Bacon salt content question

[JC in GB]

I have been seeing a lot of discussion on the forum lately about bacon curing. I just started some new bacon curing 2 days ago and have made bacon a few times already that turned out well with no issues. So, here is my question. I see that salt content has a bit of a range from different recipes. After doing some research on the proper salt content for doing bacon curing safely, it seems that a 3% salt content is what is generally accepted as safe. My brine recipe uses a lower salt concentration than 3%. Is this 3% number what I should be shooting for? Do I need to adjust my recipe?

Thanks for any input you can provide on this issue.

JC

 

[JckDanls 07]

3% is going to be pretty salty... The reason you see such conflicting numbers on salt is that everybody's taste for salt is different... But there is a minimum % of salt that you should not go under...

 

[DougE]

1.5% is about as low as I'd go in a dry brine and find it the sweet spot ...... enough salt to power the process without an overly salty end product.

With wet brines, you can go higher since not all the salt will be taken in to the meat.

 

[SmokinEdge]

It's still snowing, but melting off at the same time. Probably be all gone by tomorrow

I have been seeing a lot of discussion on the forum lately about bacon curing. I just started some new bacon curing 2 days ago and have made bacon a few times already that turned out well with no issues. So, here is my question. I see that salt content has a bit of a range from different recipes. After doing some research on the proper salt content for doing bacon curing safely, it seems that a 3% salt content is what is generally accepted as safe. My brine recipe uses a lower salt concentration than 3%. Is this 3% number what I should be shooting for? Do I need to adjust my recipe?

Thanks for any input you can provide on this issue.

JC

JC,
are you working with cover brine, or dry rub for the cure process? They are a lot different but I can help you get where you want to go either way.

 

[zwiller]

Bacon is the only food where the USDA allows sodium content measured AFTER cooking. Also interesting to see Marianski going up to 4% in his bacon formula charts. Now before any gets upset, that's the beauty of the hobby you can make it like you want. I bet 3% is fine and better than typical. While I am at it, think you need to put like 30-40hrs of smoke on it to get it like store bought (liquid smoke). I've made bacon (back a few times) and it was blah. I do not think everything you make yourself is automatically better than store.

 

[JIMSMOKES]

1.5% is about as low as I'd go in a dry brine and find it the sweet spot ...... enough salt to power the process without an overly salty end product.

With wet brines, you can go higher since not all the salt will be taken in to the meat.

Why 1.5 salt being minum in a dry brine? I thought the critical part was the cure #1

 

[DougE]

Why 1.5 salt being minum in a dry brine? I thought the critical part was the cure #1

It takes a certain amount of salt to power the curing process. Straight cure#1 at 0.25% is not enough to do it, so additional salt is necessary.

 

[JIMSMOKES]

It takes a certain amount of salt to power the curing process. Straight cure#1 at 0.25% is not enough to do it, so additional salt is necessary.

Oh ok didn't know that. I went down to 1.5 on my last batch. Using the DD calculator. Chasing a less salty taste.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Why 1.5 salt being minum in a dry brine? I thought the critical part was the cure #1

Dry brines are different than wet cover brines. While 1% salt will work on a dry rub, it will absolutely not work in a cover brine. While the process is similar, the chemical action is vastly different. For instance, a favorite cover brine here is Pop’s brine, that contains roughly 6% salt. The meat won’t end up 6% salt and there are reasons why not. On the other hand you can dry rub with 1.5% salt and the meat will have in the end 1.5% salt.
This is largely due to the fact that dry rub is applied to the specific meat weight, where cover brines are generally not tailored to the meat weight but are generic in their design, as in any random weight of meat as long as it “covers “

 

[JIMSMOKES]

Dry brines are different than wet cover brines. While 1% salt will work on a dry rub, it will absolutely not work in a cover brine. While the process is similar, the chemical action is vastly different. For instance, a favorite cover brine here is Pop’s brine, that contains roughly 6% salt. The meat won’t end up 6% salt and there are reasons why not. On the other hand you can dry rub with 1.5% salt and the meat will have in the end 1.5% salt.
This is largely due to the fact that dry rub is applied to the specific meat weight, where cover brines are generally not tailored to the meat weight but are generic in their design, as in any random weight of meat as long as it “covers “

So I could safley go down to 1% salt using the DD calculator? Still searching for a less salty taste for. I always cure for 14 plus days.

 

[SmokinEdge]

So I could safley go down to 1% salt using the DD calculator? Still searching for a less salty taste for. I always cure for 14 plus days.

Yes you can. Just remember that if you are 1% salt and .25% cure #1 you are all in sodium at 1.25%. But yes you will be safe in a dry cure that’s in a fridge lower than 40F. And going 14 days is always wise, but mandatory on lower salt. The salt is the driver. The more salt the faster the cure, lower is slower but still very workable.

 

[JC in GB]

JC,
are you working with cover brine, or dry rub for the cure process? They are a lot different but I can help you get where you want to go either way.

I use a 10% wet brine. By 10% I mean I use 10% of the meat green weight in water so I have a concentrated brine. I make the brine strength to be an equilibrium cure. I find this method is easier to do than a dry brine and comes out with nearly identical results. Thanks for any insight you can provide.

JC

 

[JC in GB]

Bacon is the only food where the USDA allows sodium content measured AFTER cooking. Also interesting to see Marianski going up to 4% in his bacon formula charts. Now before any gets upset, that's the beauty of the hobby you can make it like you want. I bet 3% is fine and better than typical. While I am at it, think you need to put like 30-40hrs of smoke on it to get it like store bought (liquid smoke). I've made bacon (back a few times) and it was blah. I do not think everything you make yourself is automatically better than store.

The times I have made bacon, it was much better than store bought. Had plenty of smoke flavor. People where I work line up to buy it from me. Just want to add that when I did bacon in my electric smoker, it turned out with very little smoke flavor.

JC

 

[SmokinEdge]

So I could safley go down to 1% salt using the DD calculator? Still searching for a less salty taste for. I always cure for 14 plus days.

If using the DD calculator, when you plug in 1% salt it will automatically adjust as all in salt, in other words if you plug in 1% salt it will have you apply .75% in salt, that added to the .25% cure 1 will equal 1% total salt. Which is fine. Make sure you are using granulated salt so it mikes better with the cure 1. How much sugar if any are you using?

 

[JIMSMOKES]

If using the DD calculator, when you plug in 1% salt it will automatically adjust as all in salt, in other words if you plug in 1% salt it will have you apply .75% in salt, that added to the .25% cure 1 will equal 1% total salt. Which is fine. Make sure you are using granulated salt so it mikes better with the cure 1. How much sugar if any are you using?

I used 1% on this last batch. Any suggestions on a better/another way? I haven't tried a wet cure yet.
JC in GB Sorry for hijacking your thread Jeff

 

[SmokinEdge]

I used 1% on this last batch. Any suggestions on a better/another way? I haven't tried a wet cure yet.
JC in GB Sorry for hijacking your thread Jeff

Still to salty at 1%?

 

[JC in GB]

I used 1% on this last batch. Any suggestions on a better/another way? I haven't tried a wet cure yet.
JC in GB Sorry for hijacking your thread Jeff

No worries. All good information.

JC

 

[JIMSMOKES]

Still to salty at 1%?

I haven't done 1% yet. MIL thought my 1.5 was to salty.

 

[SmokinEdge]

I haven't done 1% yet. MIL thought my 1.5 was to salty.

I would give 1% a try. Not sure how you feel about sugar but around .75% will balance the salt and make it taste more sweet savory than salt forward.

If that doesn’t work you can lower salt more, cure 1 can be lowered a smidge too. I don’t do any curing below 1% but I know John, noboundaries does and is successful and happy with his finished product. Maybe he will chime in. Also if you end up below 1% salt it may worth a try to use JC’s method of 10% water of meat weight. This way you dissolve the lower salt and potentially get more even coverage in the bag.

 

[Fueling Around]

...
My brine recipe uses a lower salt concentration than 3%. Is this 3% number what I should be shooting for? Do I need to adjust my recipe?
...

Why 1.5 salt being minum in a dry brine? I thought the critical part was the cure #1

I found a comment by Rytek Kutas in his book that states there is enough salt in cure #1 alone to safely process meat.
I found that 0.25% salt is a bit flat for my taste. 0.5% to 1.0% is my flavor range.
Sausage is fine at 0.5% because you can mix in a lot of spices for flavor.
Bacon and loin needs closer to 1% for my taste.

I put all my dry rub, including the cure, through a blade style coffee grinder to make a uniform dust.