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[Bentley]

After 20 minuts of searching for the last time I started a thread on home cured bacon and not finding anything I started...I give you the latest 9.52lb. $2.99/Lb. Costco Belly!

5 days in and I wanted to see where it is.  This is pretty much by the book.  4320gr pork belly, cure calculator says for a 2% salt, 1% sugar and 175ppm cure I needed:

12gr #1
75gr Pickling Salt
43gr Cane Sugar

Threw in some black pepper for fun.  Got some in the oven right now and will see how it come out in about 10 minutes.

[hughver]

Looks good, oven or microwave is the way to go with bacon. Wire racks inside the cookie sheet help even cooking. Someone here suggested cooking bacon on the pellet grill, sounds good to me.

[Bentley]

Kristin still feels to salty, even at 2%, not sure that I have ever gone under that.  She may have preferred the Wet Cure the last time.  I will agree that it is almost as salty as the ridicules 3 1/2% I did last time.  I guess the next one I will go 1% and cut back to 156ppm on the cure.

I used to take the time to put them on rack, but I found that 30 minutes at 350° right on the cookie sheet works good for me.

For you Members that home cure, is it me, or does the home cured stuff shrink up more then store bought?

[pmillen]

Someone here suggested cooking bacon on the pellet grill, sounds good to me.

It may have been me 'cuz I frequently suggest it.  300° on a rack so the grease runs off is my favorite way to cook bacon.

[yorkdude]

For you Members that home cure, is it me, or does the home cured stuff shrink up more then store bought?


[/quote]It does seem to shrink more sometimes but not always but not a huge amount.
It also though does always seem to lay flatter when cooking, is that what you find also?

[Bentley]

It has been awhile since I cooked store bought in the oven, I will have to try some and let you know.

[bregent]

>For you Members that home cure, is it me, or does the
>home cured stuff shrink up more then store bought?

I've never noticed anything like that. But I haven't cooked store bought in a few years.

[mowin]

Bentley, meat absorbs salt at a faster rate then sugar.  Give the next try 10-14 days cure time. I think you'll find it less salty.

[yorkdude]

I often add sugar but not always. We always do a thorough rinse and then fry 1 test piece, if too salty more rinse and often will get a soak as well. I also almost always dry brine and about 10 days or so also.

[Bentley]

You find that more sugar penetration lessens the salt taste even though it has the same amount of salt in it?

Bentley, meat absorbs salt at a faster rate then sugar.  Give the next try 10-14 days cure time. I think you'll find it less salty.

I will be curious to see if cold smoking has any effect on saltiness.  I think that is physically impossible, but who knows.

[mowin]

You find that more sugar penetration lessens the salt taste even though it has the same amount of salt in it?

Bentley, meat absorbs salt at a faster rate then sugar.  Give the next try 10-14 days cure time. I think you'll find it less salty.

I will be curious to see if cold smoking has any effect on saltiness.  I think that is physically impossible, but who knows.

Yes.  The sugar is in the brine to counteract/reduce the saltiness. But it takes longer to absorb the sugars. 

I've only warm/hot smoked bacon once, as I prefer to cold smoke. I don't recall it being too salty. I don't use salt on any of my food, so i notice foods that are salty.

[bregent]

>You find that more sugar penetration lessens the salt
>taste even though it has the same amount of salt in it?

I've never found sugar to be a cure for too much salt. It helps overcome bitterness and sourness (acid), but has no effect on saltiness in my experience.

[mowin]

>You find that more sugar penetration lessens the salt
>taste even though it has the same amount of salt in it?

I've never found sugar to be a cure for too much salt. It helps overcome bitterness and sourness (acid), but has no effect on saltiness in my experience.

Sugar is not a cure for too much salt..  what I'm saying, is if the salt isn't excessive, I use 2%, you need to give the sugar time to absorb into the meat.  I don't need to soak my bellies at all. I always cure 12-14 days. 

I make venison pastrami.  I make a batch for a 80 yr old gentleman every yr. He likes it "sweeter" so I double the sugar. 14 day emersion cure. I like it,  but it very sweet. The old timer is all smiles.. lol

[Bentley]

I know I have never pulled a belly at 4 1/2 days, and I certainly do not know the chemistry of curing, so it will be an excellent data quest the next time and we will go 10-12 days!

[LowSlowJoe]

I'd just add a little more sugar...  from memory, my go to is about 2% salt 1.5% sugar, but sometimes I think I end up closer to 1.8% of each.  I have never really cured more then the minimum , or about 5 to 10 days. 

I've been lead to believe that sugar, and most anything besides salt and maybe the Nitrite, ever gets deep into the bacon.  That is, stuff I've read says that spices and sugar, really don't go much beyond the very surface of the meat...

I do think additional sugar can make it less salty, but then I don't know that there's any good reason to not just reduce salt.  As far as I know, when we are making bacon like this , we aren't really doing it to preserve the meat, just trying to make it safe to cook/eat.  Since, it's refrigerated during the entire time it's cured, and you've got Nitrites,  there's very little chance of anything nasty growing on it, so no good reason to heavily salt it.

Now, if you were planning on true cold smoke, maybe some further need for salt, but I've read that for salt to actually do anything to prevent growth of nasty stuff, it's got to be added in concentrations way more of it then most of us would want to eat. So, even when I've done true cold smoking, I've never went much above 2%.