Home made belly bacon

[JamesB]

So, I've got 10lbs of fresh pork belly w/skin on... I want to make bacon. I've got Tender Quick. What else do I need and need to know?

Thanks!

[BluDawg]

Every thing you need to know ta "Git er Done"http://lpoli.50webs.com/Sausage%20recipes.htm#BRINED
Good luck!

[JamesB]

I've seen that site before. He calls for only 1 Tbs of Cure #1. Wonder how that converts to Tender Quick? If I use that recipe, will probably swap the honey out for maple syrup...

Also, this one appears to be mostly a dry cure... Any advantage to dry vs wet cure?

Found this one too that sounds good. Would most likely skip the all spice and nutmeg.
http://www.bbq-recipes-for-foodies.com/smoke-bacon.html

[BluDawg]

I thought that I saw this some where and i just remembered where http://cowgirlscountry.blogspot.com/200 ... bacon.html you Know that girl knows her hogs

[JamesB]

Well after googling for a couple of hours and searching various forums I took the 9.6lbs of fresh pork belly that I picked up at the local meximart and gave it a rinse under cold water. There was a few pieces 'cause they didn't have a full uncut side.

I found after the research that some folks use 1 Table spoon per lb of meat, some use 1/2 Tbls per lb and some use even less.. I sort of split the middle and went with 7 oz of TQ for the amount of belly I had. I hope I didn't short it too much. To the TQ I added 1/2 cup of fresh coarse ground pepper and a little more than 1/2 cup of turbinado sugar. I ran the sugar and pepper corns through the burr grinder so they were fairly small granules, but not as small as the TQ. Rubbed the various pieces of belly (drizzled two of them with real maple syrup too!) and bagged them up and put 'em in the 38° fridge. Guess I'll give 'em a turn everyday for a week and see where we end up...

Now I'm wondering if I should drain off any accumlated juices from the bags each day? Some folks do, others say not to... hummm....

[BluDawg]

Looks like that will work you gona be eating Real Good in about a week. I got the shakes just looking at the pictures. I ate a few little smokies to take the edge off Ill be Ok.

[DJ]

Good looking Bacon James. As a kid we brined it in an oak barrel with a rock on the bacon to keep it submeged. Also used to cold smoke it in the smokehouse. I'm thinking yours will turn out just fine.
dj

[Stan41]

"I sort of split the middle and went with 7 oz of TQ for the amount of belly I had."

Did you really mean 7 ounces?

Stan41

[Stan41]

Here's some good information from the Complete Guide to Home Meat Curing by the Morton Salt Co. You might want to save it for future reference.



Stan41

[BluDawg]

Good info Stan thanks.

[JamesB]

"I sort of split the middle and went with 7 oz of TQ for the amount of belly I had."

Did you really mean 7 ounces?

Stan41

Yes, 7 ounces... Thanks for the other info!

Thanks to DJ too!

[DATsBBQ]

Cure #1 & #2 is more potent than MTQ, hence the need to use more of MTQ.

I've never done real bacon so I'm looking forward to the end results

[Stan41]

Cure #1 contains 6.25% Sodium nitrite; 93.75% Salt (for fresh and cooked sausages)

Cure #2 contains 6.25% Sodium nitrite; 4% Sodium nitrate and 89.75% Salt (for dry-cured sausages)

Tender Quick contains 0.5% Sodium nitrite, 0.5% Sodium nitrate, Salt, Sugar, and Propylene glycol (for brined meats)

Saltpeter is 100% Potassium nitrate (not recommended...to difficult to measure in the small quantities needed)

Stan

[ChileFarmer]

James, good start, I am sure looking forward to the end results. CF

[Pony Express]

whats the purpose of the cornmeal?