Curing - making streaky bacon

[JSM83]

Hi everyone.

I have a curing mix - salt, sugar, bay, pepper, juniper.

I sprinkle it all around my pork belly. Next day, I come back and the container has lots of liquid in it.

The recipe book says discard this liquid and re-apply the seasoning.

Is this really necessary?? for safe bacon?? Cant i just let it sit in the brine until its been about 5 days or so???

 

[Aunt Bea]

Here are a couple of old threads about curing bacon at home that might help.

I’m not sure why you are opposed to following the simple instructions in your recipe.

Makin' Bacon!

My first attempt at making my own bacon :pig: I will start this week long process by showing the pics from last night. The pork belly. The rub, or cure. Sugar- 1/2c + 3TB Kosher salt- 2TB + 2tsp Pepper- 1/2tsp Pink curing salt- 1-1/2tsp Placed in a lasagna pan and rubbed all over...

www.discusscooking.com

Makin' Bacon 2! Canadian too, eh!?

I am making bacon again. This time with the addition of Canadian, or back bacon. The more I ate the first batch the more I liked it. I decided it wasn't too sweet, just different. Nonetheless I am changing the recipe up some. After talking with the butcher today it was determined that the main...

www.discusscooking.com

Good luck!

 

[JSM83]

Here are a couple of old threads about curing bacon at home that might help.

I’m not sure why you are opposed to following the simple instructions in your recipe.

Makin' Bacon!

My first attempt at making my own bacon :pig: I will start this week long process by showing the pics from last night. The pork belly. The rub, or cure. Sugar- 1/2c + 3TB Kosher salt- 2TB + 2tsp Pepper- 1/2tsp Pink curing salt- 1-1/2tsp Placed in a lasagna pan and rubbed all over...

www.discusscooking.com

Makin' Bacon 2! Canadian too, eh!?

I am making bacon again. This time with the addition of Canadian, or back bacon. The more I ate the first batch the more I liked it. I decided it wasn't too sweet, just different. Nonetheless I am changing the recipe up some. After talking with the butcher today it was determined that the main...

www.discusscooking.com

Good luck!

Hiya - thanks.

There are several reasons;
1). If I follow the recipe, that would mean throwing the pork away if I miss a day - the recipe says change every day, so forgetting a day would be a problem (I often forget to change it with being busy at times). I’ve forgot stuff for nearly 48 hrs before haha

2). Time & money - making the cure mix, in a big batch is time consuming and expensive (ish). You’ll go through five times as much cure and take more time.

3). A great chef said know the reason you’re doing whatever you’re doing. The question I have of myself is - why am I throwing this brine out?

If I can understand the reasoning - I’ll be a better cook

Thanks for replying.

 

[medtran49]

The pork will absorb the brine to some extent. Do you want wet, poppy while cooking bacon?

Do you have a smart phone? Set an alarm for each day.

 

[dragnlaw]

I fully fully understand the "understanding the reasoning" theory. That has been my belief in almost everything where instructions are incurred. Understand why - you are more likely to remember to do and not just say "piffle"
Meanwhile, until you find out why, don't make it, .... as you will probably just end up throwing it out anyhow. I'm assuming that meat was not free nor cheap. Why start something if you have a tendency to not follow through?

Have you checked out any other recipes? Perhaps one that does as Pacanis' which rubbed the liquid back into the meat as it formed.
But truth be told - I did NOT read thru 15 pages of his Thread! LOL

 

[pictonguy]

Hiya - thanks.

There are several reasons;
1). If I follow the recipe, that would mean throwing the pork away if I miss a day - the recipe says change every day, so forgetting a day would be a problem (I often forget to change it with being busy at times). I’ve forgot stuff for nearly 48 hrs before haha

The recipe book says discard this liquid and re-apply the seasoning.

I suspect these are the same issue. A couple of things. You mention you sprinkle the brine on. The dry rub needs to me massaged well into the pork belly and I would add a little smoked paprika not only for taste and colour but to see the extend of massaging has taken place, it's a visual aid, so to speak because looking at sugar and salt you really can't tell, or you could use brown sugar, which is what I use personally if your not doing that.

The next issue I have is that your draining the brine then reapplying. Yeah, no you want to keep the belly well wrapped. I use plastic wrap and I triple wrap and brine for 7-9 days and flip everyday so the liquid absorbs back into the belly and there's no jail time if you forget for a few days, it's not the end of the world. Basically you don't reapply everyday, so don't worry about that. After this time, you wash off the brine. This is the time I normally reapply a coating of cracked black pepper, again pushed well into the belly for adherence and of course for taste.

I then smoke it for normally 3 hours or until internally it comes up to 150 and I usually use hickory or maple.

 

[Badjak]

I'm pretty much with @pictonguy on this.
I use a ziplock bag with as much air removed as I can. Turn every day. You can feel the meat changing after a couple of days.
Duration depends on thickness of the slab

I cold smoke though. Preferably with beech.

Your curing mix doesn't mention sodium nitrite or curing salt. Please check as it is safer to use.
If you don't, then you got to use a much higher percentage of salt...

 

[medtran49]

Your curing mix doesn't mention sodium nitrite or curing salt. Please check as it is safer to use.
If you don't, then you got to use a much higher percentage of salt...

Yes it is, but some people have problems with nitrates, which is why they just use regular salt.

And, it bears mentioning that curing salt MUST be labeled as such as it CANNOT be used as table/cooking salt.

 

[caseydog]

Have you checked out any other recipes? Perhaps one that does as Pacanis' which rubbed the liquid back into the meat as it formed.
But truth be told - I did NOT read thru 15 pages of his Thread! LOL

I have not cured what the British call "streaky bacon," and we in America just call "bacon." I have actually cured Canadian bacon, which is back bacon.

I have Michael Ruhlman's book, Charcuterie, and it is an excellent book about curing meats. He tends to go into the "why's" as well as the "what's" in his books.

CD

 

[Badjak]

I have not cured what the British call "streaky bacon," and we in America just call "bacon." I have actually cured Canadian bacon, which is back bacon.

I have Michael Ruhlman's book, Charcuterie, and it is an excellent book about curing meats. He tends to go into the "why's" as well as the "what's" in his books.

View attachment 68227

CD

I'm glad to see you have the revised edition.
I have the first and unfortunately there are a lot of mistakes and inconsistencies in it

 

[Badjak]

Yes it is, but some people have problems with nitrates, which is why they just use regular salt.

And, it bears mentioning that curing salt MUST be labeled as such as it CANNOT be used as table/cooking salt.

Not sure about the USA, but using nitrate in bacon is not allowed.
It's nitrites only.

Most of mainland Europe you can only get salt with 0.6% sodium nitrite and it gets used straight for curing (and indeed, absolutely not for straight eating).
UK and USA use 6.25% sodium nitrite and that needs diluting with other salt.
I got 8% sodium nitrite, so I got to re-calculate every recipe

A very good source for info and questions is https://en.wedlinydomowe.pl/