Bacon Saltiness Questions


 

JSchlegelmilch

TVWBB Pro
I made some bacon. It was a 7 day cure with salt, pepper and brown sugar. It came out good, but is very salty. The recipe said just to rinse the salt off. What is the best way to prevent over saltiness? My thought is next time to soak it in fresh water for a 1/2 hour after it cures to draw out the excess saltiness. Is that the right way to go?
 
You could soak it for a couple hours, changing the water every 30 minutes, then slice a small test piece off and fry it up and check for saltiness, If its still too salty soak it longer, until
you get the salt level you're looking for. I would think a couple hours would be plenty.
 
Use a calculated amount of salt and allow enough time for the salt and cure to equalize well.
7 days per inch of total thickness usually works well.
2% salt seems to suit most folks.
Once you get the salt % dialed in to your personal preference, you won't need to rinse or soak or fuss in any way.
I cure meat all the time and I haven't soaked anything in 20+ years.

Cure calculator.....
http://www.diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html

HTH

~Martin
 
I agree.
It's a waste of time to oversalt the bacon, and then remove salt by putting the meat into fresh water. In my book 2% is a tad low, but anything between 2 and 2.5% is OK. As you can see, the difference between "not salty" and "too much salt" is not very large, so it is important to use a weight, to eyeball this is both dangerous and it also can make the finished product too salty, or spoiled. Different brands of salts can vary quite a bit in volume, there is a very informative article on the subject on this website. Go by weight, and be sure to get the amount right.
 
Good thread - and I do understand that removing salt seems counter-intuitive after using it. I do soak my bacon - about 30 minutes to lower the saltiness. I figured the salt was part of the process of curing, particularly since I use a dry cure, not a brine. I cure of 7 to 9 days, then rinse and give it a short soak. Then any flavoring rub - such a pepper coating, and off to my smoker, which resembles a Weber 22.5 OTG in every detail. I use the Smokenator insert and it has worked like a charm for me doing smaller amounts of 2 to 3 kilos, roughly 5 or six pounds per session.

I will start a separate thread for a couple of bacon subjects I am curious about: 1) sweeter bacon that doesn't burn easily 2) Combined Curing - using a brine style injection and a dry rub for the exterior.
 

 

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