First Bacon using the Corell Method - question on saltiness


 
S

Stuart S

TVWBB Pro
Started my first batch of bacon last Saturday. Picked up a side of pork belly and cut it into roughly equal parts. Used the weight of each slab (about 2kg or 4.4lbs) to figure out how much MTQ to use. One batch had maple syrup, turbanado sugar and granulated garlic and the other had apple butter syrup, brown sugar, granulated garlic and black pepper. Bagged and rotated daily until today when they were firm, then rinsed well in cold water.

Here's the apple butter version:
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And the maple syrup version:
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I cut some test slices and fried them up:
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Quite tasty but both my wife, and I, found it to be quite salty. I've got them soaking in cold water with ice in the sink right now, hoping to cut back on the salt. I'm going to try and hour soak and then fry some more. Would that cut down the salt?
 
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Stuart,
Using 1 TBS. MTQ per pound, and a few good rinses after cure time, I've never had a problem with saltiness.
I do suggest changing the rinse water often, rather than a prolonged soak.
Hope it turns out well for you.
 
Bob Correll said:
Stuart,
Using 1 TBS. MTQ per pound, and a few good rinses after cure time, I've never had a problem with saltiness.
I do suggest changing the rinse water often, rather than a prolonged soak.
Hope it turns out well for you.
Click to expand...

Thanks Bob, I soaked them for 30 minutes, then changed the water and soaked them for another 30. I had to run out and get something at toys r us so I put them in the fridge on a cookie rack, will test fry another strip and rinse again if necessary.

I did the MTQ by weight, 1/2 ounce, or 14.17 grams per pound...for example one was 1.89kg so I multiplied by 2.2 to get 4.16 which I multiplied by 14.17 to get 59g of MTQ.

A tablespoon, as Gier said on your original post, is a rather imprecise method of measure :)
 
After a quick calculation, it seems like you have used a tad more salt than I usually do, a bit depending on how much sugar there is in MTQ. I normally use 20-22 grams of salt per kilo on my bacon, and it turns out a little less salty than store- bought.

If you use 3% salt, that is a quite big difference compared to 2,2%. If you measure up 8 grams of salt, that is not much..

I think that the salt tast seems to "mellow out" a tad after a couple of days of storage, and the pork flavor takes over. I think that is the fact with almost all cold/ low temp smoked food, such as bacon, turkey breasts ment for lunch food, sausages, as well as salmon and other kinds of fish.
 
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Geir Widar said:
After a quick calculation, it seems like you have used a tad more salt than I usually do, a bit depending on how much sugar there is in MTQ. I normally use 20-22 grams of salt per kilo on my bacon, and it turns out a little less salty than store- bought.

If you use 3% salt, that is a quite big difference compared to 2,2%. If you measure up 8 grams of salt, that is not much..

I think that the salt tast seems to "mellow out" a tad after a couple of days of storage, and the pork flavor takes over. I think that is the fact with almost all cold/ low temp smoked food, such as bacon, turkey breasts ment for lunch food, sausages, as well as salmon and other kinds of fish.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure what the ratio of salt and sugar are in the tenderquick. They list the ingredients as Salt, Sugar 0.5% Sodium Nitrate and 0.5% Sodium Nitrite and Propylene Glycol (humidity prevention agent).

It's primarily salt for sure...
 
Geir Widar said:
After a quick calculation, it seems like you have used a tad more salt than I usually do, a bit depending on how much sugar there is in MTQ. I normally use 20-22 grams of salt per kilo on my bacon, and it turns out a little less salty than store- bought.

If you use 3% salt, that is a quite big difference compared to 2,2%. If you measure up 8 grams of salt, that is not much..

I think that the salt tast seems to "mellow out" a tad after a couple of days of storage, and the pork flavor takes over. I think that is the fact with almost all cold/ low temp smoked food, such as bacon, turkey breasts ment for lunch food, sausages, as well as salmon and other kinds of fish.
Click to expand...

MTQ is 2% sugar and approximately 97% salt, and does, as you said, provide roughly 3% salt when used as directed.
There's nothing wrong with cutting back on the MTQ a tad if the salt is consistently too much for you, personally, I've never had a problem with MTQ making bacon too salty when sufficient time is allowed for the salt to equalize throughout the meat. I cure for 5 days per inch of total thickness, plus 1 day. I've never had to soak the meat to adjust the saltiness.


~Martin
 
MartinF DiggingDogFarm said:
MTQ is 2% sugar and approximately 97% salt, and does, as you said, provide roughly 3% salt when used as directed.
There's nothing wrong with cutting back on the MTQ a tad if the salt is consistently too much for you, personally, I've never had a problem with MTQ making bacon too salty when sufficient time is allowed for the salt to equalize throughout the meat. I cure for 5 days per inch of total thickness, plus 1 day. I've never had to soak the meat to adjust the saltiness.


~Martin
Click to expand...

Using the guide you posted above for length of curing I'd say I was bang on, totally of 6 days and the majority of the cuts were just under an inch in thickness.

Ran the WSM tonight to smoke it with applewood, using my BBQ guru to keep the temp at 170. Ambient temp was 14 degrees Fahrenheit, or -6 Celsius and it ran like a champ. I was taking the middle off every 2 hours to adjust the coals and using my bare hands to handle it!

The highest I got the slabs to was 145, not sure if that will represent a problem??

I immediately bagged the bacon after 5 hours and put it in a cooler that was sitting on the deck full of water that had iced over...I broke the ice up by kicking the cooler and I have to say that it was about the best ice bath I've ever used. The combo of the cold water, ice and cold cooler brought the temps on the bacon down FAST.

Plan is to slice it on the meat slicer tomorrow, distribute some to family members and freeze the extra.
 
I've found that soaking for 1 hour removes a lot of saltiness. But if necessary, change the soak water and let the bacon sit for a second hour. I usually soak after curing and before smoking.
 
Smoked my slabs last Saturday, then left them in the fridge to mellow out for a week. Finally sliced some on my slicer today...

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Finished apple syrup and brown sugar version:
18549F77-6A98-4AFB-93B1-FEE25F21D23D-813-000000BC9A805044.jpg


I've still got two full slabs of the maple syrup and turbanado sugar version the same size as the one above to slice and package this afternoon.
 
I'd really like to try this! Fantastic bacon!

Regarding the amount of salt, one of the advantages of making your own bacon, is that you can adjust this to your own taste. There is no correct answer.
 
We fried some up after lunch for BLT's and I have to say, BEST BACON EVER!!

The soak in the water definitely mellowed out the salt.
 
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