Smokin-It User Forum!
Recipes => Bacon! => Topic started by: Pork Belly on June 11, 2014, 11:40:10 AM
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Everybody doesn't have a scale so I listed different measuring options.
Basic Dry Cure
1Pound or 450 grams Kosher Salt
8 oz. or 225 Grams Sugar
2 oz. or 50 grams or 10 teaspoons Pink Salt- Sodium Nitrite
After assembling your Basic Cure you need to decide on your cut of meat. Are you doing Bellies, Loin or Boneless Pork But? It doesn't matter all these steps are the same. Take approximately two cups of you cure and pour it onto a cookie sheet. Spread the cure evenly and begin rolling and patting you choice of meat in the brine as if you were dredging meat to fry it. The cure will adhere to the meat. Continue to coat the meat until it cant hold anymore cure, adding more cure ass needed. Discard any cure that made contact with meat, store remaining cure in an airtight container.
My preferred method for the next step is take a zip top bag large enough to easily hold your cut of meat without loosing its seal. Place 1/4 cup maple syrup and 1/4 cup brown sugar inside the bag. Using your hands rub the bag mixing the sugar and syrup to coat the inside of the bag. be careful not to get sugar in the zip seal. Add your cured meat to the bag, remove as much air as you can and add the meat. Insure you have a good seal and place in a container large enough to hold any leaks. The container of bagged meat should remain in the fridge for seven days. Each day visit the fridge admire what you crafted and flip the bag over. Multiple bags can be stacked if needed. On The seventh Day remove the meat from the bags, rinse it well under cold water and immediately pat it dry with paper-towels. Return the meat to the fridge and place it directly on the racks of without covering it. There wont be any leaching or dripping don't panic. The meat should remain in this step for at least 24 hours longer is not harmful. The meat is cured, it is preserved now. Leaving it in the fridge allows for it to dry enough for the smoke to adhere. Continued storage in this manner just removes more moisture and concentrates the flavors.
I prefer to load cold meat in a cold smoker then Cold smoke at 100 for 2 hours minimum. I then bump up the heat to 200 and cook to an internal temp of 150 on a probe thermometer. Remove from the smoker and remove the skin from the belly if there is one. I always leave the skin on until this stage. Now place the meat on racks and cookie sheets place in fridge covered loosely with wax paper for 24 hours before slicing. Use a slicer if you have one if not an extremely sharp knife works also.
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When it comes out of the smoker your pork is fully cured and cooked and can be eaten as is. I recommend taste testing before you put it in the fridge, because its awesome at this point.
When crisping or frying the bacon it should be done on a medium heat don't rush it or the sugars will burn.
The boneless butt should be sliced and fried like bacon. You know its marbled with fat so it will be good, its just not pork belly. The loins can be sliced thick and pan seared, or sliced thin and eaten cold on sandwiches or crackers.
So now lets switch it up a bit, if you don't like a sweet bacon skip that step. How about adding a heavy load of black pepper after you have applied the dry cure? The curing step preserves it, the flavor step is personal choice. Add some more black pepper after you rinse and pat dry if you like.
Here is something, Cure it but don't smoke it. Complete the dredging in cure then zip it up with a few tablespoons of crushed garlic, some chopped fresh herbs of you choosing and some black pepper. Seal it up and do the seven day flip. Rinse and pat dry(little bits may stick that's OK) throw on a bit more pepper. Poke a few holes in it to run some butchers twine through it and hang for additional drying in your pantry, or any cool dry place. You just made Panchetta Tessa, a dry cured Italian bacon. For Tessa I prefer a three pound piece of belly it gets used in about six meals. The Italians also roll Panchetta into stylish rounds of spiraled belly but that's a different lesson.
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Interesting, thorough and sounds delicious. Good to have you here, PB.
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Looks like a great method, Brian!
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Thanks for the comments. I have been reading some of the wet brine bacon posts. I admit I have not tried it that way. I am sure you guys are enjoying what your making, but I don't think I am going down that road. I would like to taste it but just not going to commit to a large batch.
As I understand it and have applied the method, we brine to increase moisture. We have all talked about that, in the poultry section especially. Traditionally the bellies and hams were hand rubbed with salt to release moisture. The meat sat on crude shelves or benches in the smoke house where this moisture was allowed to drain away. After the meat had cured it was smoked to enhance preservation and smoke tasted good. It tastes great actually that is why bacon is so popular and salt pork has faded away. Wet brined bacon sometimes injected, is actually a commercial operation practice.
The method I use is actually a combination of the old style and your brine. The salt is rubbed into the meat and it begins to shed moisture. What ever flavoring ingredient you have added mingles with that released water and forms a slurry that surrounds the meat. The meat then absorbs the flavors you have applied. Sometimes a belly will give off a few cups of moisture, some give hardly any just depends on the pig. I see a big difference in commercial production (wetter) and small farm heritage pigs.
The next step is letting it chill out in the fridge on a rack for a day or two to loose moisture and crust up a bit. If the second to the last step is to dry the meat, I personally don't want to take it for a 12 day swim. For a thinner belly I could do a six day cure, I'm running seven days on bellies that average two inches thick.
I would post some pics but it keeps telling me they are too big. I got others to post just not of the bacon.
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I recently made a batch of Buckboard Bacon (Boston Butt) with a wet brine and it was absolutely fantastic.
The brining is just so easy and I know that I am getting a uniform penetration of the meat.
I know there are a lot of bacon purists out there like you and others and that is fine. I'm gonna stick with the wet brining. I like my BBB as well as any belly bacon that I have had. So, I am not sure if I will ever bother with a belly unless I find a great deal on some.
Really cool post/recipe you have here though.
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I started a batch of bacon today so I took the time to get some pictures to illustrate the process. I am doing two large pieces of belly and a good size piece of collar. Collar is the meaty section from behind the hogs head before the shoulder.
Today I am using a meat lug and not zip top bags due to the size of the bellies. I will still flip them every day for seven days as the recipe calls for
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I wanted to post an update on my last batch of bacon. The two sections of belly and half of a pork collar have been refrigerated, resting and rotating in a meat lug (big tub) for seven days. After a rinse and pat dry the hung out in the fridge uncovered on the rack for 48 hours. That is an extra 24, but I had a thermometer failure and couldn't smoke them until I replaced it, nothing hurt by waiting. The meat is preserved by curing and just requires the smoke for flavor. I started with 4.7 oz of sugar maple at 145 for two hours the upped the temp to 200 and continued to cook until I reached 150 IT.
I started with the probe in the collar as it was the thinnest and switched it as pieces hit the correct IT. The pictures I am posting are of the collar. I hand sliced some for BLT's. I used a baking sheet and rack in a 400 oven for 12 minutes.
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Oh, baby!! ;D ;D Nice job!
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Thank You, I fired up the my 1945 Hobart 210 slicer and this is what I had fifteen minutes later. This was the best batch of bacon I have done. I had good results in the past on a Trager or in a Bradley But I can tell by the condition of the fat cap on the bellies that my #3 was not giving me the high temperature spikes I had in the other brands. There was no melting of the fat cap, or dry ends or edges on the meat layer.
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Wow, that looks really good. Thanks for sharing Brian.
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Those top 2 pics, especially, look like they're right out of a food magazine! Great color, and very appetizing!
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Hey Brian, currently working your dry cured bacon. In the #2 as we speak. I will post pics when done. Can you tell me if you have used cold smoke for bacon? If so, I would like to give it a shot. How is it done with cold smoke? What's the difference in flavor?
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I have in the past but did not on this batch. I have done 2 to 4 hours of cold smoke then ran it at 200 until 150 IT. The weather has not allowed me to do a prolonged cold smoke. I want the ambient temp below 40 for that.
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Everybody doesn't have a scale so I listed different measuring options.
Basic Dry Cure
1Pound or 450 grams Kosher Salt
8 oz. or 225 Grams Sugar
2 oz. or 50 grams or 10 teaspoons Pink Salt- Sodium Nitrite
After assembling your Basic Cure you need to decide on your cut of meat. Are you doing Bellies, Loin or Boneless Pork But? It doesn't matter all these steps are the same. Take approximately two cups of you cure and pour it onto a cookie sheet. Spread the cure evenly and begin rolling and patting you choice of meat in the brine as if you were dredging meat to fry it. The cure will adhere to the meat. Continue to coat the meat until it cant hold anymore cure, adding more cure ass needed. Discard any cure that made contact with meat, store remaining cure in an airtight container.
My preferred method for the next step is take a zip top bag large enough to easily hold your cut of meat without loosing its seal. Place 1/4 cup maple syrup and 1/4 cup brown sugar inside the bag. Using your hands rub the bag mixing the sugar and syrup to coat the inside of the bag. be careful not to get sugar in the zip seal. Add your cured meat to the bag, remove as much air as you can and add the meat. Insure you have a good seal and place in a container large enough to hold any leaks. The container of bagged meat should remain in the fridge for seven days. Each day visit the fridge admire what you crafted and flip the bag over. Multiple bags can be stacked if needed. On The seventh Day remove the meat from the bags, rinse it well under cold water and immediately pat it dry with paper-towels. Return the meat to the fridge and place it directly on the racks of without covering it. There wont be any leaching or dripping don't panic. The meat should remain in this step for at least 24 hours longer is not harmful. The meat is cured, it is preserved now. Leaving it in the fridge allows for it to dry enough for the smoke to adhere. Continued storage in this manner just removes more moisture and concentrates the flavors.
I prefer to load cold meat in a cold smoker then Cold smoke at 100 for 2 hours minimum. I then bump up the heat to 200 and cook to an internal temp of 150 on a probe thermometer. Remove from the smoker and remove the skin from the belly if there is one. I always leave the skin on until this stage. Now place the meat on racks and cookie sheets place in fridge covered loosely with wax paper for 24 hours before slicing. Use a slicer if you have one if not an extremely sharp knife works also.
Brian,
I bought a 4 lb trimmed belly at the butcher shop today. How much of the cure above will I need?
Thanks Greg
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Mix a batch of cure, dump about one cup of cure in a baking dish large enough to hold that chunk of belly. Dredge the meat in the cure mix patting and rubbing as you progress. Pick up the fully covered belly and gently sake of excess.
That is referred to as the "Salt-Box" method. It is by far the simplest way to go. Be aware that you can get A LOT of salt to stick to the belly if you try. What you want is a nice even coating. I have some picks of it on the original posting. Do not attempt to reuse any cure that excess and came in contact with the meat. Seal remaining cure in an airtight container.
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Hey Brian, Want to try my hand at BBB as called several places today looking for a pork belly. None to be had, but there are some Asian grocery stores that I have not tried. Am going to get a 7# to 8# Boston Butt and take the bone out myself. Then cut in half. I can just dredge in your recipe until it will not hold any more cure mixture. Then into the zip lock with brown sugar and maple syrup. And your recipe will work for Buckboard bacon, right?
Thanks,
Bill
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Yea that will work, it just needs to be well covered not caked on. I haven't done butts just belies but have watched a few videos where the butts were de-boned and split in half so the entire thick meaty fat cap was "belly like". If you picture the fat cap as being the skin side, that entire skin side layer was removed about 1.5 inches deep.
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Brian where do you have luck getting your bellies? I tried wal-mart, restaurant depot, different price choppers and one Hi Vee. None had them. And from what some say they are kind of pricy. That is one of the reasons I wanted to try my hand at a Butt first. I will also look at some videos on you tube. Just with the new computer the older videos play but the sound is messed up.
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Brian where do you have luck getting your bellies? I tried wal-mart, restaurant depot, different price choppers and one Hi Vee. None had them. And from what some say they are kind of pricy. That is one of the reasons I wanted to try my hand at a Butt first. I will also look at some videos on you tube. Just with the new computer the older videos play but the sound is messed up.
Bill,
I had the same problem trying to find, I did a search for local butchers and found one 40 miles away. We live in a small town (Saint Augustine Fl) so 40 miles was the closest. They always seem to have 4-5 lb. bellies on hand. I have one in the freezer that I plan to do in the near future.
Greg
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Hey Greg Tony and I have many ideas on smoking the cobra if it shows up in your area. ??? I just did some local groceries. I am going to try the buckboard bacon using a Boston Butt. Then in the mean time will give me a little more time to see if can find one. 40 miles would be a nice bike trip. I did a 7# brisket today and it came out not so good. I tried the rub from Texasbbqrub.com that I was sucked into buying when I purchased the bbq gloves from that site. I also tried the tender quick on it and had a nice smoke ring. I used some red oak and maple from smokinlicious and it had a good smoke flavor. Just the rub ruined it so back to John Henry's pecan rub. Thanks for the advice.
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Brian where do you have luck getting your bellies? I tried wal-mart, restaurant depot, different price choppers and one Hi Vee. None had them. And from what some say they are kind of pricy. That is one of the reasons I wanted to try my hand at a Butt first. I will also look at some videos on you tube. Just with the new computer the older videos play but the sound is messed up.
Bill,
I had the same problem trying to find, I did a search for local butchers and found one 40 miles away. We live in a small town (Saint Augustine Fl) so 40 miles was the closest. They always seem to have 4-5 lb. bellies on hand. I have one in the freezer that I plan to do in the near future.
Greg
After doing some searching I found a local butcher shop about 30 min. from my house that sells pork bellies at 4.89 per pound. But, only in 2 or 3 pound sizes, I think I can work with this.
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FYI for future reference our local Costco has started carrying pork belly. You might check that out.
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Thanks Bob I will check them out as would like to try and find some 5# bellies. But, found one other butcher here that is selling the berkshire pork. And bellies are $8 per pound. I also want to check Sam's and see if they have them.
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Thanks to all on this thread for your help on my first attempt at bacon. I did have a hard time getting it to smoke at 100 degrees however. It was 60 degrees outside today. I'll let this sit in the fridge overnight before slicing and frying the bacon. I've attached a picture
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We typically buy two whole hogs a year so that's a good bit of belly. I have seen some nice bellies at Costco, I would call them frequently and ask them to hold some if they are in. Oriental and mexican stores often have them also.
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Is the pink salt 100% required for the cure?
Thanks, Ray
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You can not use it if you don't mind possible sickness and death.
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+1 to Brian. It is just not worth the risk to leave pink salt out.
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I have 8lbs of belly curing today, using the basic process above. I didn’t think to look hear but read this in the book Charcuterie. I tried three different types since this is my first go at bacon. Basic recipe for one, one added 1/4 cup of brown sugar and then a savory batch of garlic, pepper and bay leaf. Each is about 2.75lbs. Looking forward to trying this.
One question I do have, why the 1-2 day air dry in the fridge? Does it help with the flavor, similar to a dry age steak or dry brined steak?
Thanks for the pics and steps above.
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It dries the surface to better accept smoke. Prolonged time in the fridge, exceding 24 hours, dries the meat and fat improving texture.
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Well, the bacon cured, rested overnight in fridge after a rinse and smoked today with a sweet blend of chips and a small chunk of sugar
Maple. I did a off/on process on the smoker, trying to get as much smoke as possible. Overall, 3 hours before it came to temp. I don’t have the cold smoke gear so went this way. The nibble test showed a good hammy texture. A little salty but this was on the end so hoping once it’s sliced up it’s not so bad.
Can’t wait for the weekend after it’s set up a bit in fridge for slicing.
Thanks for the info and answer to my questions.
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That looks amazing!
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Here is something, Cure it but don't smoke it. Complete the dredging in cure then zip it up with a few tablespoons of crushed garlic, some chopped fresh herbs of you choosing and some black pepper. Seal it up and do the seven day flip. Rinse and pat dry(little bits may stick that's OK) throw on a bit more pepper. Poke a few holes in it to run some butchers twine through it and hang for additional drying in your pantry, or any cool dry place. You just made Panchetta Tessa, a dry cured Italian bacon. For Tessa I prefer a three pound piece of belly it gets used in about six meals. The Italians also roll Panchetta into stylish rounds of spiraled belly but that's a different lesson.
This is my next thing to try. Has anyone on the forum tried this, or things similar? Lately I have been watching YouTubes of making homemade capocollo and other dry cured meats. Fantastic stuff. I want to make it all.