Homemade cured pork belly

[Darryl - swazies]

I have never cured my own pork before and plan on doing some in the next little bit here. My pork butcher doesn't open until Thursday.
With success I hope to move towards pastrami and hopefully corned beef.
I was going to go with the equilibrium cure style, I have tried some of this cooked to eat and it straight up is better than even just buying butcher shop bacon.
Basically a simple dry cure method of salt, sugar and cure #1 or otherwise known as Prague powder.
There is a calculator online that works well if you know how heavy the belly is and you have a scale that weighs in grams.
Looking to also add flavour to it although I am aware that the flavours hardly penetrate the outer layer of the protein.
Looking to purchase a 15 lb ultra fresh belly and get things under way.
I maybe only have room for around 8 lbs or so, babysitting the kettle for 8 hours in the winter doesn't sound like the best Sunday
The recipe that I am going to try and follow includes a dry brine of about 14 days or so, drying for about 2 days in the fridge, looking to smoke as low as possible I was thinking on the rack of the SNS drip pan but put the pan on the on the bottom of the kettle on the charcoal rack next to the SNS with water added to the SNS.
I don't know how warm it gets down there but I am pretty sure its colder down there then at grill level.
I would like to get as much smoke on it as I can all while keeping the belly from getting hotter than 140.
I'm sure folks have done this before and any tips are more than welcome.
I will be sure to add a pretty good recipe here afterwards if the results are good.

 

[Darryl - swazies]

Anyone making their own bacon?
The final result is so much better than any purchased option.
Although it is better tasting the cost associated doesn't make it any cheaper to make it than buy it.
The MRS. tells me I should just give it up as the possibly nitrate injected option is pretty tasty and I shouldn't waste my time
She also doesn't want me to buy more bbq tools too.....lol, they do cost money and apparently there is no where to store anything else, like a meat grinder or meat slicer, or a vac packer........

 

[ChristopherC]

I am gonna try this soon too but on the WSM. Every Prague Powder cute I read about is 7 days rather than 14.

You don’t have a Vacuum sealer??? This is a MUST in my opinion!! I have the Foodsaver Gamesaver Platinum. Godsend!

 

[Darryl - swazies]

I would love a vac pack set up
The recipe or instructions I guess was saying 7 to 14 days in the cure.
Now I bet the 7 days is enough, you do want to make sure of course.
My buddy makes this all the time, he leaves it in the cure for 14 days, " over curing " is almost a thing that is impossible to do
If I was using a pork shoulder or something instead I would be sure to use the 14 days, the thickness of the meat is what you need to be concerned about when it comes to curing times I believe.

 

[timothy]

You would probably get more comments posting here,

 

[Rich G]

Anyone making their own bacon?

Yep...



I use Instacure (cure #1), and typically go about 10 days (so, right in the middle of 7-14.) I know you can go 14, or even 21, as I've done it (not on purpose.) No ill effects to flavor, assuming you do rinse thoroughly, and fry a test piece to check before smoking......HOWEVER, the texture changes. The belly gets much more firm. Not a good or bad thing, but a preference thing for sure.

Oh, and Timothy is right, most of the bacon cooks get posted in the "Charcuterie" forum on the board. Bob Correll's "Bacon Made Easy" has gotten a bit of mileage over the years.

R

 

[Jim Lampe]

Anyone making their own bacon?

hmmm......
ya, try this.

Bacon made easy

Update from Bob & Chris: 10/5/2019 It was recently brought to our attention by a TVWBB member that the Morton salt website says the following about Tender Quick: "We cannot recommend Morton Tender Quick for use with pork belly or bacon. Due to the differing fat content of individual cuts, the...

tvwbb.com

 

[Darryl - swazies]

hmmm......
ya, try this.

Bacon made easy

Update from Bob & Chris: 10/5/2019 It was recently brought to our attention by a TVWBB member that the Morton salt website says the following about Tender Quick: "We cannot recommend Morton Tender Quick for use with pork belly or bacon. Due to the differing fat content of individual cuts, the...

tvwbb.com

Thanks for the link. I believe that Morton's product would carry all the desired elements needed, but I don't know the product at all.
Cure #1, salt and sugar......I was going to add all separately and measured out by weight.
But I will look into this product as well before making my purchase

 

[Darryl - swazies]

Yep...

View attachment 18427

I use Instacure (cure #1), and typically go about 10 days (so, right in the middle of 7-14.) I know you can go 14, or even 21, as I've done it (not on purpose.) No ill effects to flavor, assuming you do rinse thoroughly, and fry a test piece to check before smoking......HOWEVER, the texture changes. The belly gets much more firm. Not a good or bad thing, but a preference thing for sure.

Oh, and Timothy is right, most of the bacon cooks get posted in the "Charcuterie" forum on the board. Bob Correll's "Bacon Made Easy" has gotten a bit of mileage over the years.

R

Thanks Rich,
Is that smoked with pellets, it looks like you got a nice super low temp on the smoke and got some nice colour on that pork there.
I was hoping the lower portion of the kettle right down on the charcoal grate would be cool enough to get more than an hours worth of smoke on it. Anyone tried that before? I would like to try and achieve some charcoal flavour and smoke at a very low temp vs. using my pellet grill.

 

[Rich G]

Thanks Rich,
Is that smoked with pellets, it looks like you got a nice super low temp on the smoke and got some nice colour on that pork there.
I was hoping the lower portion of the kettle right down on the charcoal grate would be cool enough to get more than an hours worth of smoke on it. Anyone tried that before? I would like to try and achieve some charcoal flavour and smoke at a very low temp vs. using my pellet grill.

Yes, that batch was the first thing I cooked on my pellet grill. I've done plenty of bacon on the WSM, and the 26" kettle previously though. The best luck I had with the kettle was to use the snake method with the charcoal. With the proper size snake for your kettle, you should be able to hold low temps for a good period of time. I did not have to reload charcoal while smoking bacon using a snake in the 26".

I've never tried having the meat on the charcoal grate, so I can't comment on that. I don't think it's necessary, though space will be a bit tight on a 22" if you have a couple of slabs like I pictured.

You are right on your comments above about TQ. It's got salt, sugar and cure mixed in. I use the pink salt (#1) because I have it for sausage anyway. I think that Bob originally used it in his bacon because it was easy to get at the store for him (and many others.) The techniques are the same, you just need to follow the instructions on amounts that come with either curing method, and increase or reduce other ingredients as appropriate if you are modifying a recipe.

Good luck!

R

 

[Darryl - swazies]

Thanks Rich
I haven't used the snake method, although I have seen it in videos a lot and I understand why it is done.
I still have to order the cure #1 and the sugar, I was thinking maple sugar and I have the salt.
I also have to order the bacon so if I get my butt in gear here I can be moving in with the cure next weekend, 2 weeks is what I will use too as the final smoke sort of needs to be done on the weekend, when I have time and I can see what is going on actually.....it's dark after work and all my dinners recently are cooked in the dark, with a flashlight in my hand lol
I may consider that snake method as I can use the whole grate then and just rotate it away from the heat as needed..... I would like to be at 200 or less that is why I thought at charcoal grate level would be the coolest.

 

[ChristopherC]

Darryl - sounds like you need a shiny new HEADLAMP under the tree for Christmas....

 

[Darryl - swazies]

I'm going to buy a serious plug in the wall work type light
The warmer months, this isn't a problem but lately its been considerably less fun to " get the weber going "
There are lots of things to do to get it ready vs turning the propane knob to the left.....
If you lived closer Chris, one taste of this bacon my buddy made that I hope to duplicate is all you need and you will be making your own lol

 

[ChristopherC]

I will be trying my own soon...don't you worry!

Honestly a headlamp is a godsend...besides using it for camping it is a dream when grilling at night. Hands are free all the time! And it is useful for other things like walking the dog, working on anything in the dark, where 2 hands free are useful. Plus it is great fashion!

 

[Darryl - swazies]

It was the fashion part I wasn't sure about, but now that you re assured me that it is indeed a fashion statement, I might as well make it my first choice!

 

[Rex McCall]

I cure and smoke about 240 lbs of pork bellies each month
Here is my setup
The cure calculator at diggingdog is a must.

 

[Darryl - swazies]

Yeah!
Got all the good stuff, for 240 lbs you need it I am sure.
digging dog is what I was using for my pre calculations, it seems to do the job easily
Thanks Rex. What do you smoke it in if I may ask since you probably do a lot at once.