Another bacon smoking question


 
It's 113 min, almost 2 hours. The time is exponentially longer at lower temps. At 135 it drops to 36 min, a bit less than 1/3 of the time at 130.
 
Exponentially! That's good to know! Note my post above that DeRamus smokes at 110F for a couple (or few) days - to substantiate your claim of exponentiality.
 
In their case, not exactly.

The highest temps typical food borne pathogens can outgrow is right near 128?F. (That's why the top end of the Danger Zone is 130, not 140 as commonly stated.) Temps of 110 are actually prime outgrowth temps for a few different pathogens. But curing (the use of a high concentration of salt), the use of pink salt (for C. botulinum outgrowth prevention), and the use of smoke are the prime bacterial preventives in meats that do not reach safe internal for sufficient time.

The salt is the primary preventive. Since it needs to be in a fairly high concentration soaking is required after curing to make the bacon more palatable.

If the concentration of salt is not high enough (as in lighter brines) then achieving safe internals is important. (The smoke will help in all cases but should not be relied on exclusively. It is both a bactericide and a bacteriostat.)
 
This past batch of bacon I've DRY CURED using approx 120g of cure per 12.7 pound slab, over 2% as indicated on the label of Allied Kenco's Maple Sugar Cure.

Then, the cured bacon underwent two-one hour soaks each in fresh water, then allowed to dry for 24 hours for pellicle formation. Finally, they're smoking as we speak at a steady temperature on the WSM of 135-140F measured at the lid. Both slabs on the upper and lower grate are measuring 133 and 130F, respectively and have remained there for over one hour.

(One vent I left partially open until knowing it just now. Arrrgh.) I really wanted to smoke this stuff at lower temperatures and will, indeed, learn from experience. 8^)
 
Out of curiosity, is there any procedure for a mixed wet/dry cure? Something along the lines of a wet injection cure and a dry exterior cure. I don't know that belly bacon would need this, but for thicker pieces it would guarantee that the meat is adequately penetrated by cure and flavoring agents.
 
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Out of curiosity, is there any procedure for a mixed wet/dry cure? Something along the lines of a wet injection cure and a dry exterior cure. I don't know that belly bacon would need this, but for thicker pieces it would guarantee that the meat is adequately penetrated by cure and flavoring agents.
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no need, a dry cure and enough time is sufficient. Prosciutto is cured with just surface salt and it makes its way to the bone. And hams are considerably thicker than a belly.

If time is an issue, then I would consider a strong brine method that can cure a belly in 48 hours.
 
j biesinger;22791 I'm coming to the conclusion that bacon is really hard to screw up said:
Agreed. I've become addicted to Jeff's miso bacon and have made three batches of it (about 5 lb per batch) over the past few months. I do think that keeping the smoker temp low is ideal (190 - 210 or so) in order not to develop a hard crust on the belly. I smoke to an internal temp of 145F; very little fat is rendered and the belly is completely cooked.
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Steve_A (Tatoosh) said:
Out of curiosity, is there any procedure for a mixed wet/dry cure? Something along the lines of a wet injection cure and a dry exterior cure. I don't know that belly bacon would need this, but for thicker pieces it would guarantee that the meat is adequately penetrated by cure and flavoring agents.
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I did a wet cure and also injected the cure into a butt to make buckboard bacon. I did this because I was a little short on time and wanted to have the bacon cured/smoked/sliced/frozen to take on vacation. It worked well, but this was a large piece of meat and I was brining it anyway. I'm not sure there'd be any benefit to injected and dry curing -- and you'd probably end up with a pretty wet dry cure after a few hours anyway.
 
Jon Des. said:
I did a wet cure and also injected the cure into a butt to make buckboard bacon. I did this because I was a little short on time and wanted to have the bacon cured/smoked/sliced/frozen to take on vacation. It worked well, but this was a large piece of meat and I was brining it anyway. I'm not sure there'd be any benefit to injected and dry curing -- and you'd probably end up with a pretty wet dry cure after a few hours anyway.
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Thanks, yeah it was one of those passing thoughts. I have done a wet cured bacon once and dry cured bacon three or four times now. To increase speed of curing I am looking into Sodium Erythorbate but I think it is used mostly with wet cures, not dry. I am far too often the victim of the "PPP" syndrome, buying pork belly when my wife informs me we are all out of bacon. So then I'm faced with a 7 day bacon drought.

Gary H So where is the recipe for Jeff's miso bacon? Sounds interesting.
 
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