hi - so I cured and cold smoked some bacon recently but was sorely disappointed with the result. I did the Son of Bees recipe on here and another one I found on a BBQ site. I made sure I calculated and measured the ingredients out exactly for the two 5lb bellies I had.
Neither of the bellies had good flavor or even the flavor profile of the recipe. I'm not sure how to describe it but there was just an off-putting flavor to both bellies.
So before I plop down more $$ I just want to see what I might have done wrong since I clearly messed up two very different recipes.
One question I have is that durning the cure process there was not enough liquid in the bag to cover the entire belly during the 7 day cure process. After Day 2 I added some water to both bags but even after this I didn't have enough liquid in the bags such that it covered both bellies completely. I simply turned them over every day. Given this was a dry cure I wasn't sure whether there should have been enough liquid to cover the entire belly or not.
Not sure if that helps but if anyone has a potential idea as to what I did wrong I'm all ears.
Thanks!
Bacon was "off"....
I am not familiar with that recipe on here but I can tell you that dry cures are just that....dry cures. The water/liquid in the bag is the moisture being drawn out by the curing salts and you do not add any water to it at any time. By adding water you probably reduced the PPM of the cure so you never got a full cure of the meat. The off taste might be uncured pork belly. All you should have done was flip the bags over every day and give it a soft massage.
When you slice it is it a pink color all the way through?
When you slice it is it a pink color all the way through?
Color looked fine. I added water to the cure after a few days because that's what the recipe called for. http://www.wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?t=4979Devo wrote:I am not familiar with that recipe on here but I can tell you that dry cures are just that....dry cures. The water/liquid in the bag is the moisture being drawn out by the curing salts and you do not add any water to it at any time. By adding water you probably reduced the PPM of the cure so you never got a full cure of the meat. The off taste might be uncured pork belly. All you should have done was flip the bags over every day and give it a soft massage.
When you slice it is it a pink color all the way through?
I'm going to give this another go in a couple of weeks.
Well I for one would never add water to the bag once its started curing. I have made hundreds of pounds of bacon and always used a dry cure. Every couple of days I just turn it over for the curing time needed.
I have made plenty of Canadian bacon this way also. Adding water just baffles me. Its not needed. Your just diluting everything you just put into that bag.
Here is a recipe I make with great results, very similar to the one you posted.
http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showth ... ured-Bacon
Give it a try I think you will be happy with it.
I have made plenty of Canadian bacon this way also. Adding water just baffles me. Its not needed. Your just diluting everything you just put into that bag.
Here is a recipe I make with great results, very similar to the one you posted.
http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showth ... ured-Bacon
Give it a try I think you will be happy with it.
Hi rdstoll. Sorry to hear about your failed bacon. Over the past few years lots of guys here have done that recipe and have raved about it. I have never tried it because I don't like maple flavour in bacon. I use a simple brine and smoke until the bacon reaches 140 or just has that nice colour to it. I agree with Devo that if you are dry curing, don't add water. Cure for 7 days and if the bacon is thick and with the rind on (which is better) then let it cure for 10 days.
I also noted that you said you cold smoked it, while the recipe is for hot smoking. That may have had something to to with it. There of course is also the possibility that the bacon migh have had a degree of spoilage that affected the end result.
CW's version and the one in Devo uses are a close variation of Rytek Kutas' recipe. I don't have the book at hand, so maybe someone can check whether he also instructs to add water to the "dry cure".
I also noted that you said you cold smoked it, while the recipe is for hot smoking. That may have had something to to with it. There of course is also the possibility that the bacon migh have had a degree of spoilage that affected the end result.
CW's version and the one in Devo uses are a close variation of Rytek Kutas' recipe. I don't have the book at hand, so maybe someone can check whether he also instructs to add water to the "dry cure".
In Ryteks dry box cure he calls for a brine (cure plus salt) to be added if the bellys are not covered in liquid. Keep in mind he is talking a 100 or 25 lb batch of bacon.
A simple way is to rub your belly with the cure/spice mix, vacuum seal it, massage and turn it over every day until cured. Works every time.
I would guess the off flavor actually came from cold smoking in cold ambient temps where condensation was a factor.
A simple way is to rub your belly with the cure/spice mix, vacuum seal it, massage and turn it over every day until cured. Works every time.
I would guess the off flavor actually came from cold smoking in cold ambient temps where condensation was a factor.
If you really want to try the cold smoke for bacon I would suggest the 3 day cold smoke. You will need to be dedicated to this for the whole 3 days. I only did this once as it is very time consuming. I used my amazing smoker tube which gives me about 8 hours plus of smoke.
Day one run the 8 hours of smoke and temp in smoker set to 90F , Keep the temp at 90F till the next day and run another tube of smoke. Keeping the temp in the smoker at 90F again till the next day load up the tube smoker for day 3 and let it run till no more smoke. If you don't want to fully cook the bacon, increase the cabinet temperature to 170 degrees F, and bring the bacon up to 137 degrees F. At this temperature it is not safe to eat, and it will require further cooking. You should treat it as regular cured bacon. If you want fully cooked bacon increase cabinet temperature up to 180 degrees F, and cook until the belly reaches an internal temperature of 150-155 degrees F. Remove from smoker and allow to cool. At this point the bacon is fully cooked, and you can slice and eat as is. Remove from smoker and let sit in fridge over night and slice next day.
Never let you smoker cool off below 90F during the 3 days.
Day one run the 8 hours of smoke and temp in smoker set to 90F , Keep the temp at 90F till the next day and run another tube of smoke. Keeping the temp in the smoker at 90F again till the next day load up the tube smoker for day 3 and let it run till no more smoke. If you don't want to fully cook the bacon, increase the cabinet temperature to 170 degrees F, and bring the bacon up to 137 degrees F. At this temperature it is not safe to eat, and it will require further cooking. You should treat it as regular cured bacon. If you want fully cooked bacon increase cabinet temperature up to 180 degrees F, and cook until the belly reaches an internal temperature of 150-155 degrees F. Remove from smoker and allow to cool. At this point the bacon is fully cooked, and you can slice and eat as is. Remove from smoker and let sit in fridge over night and slice next day.
Never let you smoker cool off below 90F during the 3 days.
Great thanks for all the pointers. I'm thinking that adding water is what did me in. What confused me is that some of these recipes say that after a couple of days in the dry cure there will be lots of liquid but that was not the case with my bellies.
Some other potential issues I think relate to the cold smoking - next time I will definitely look to "hot" smoke it up to 137 degrees. Also the belly I bought from the local butcher was frozen at the time of purchase. It's not what I wanted but I couldn't find a fresh belly anywhere else so I figured what the heck. Thawed it in the fridge for a few days before starting the cure. Maybe that had something to do with it.
Some other potential issues I think relate to the cold smoking - next time I will definitely look to "hot" smoke it up to 137 degrees. Also the belly I bought from the local butcher was frozen at the time of purchase. It's not what I wanted but I couldn't find a fresh belly anywhere else so I figured what the heck. Thawed it in the fridge for a few days before starting the cure. Maybe that had something to do with it.
That kind of stuff usually comes from guys who post recipes but never make anything themselves. I don't know what Rytek was thinking.rdstoll wrote: What confused me is that some of these recipes say that after a couple of days in the dry cure there will be lots of liquid but that was not the case with my bellies.
A pork belly is anywhere from 50 to 75% fat, and fat contains very little water. Furthermore, if you cure in a ziplock or vacuum bag the exudate that is usually drawn out by the salt from the meat is quickly drawn back in. If you add water into the bag then you are neither dry curing nor brining properly.I think that if you follow the recipe but don't add the water, bring it up to 140, you will be OK.
As to the off taste, did you cure your smoker before cold smoking? By this I mean that if the smoker has not been used for a while, it should be heated to around 160 for 30 minutes or so, then cooled off before cold smoking. If you don't do that your smoker will impart a stale sour taste into the meat. And you did have your damper one third open right?
