rack.. very little moisture and ingredients are lost due to the dehydration of the meat from the refer... the meat dry ages while it cures... the flavor intensifies making for great bacon flavor... Any amount of ingredient loss is insignificant... a loss of 10% of the ingredients still has the belly around 140 ish Ppm, if 156 was the initial target concentration... plenty of nitrite for a safe product... especially since the USDA notes 200 Ppm is the maximum allowed... all is good..


So just to be clear....you do not put your bacon in a bag while curing...you allow the moisture to drain off the meat onto a pan.


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## indaswamp (Mar 7, 2019)

Holly2015 said:


> I use a small 10CFM fan in the fridge to keep air circulating. It helps things dry thing out a little quicker.


Good tip. I have a very small fan so I will run it in the refer while equalizing....


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## daveomak (Mar 7, 2019)

indaswamp said:


> So just to be clear....you do not put your bacon in a bag while curing...you allow the moisture to drain off the meat onto a pan.



When curing 4 slabs at once, I've never seen more than 2-3 TBS. of liquid run out of the bellies..
Yes I cure on wire racks, NO bags...  I want the meat to lose moisture and intensify the pig flavor....


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## indaswamp (Mar 7, 2019)

Gotcha Dave... thanks for the clarification.


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## indaswamp (Mar 8, 2019)

Good tips Dave and Holly....


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