# First bacon cure question...



## krvz (Oct 6, 2015)

I've read many others methods for curing bacon from this forum.  I bought a maple cure this morning from a local place, and he said I only had to cure for two days, flipping ever six hours.  The one I bought was intended to be a wet cure, but I don't have the space in the fridge, and he said it work as a dry cure.  I've never read anyone only curing for only 2 days.  Is that because it is supposed to be a wet cure?  I'm confused, thanks for any advice!  I'm doing 15ish lbs, probably will cut into 2lb sections.

Kris


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## smokerjim (Oct 6, 2015)

i'm not sure i never did a dry cure,i always use pop's brine which i usually cure for 10-12 days,2 days does seem pretty quick,i'm sure some of the pro's will get with you.good luck,


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## wade (Oct 6, 2015)

krvz said:


> I've read many others methods for curing bacon from this forum.  I bought a maple cure this morning from a local place, and he said I only had to cure for two days, flipping ever six hours.  The one I bought was intended to be a wet cure, but I don't have the space in the fridge, and he said it work as a dry cure.  I've never read anyone only curing for only 2 days.  Is that because it is supposed to be a wet cure?  I'm confused, thanks for any advice!  I'm doing 15ish lbs, probably will cut into 2lb sections.
> 
> Kris


I think it was more a flavour than a cure and it was probably designed for small joints or slices of pork.

I have tried immersion brining (including Pops brine) and dry cure bacon and for me the dry cure wins hands down for me for both texture and flavour every time. Immersion curing is very easy to do but you do end up with a bacon that is comparatively wet. Of all the immersion brines I have tried Pops brine has been the best but dry curing takes up a lot less space and in my opinion creates a better end result

If you want to look at the immersion curing test results check out this recent thread

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/181560/immersion-bacon-curing-lab-test-results













After Cure.jpg



__ wade
__ Oct 6, 2015


















smoked bacon.jpg



__ wade
__ Oct 6, 2015


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## tropics (Oct 6, 2015)

krvz said:


> I've read many others methods for curing bacon from this forum.  I bought a maple cure this morning from a local place, and he said I only had to cure for two days, flipping ever six hours.  The one I bought was intended to be a wet cure, but I don't have the space in the fridge, and he said it work as a dry cure.  I've never read anyone only curing for only 2 days.  Is that because it is supposed to be a wet cure?  I'm confused, thanks for any advice!  I'm doing 15ish lbs, probably will cut into 2lb sections.
> 
> Kris


Does the package give the ingredients?

Not knowing how much sodium Nitrite is in the mix will make it difficult to get the proper cure 2 days does not sound right at all.

Richie


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## krvz (Oct 6, 2015)

This is the stuff from Frisco Spices (they are local):

https://www.friscospices.com/p-40-maple-sugar-cure-4lb.aspx

I only bought one pound though.  Thank you all for replying!


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## tropics (Oct 6, 2015)

krvz said:


> This is the stuff from Frisco Spices (they are local):
> 
> https://www.friscospices.com/p-40-maple-sugar-cure-4lb.aspx
> 
> I only bought one pound though.  Thank you all for replying!


I am sorry I can not do the math for that,hope someone else comes along to help.

Richie


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## Bearcarver (Oct 6, 2015)

krvz said:


> I've read many others methods for curing bacon from this forum.  I bought a maple cure this morning from a local place, and he said I only had to cure for two days, flipping ever six hours.  The one I bought was intended to be a wet cure, but I don't have the space in the fridge, and he said it work as a dry cure.  I've never read anyone only curing for only 2 days.  Is that because it is supposed to be a wet cure?  I'm confused, thanks for any advice!  I'm doing 15ish lbs, probably will cut into 2lb sections.
> 
> Kris


For Dry curing, any proper cure you use with the right amount of cure per pound of meat, you have to go by Thickness of the pieces to calculate the time in cure.

The only size that matters is Thickness-----For a 2" thick Piece of Belly I would Dry cure for a minimum of 8 days. It's possible to do it in 6 days, but I wouldn't try that.

As for him telling you 2 days---The only way that would be good is if you Hot smoked it to 145° internal temp.

Bear


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## crankybuzzard (Oct 6, 2015)

Bearcarver said:


> For Dry curing, any proper cure you use with the right amount of cure per pound of meat, you have to go by Thickness of the pieces to calculate the time in cure.
> 
> The only size that matters is Thickness-----For a 2" thick Piece of Belly I would Dry cure for a minimum of 8 days. It's possible to do it in 6 days, but I wouldn't try that.
> 
> ...



The Bear knows, follow his advice.   

Let us know what you decide.


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## JckDanls 07 (Oct 6, 2015)

Only  .85 % Sodium Nitrite (cure) according to ingredients list ? ...  Thinking I would wait on using this product until I heard more about it...  that's just me though...


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## wade (Oct 7, 2015)

JckDanls 07 said:


> Only .85 % Sodium Nitrite (cure) according to ingredients list ? ... Thinking I would wait on using this product until I heard more about it... that's just me though...


When they say "use one package" is the package 4 pounds of cure?

From the web site it looks as if it is so on that assumption the strength of the brine would be

1 x 4 lb pack in 2 gallons of water

2 gallons = 7.56 litres = 7.56 Kg

4 lbs = 1.81 Kg

Total weight of brine = 9.37 Kg

With 0.85% Nitrite the 4 lb pack contains 0.034 lbs Nitrite = 15422 mg

15422 mg / 9.37 Kg = 1,646 mg/Kg = 1,646 Ppm

Not knowing the relative weights in the cure pack it is not possible to calculate the strengths of the salt and sugar.

Compared with Pops low salt brine (which is 255 Ppm Nitrite) this has a much higher Nitrite concentration. Pops brine however is used as an an equilibrium brine and after 14 days of immersion results in a residual Nitrite concentration of between 86 Ppm for pork loin and 100 Ppm for pork belly.

When testing a similar strength brine to the one here the equilibrium brining resulted in residual Nitrite levels of between 600-650 Ppm

It could be that they are only using 1 day per pound to only allow a %age of the available Nitrite to be taken up and not allow it to reach equilbrium. This does not sound unreasonable but I guess they would have had to determine the length of time required through testing.


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## van holton (Oct 7, 2015)

I'm in the dry cure group always works for me,


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