Otto Von Blotto Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 7 days is too long for a belly. It probably only needs 3-4 at the most, it's not very "tall" so it won't take as long for the cure to penetrate all the way through. That's probably why it's way too salty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer Baron Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 2 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said: 7 days is too long for a belly. It probably only needs 3-4 at the most, it's not very "tall" so it won't take as long for the cure to penetrate all the way through. That's probably why it's way too salty. Thanks Kelsey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 I should say too long in a wet cure. I don't have any experience with dry curing so the timeframe may be different, but Ben does it that way so he will be able to advise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben 10 Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 Dry cure I think was up to around 7 days.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joolbag Posted June 22, 2018 Author Share Posted June 22, 2018 I've dry cured 8 days and it wasn't a problem. This was a pretty things piece of belly too. I wet cured a bit of pork leg for ham recently. My second attempt. I forgot to take the skin off and that made a difference. The cure didn't owner rate to the middle. So I have ham and roast pork slices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben 10 Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 Get a dirty great big needle and inject it.... works REALLY well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Captain!! Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 That’s what the big boys do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 When I did my leg ham I left it in the cure for two weeks. It was only a small one about 2.5kg though. Cured right through it and was a rather deep shade of pink. Beautiful ham. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Captain!! Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 10 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said: When I did my leg ham I left it in the cure for two weeks. It was only a small one about 2.5kg though. Cured right through it and was a rather deep shade of pink. Beautiful ham. Kelsey do you think if you injected that ham you could have shortened the cure time? Not that it really matters, just interested. Captain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 More than likely, but time wasn't an issue. I have thought about doing that at times though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joolbag Posted June 24, 2018 Author Share Posted June 24, 2018 On 6/22/2018 at 9:31 PM, Ben 10 said: Get a dirty great big needle and inject it.... works REALLY well. Ben 10 I have said injecting needle for my brisket. Will inject the ham next cure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer Baron Posted June 26, 2018 Share Posted June 26, 2018 I’ll be doing more bacon in the next week. Even though my first attempt was REALLY salty it is almost gone. I had it on toast with a poached egg every morning. I’ll only leave it in the wet cure for 3-4 days this time and drop the salt a little. My last piece of belly was only about 1-1.5 cms thick so I’ll hunt for a much thicker piece. BB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted June 26, 2018 Share Posted June 26, 2018 Where'd you get it from? I find butchers usually have better cuts than say a supermarket. If you can't find a thicker belly, you can make bacon from loin as well. Personally I prefer the loin because you get more meat and less fat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer Baron Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 On 6/27/2018 at 5:49 AM, Otto Von Blotto said: Where'd you get it from? I find butchers usually have better cuts than say a supermarket. If you can't find a thicker belly, you can make bacon from loin as well. Personally I prefer the loin because you get more meat and less fat. All the butchers I have around me and that I have checked out are average. Below is the best piece I could find. Kelsey, I scaled your recipe and went with the following with my 1 kilo piece. 20 grams of curing salt 120 grams of salt 3 litres of water Ill leave it in the cure for 4 days then leave for 1 day in the fridge rinsed and uncovered and smoke until 65 degrees. What do you think?? BB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 Shame about the butchers. Mine usually stocks better stuff than the supermarket. I did one belly and it was definitely more meat than fat. It turned out nicely but I like the bigger pieces I get from using loin. I'd add sugar to that cure as well. It doesn't make the bacon sweet but it does offset the salt so you don't end up with something like your last attempt. I think for one kilo mine is 175g salt, about 110g sugar and 20ish grams of curing salt. It works well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer Baron Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 57 minutes ago, Otto Von Blotto said: Shame about the butchers. Mine usually stocks better stuff than the supermarket. I did one belly and it was definitely more meat than fat. It turned out nicely but I like the bigger pieces I get from using loin. I'd add sugar to that cure as well. It doesn't make the bacon sweet but it does offset the salt so you don't end up with something like your last attempt. I think for one kilo mine is 175g salt, about 110g sugar and 20ish grams of curing salt. It works well. I made your changes but could only get 80 grams of brown sugar. That’s all the wife had. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 No worries mate, it'll still do the trick. I know it sounds a bit counterintuitive to add sugar to something that's meant to be salty, but it works. I've done a number of batches of bacon and also a couple of hams using that cure mix and they've all turned out really well, except ones that I didn't leave in the cure long enough like the last one, the taste is fine but there's a white patch in the middle of most of the slices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben 10 Posted July 1, 2018 Share Posted July 1, 2018 Enigma Galaxy Kolsch and home made Kielbasa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer Baron Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 Homemade bacon 2.0. Absolutely delicious!! Bacon Baron!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 Glad it worked out better this time! I gotta make a cure on Thursday for a loin to go in Friday for a week and smoke next Saturday. Ate the last batch quickly because of the cure not fully penetrating it. Didn't want it going off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer Baron Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 I think I need to buy a slicer now because this is definitely a permanent thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted July 3, 2018 Share Posted July 3, 2018 1 hour ago, Beer Baron said: I think I need to buy a slicer now because this is definitely a permanent thing Yep, makes it much easier. Takes me about 5-10 minutes to slice it up. My usual plan is to let it cool after smoking, cut the skin off and then refrigerate it overnight before slicing the next day. I find it slices cleaner when it's cold. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted July 5, 2018 Share Posted July 5, 2018 Mixed up a cure for my next lot of bacon. Using a 1.45kg piece of loin this time, so made up about 260g salt, 160g dark brown sugar and 30g curing salt in about 3.5-4L of water. It's coming to the boil on the stove currently, and I'll leave it to cool to room temp and stick it in the fridge tonight with the loin going into it tomorrow for a week (based on the height/thickness of the meat, not the weight). Love home made bacon! Cheers Kelsey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer Baron Posted July 5, 2018 Share Posted July 5, 2018 Mine is pretty good but I’ll tweak it next time to add a bit more salt. It must be alright when my kids always tell me how good it is BB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted July 5, 2018 Share Posted July 5, 2018 Yeah you can do both ways I guess, tweak the amounts or tweak the time it sits in the cure. I've only changed the timing so far as I find the amounts of salt etc work well as they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.