Bacon made easy

[Bruce McLeod]

Canucks looking for any sausage-making supplies should check out Stuffers Supply Company in Langley, BC.
I live close enough to them that I can pick up what I need to make almost any sausages. On my last trip, I picked up some hard-to-find things like juniper berries and Prague Powder as well as gluten-free seasoning mixes.
Whatever you need, they probably have it in terms of spices, curing salt, sausage-making seasoning mixes and equipment. They ship across Canada, their prices are very reasonable and the quality is top-notch.
http://www.stuffers.com/

 

[Gerry Ackerman]

Morton's site says Tender Quick is temporarily unavailable. Has anyone tried Morton Sugar Cure and how does it compare? I'll be using it for bacon.

 

[Bob Correll]

Gerry,
Sorry for this late response.
The sugar cure will work fine for bacon too, but I'm not sure of the ratio to use, it should be on the bag.
I've used it for hams in the past, but not sure if I ever tried it on bacon.
Good luck!

 

[MartinF DiggingDogFarm]

Morton Sugar Cure is essentially the same thing as Tender Quick, but Sugar Cure has an added spice packet. Their smoke flavored Sugar Cure is, however, a totally different product.


~Martin

 

[Jabe G]

Thanks for the information.

 

[r benash]

How would you make the conversion from TQ to pink salt? I guess I can just look up a recipe, but figured I'd ask anyway.

Like the simplicity here. I made my first batch of maple cure a month or so ago. About 3lbs. I used just kosher salt with that one. Dang it went fast! Everybody loved it. And that was from belly that had been vac sealed in the freezer for a good long while.

Gotta get more belly!

Replenished my supply of pink salt since then. Can't find TQ readily around here.

 

[MartinF DiggingDogFarm]

How would you make the conversion from TQ to pink salt?

Here's my MTQ alternative:

All-Purpose Cure Mix

17.5 oz canning/pickling salt

5.5 oz granulated sugar

2 oz cure #1

This can be used at the same rate as Morton's Tender Quick, 1 tablespoon (14 grams) of mix per pound of whole cuts.
It's essential to use pickling salt so that the salt, sugar and cure particle size are all nearly the same.
The above mix provides 156ppm and 2.4% salt compared to MTQ' 3%
Mix well before using.

~Martin

 

[r benash]

Thanks Martin

 

[Stuart S]

Just to confirm Martin, your mix above can be used in the same manner as MTQ in this thread by applying directly to the belly?

 

[MartinF DiggingDogFarm]

Just to confirm Martin, your mix above can be used in the same manner as MTQ in this thread by applying directly to the belly?

Yes.

~Martin

 

[Tommy Thompson]

Hi Bob
Put up my first bacon today using your game plan. Dont got no goldfish but gotta white ceramic spoon that says 1 tbsp---15ml. Leveled it with MTQ. it is equal to 19gms. So I used 1 tbsp of my spoon aka my goldfish of MTQ per pound. Thanks for your help. I appreciate everything.
Bacon, Its gonna be great, but dont know how much great.
Regards
Tommy

 

[Bob Correll]

Tommy,
I have a confession to make, I don't even own a set of the goldfish spoons.
It was just a tease for Metric Man Geir.

Keep it turned, and let us know how it turns out!

 

[Jim Lampe]

First Bacon

12.25 pounds

sliced into quarters

freeze three quarters

and this is after the cure, rinsed and ready to sit overnight in the fridge.

shortly, i will brave the 10ºF temps outside to smoke this bacon.
Thank You Bob Correll (and all the others who have done this) for this inspiration.

 

[r benash]

So Mr. Jim - you took the skin off then for the smoke? I did on my first. Funny I thought you had done the bacon thing before. Can't wait to do another Need to pick up some more belly.

 

[Jim Lampe]

Ray, the belly came with the skin off. and i have never done bacon before...
here it's on the grill at 10 am this morning...

and this photo is after two hours on.

 

[Rick Body]

Ok, maybe this a dumb couple of questions but I havent even got my supplies yet and I am excited about making some of my own bacon...

First, do you rub the cure on both sides of the belly or just the meat side?
Second, the part about turning it while it is curing, does that just mean flipping it over and what does that do for it with a dry cure?

Thanks in advance, great thread here

 

[Geir Widar]

Try to distribute your cure as evenly as you can.
Flipping- some slabs drops some moisture/salt water in the bag. We flip the bag so that the salt is evenly distributed. No big deal, really. I've "cheated" on the flipping several times, forgot to do it, and have never experienced any problems. I still recommend it, though.

 

[Jim Lampe]

final product.

i tried a very small piece...

by the way.... who is Oscar Mayer and who gave him premission to sell bacon?
This Shirt is GREAT!!

 

[r benash]

Nice work Jim

 

[Jim Lampe]

Thank you Ray