# First couple bacon cures



## river100 (Jun 8, 2021)

I want to thank the people in this forum.  When I decided to try to make some bacon I knew exactly where to go.
I could have ended up doing a recipe from the web like this one posted below 4 days ago.

*Ingredients*
5lb's pork belly with skin off
60 grams Kosher Salt
45 grams brown sugar
*30 grams pink curing salt/ Sodium nitrate*
15 grams fine black pepper
Maple Syrup

Instead for my first run, after reading this forum for hours i used the DiggingDogFarm calculator.
My first one was buckboard with 3% salt and 2% sugar 0.25% cure#1 hickory and apple mix 50/50 hot smoked
Was a little salty but very good.
For the second one, belly bacon I used 1.8% salt and 1.5% sugar, .025% cure#1. Apple hot smoked
Only got about 2 hours of smoke on it but still good. I wanted something to compare to the 3 and 2 % one I did.
again, Thanks all.


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## bregent (Jun 8, 2021)

Looks good. I had to go back and re-read your post a few times before I realized that the recipe you posted was NOT the one you used :)


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## river100 (Jun 8, 2021)

bregent said:


> Looks good. I had to go back and re-read your post a few times before I realized that the recipe you posted was NOT the one you used :)


Yup, I commented to the guy who posted that recipe to tell him that 1% was too much.  His reply was "I use less than others."
I first saw it on youtube, he has a link to his webpage where the recipe is posted.


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## olaf (Jun 8, 2021)

Yeah 3% is definitely high way high for me I had some like that once so I soaked in water it got kind of bland but at least was edible. You should try at least giving it a couple hours of smoke at a low temperature before bringing up the temp. I generally go with 8 hours of smoke. Bacon looks good


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## SmokinEdge (Jun 8, 2021)

Nice job, and yes you have arrived, when you fine this site. Our recipes are not considered “on the web”. This is a group of super knowledgeable folks that collect here to share their knowledge. Very special place, SMF is.
As to the recipes. I shoot for 1.5% salt then when you add 0.25% cure #1, you now have 1.75% salt total. This works for me personally. Sugar on bacon I keep between 0.75% and 1.0%. I like both but I prefer the lower sugar. I only want it to “balance” the salt, not shine. That’s just how I roll. Congratulations, you are on you’re way as a bacon maker.


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## river100 (Jun 8, 2021)

SmokinEdge said:


> Nice job, and yes you have arrived, when you fine this site. Our recipes are not considered “on the web”. This is a group of super knowledgeable folks that collect here to share their knowledge. Very special place, SMF is.
> As to the recipes. I shoot for 1.5% salt then when you add 0.25% cure #1, you now have 1.75% salt total. This works for me personally. Sugar on bacon I keep between 0.75% and 1.0%. I like both but I prefer the lower sugar. I only want it to “balance” the salt, not shine. That’s just how I roll. Congratulations, you are on you’re way as a bacon maker.


Thanks


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## chef jimmyj (Jun 8, 2021)

That BBB looks amazing...JJ


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## pc farmer (Jun 8, 2021)

Good job on not using that recipe.  I use the digging dog one all the time.


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## river100 (Jun 8, 2021)

chef jimmyj said:


> That BBB looks amazing...JJ


Thanks,
 I got lucky with the amount of fat in the boneless butt I bought, It was around 4 lbs I cut it in 2.  It was so good it only lasted 2 or 3 days.
I have to give credit to the people on this forum since that's where I got my info on this.


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## Fueling Around (Jun 8, 2021)

Very nice looking cure.
Salt and sugar percentage takes trial and error to get to your personal taste.


river100 said:


> ...
> I have to give credit to the people on this forum since that's where I got my info on this.


I started with some really bad info from the web.  Luckily I found this forum before poisoning myself


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## crazymoon (Jun 9, 2021)

R100, Good looking bacon!!!!!


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## smokerjim (Jun 9, 2021)

looks like some fine bacon!


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## Bearcarver (Jun 9, 2021)

Looks Very Nice, River!!
Great Job!!
Like.

Bear


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## JLeonard (Jun 9, 2021)

Good looking bacon.....!
Jim


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## PinkOstrich (Jun 9, 2021)

That looks lovely. I'm preparing to make my own bacon in next few weeks. 
I'm in the UK, here we use loin to make back bacon. You'd probably call it Canadian or Irish bacon. 
I could do American streaky bacon using belly, but I'd rather use the loin. 
I just need to look for a reliable dry cure recipe for loin


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## river100 (Jun 9, 2021)

PinkOstrich said:


> That looks lovely. I'm preparing to make my own bacon in next few weeks.
> I'm in the UK, here we use loin to make back bacon. You'd probably call it Canadian or Irish bacon.
> I could do American streaky bacon using belly, but I'd rather use the loin.
> I just need to look for a reliable dry cure recipe for loin


You could use pork shoulder too. Cut it into flats about 2 inches thick. Cross between belly and loin bacon.


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## Bearcarver (Jun 9, 2021)

Here is one of each----Buckboard Bacon (Shoulder or Butt).
And Canadian Bacon. (Loin):

Step by Steps:
Buckboard Bacon (Step by Step) Nov 4, 2018
*New------Canadian Bacon


Bear


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## bumf (Sep 30, 2021)

PinkOstrich said:


> That looks lovely. I'm preparing to make my own bacon in next few weeks.
> I'm in the UK, here we use loin to make back bacon. You'd probably call it Canadian or Irish bacon.
> I could do American streaky bacon using belly, but I'd rather use the loin.
> I just need to look for a reliable dry cure recipe for loin



I’m based in the UK and recently did a 1kg loin cure and smoke for back bacon - clearly the superior choice on a sandwich!

I pretty much just used the same cure recipe as I do for pork belly (2.5% salt, 0.25% PP#1, 2% brown sugar) and let it cure for around 14 days in the fridge, turning every day (ish). I think cure time is linked to thickness, but 14 days was plenty.

Great looking bacon river100! The cut in that first pic looks amazing meat-fat ratio.


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## DRKsmoking (Sep 30, 2021)

bumf said:


> I’m based in the UK and recently did a 1kg loin cure and smoke for back bacon - clearly the superior choice on a sandwich!
> 
> I pretty much just used the same cure recipe as I do for pork belly (2.5% salt, 0.25% PP#1, 2% brown sugar) and let it cure for around 14 days in the fridge, turning every day (ish). I think cure time is linked to thickness, but 14 days was plenty.
> 
> Great looking bacon river100! The cut in that first pic looks amazing meat-fat ratio.


Welcome bumf  from Nova Scotia

Show us how your bacon turned out , you can start a new post , with a couple pictures so all will see your cook/smoke

David


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