# bacon mistkes



## ErikaMay (Feb 28, 2013)

I made bacon for the first time. bacon recipe #1 is straught salt and sugar. sat in its juices 1 week, flipped, then another week. Smells fine. #2 is the morton cure. Got a little chief smoker and its been cold smoking all day. ALL DAY. 

my one realization is i didn't use pink salt and my bacoo has been kept at a moderate temp all day...now im worrying about food safety. is it going to be okay to eat? I'm about to just finish it in the over now that its got the smokey taste


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## ErikaMay (Feb 28, 2013)

arr! i didn't wash it well enough and it is SALTY! is it too late soak it?


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## Skandi (Oct 21, 2014)

Pink salt being Potassium nitrate aka salt peter? you can cure fine without it, thought the colour will be a little different. As to the salt taste, don't soak the whole thing unless you plan on cooking it all right now, just cut off and soak the bit you want to cook, if you soak it all it won't keep.


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## krackin (Nov 2, 2014)

You need to learn modern methods for curing and smoking. Things have changed dramatically from hand me down recipes. Smoking at low temps with improperly or uncured meat can lead to disastrous results.

You appear to be using brining which is fine. Here is a link to get you started with a very clear and concise method of brining. 

http://www.pelletsmoking.com/searching-cure-26/ham-brining-101-bacon-6993/

I mostly do what is called dry rub curing. A little research will bring up a wealth of information on that too.


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## postroad (Jan 19, 2009)

I remove the bacons loins and whatever I want to cure and smoke first thing on butcher day. Then I simply rub salt pepper and brown sugar over the surfaces. This usually is completed by 10 AM, I allow these portions to sit for approximately ten hours after which I smoke them in a warm smoke for about three hours. Success every time and no waiting for days on end. This method wouldn't work to great for hams but for the thinner cuts it works well. I do not wash off any of the rub but smoke and package with whatever remains on the surfaces. I use nitrates in my sausage but not on the whole cuts. I start with well chilled carcass and move fast. Meat is left in a cool corner of the greenhouse/ butcher shop/ bakery near the door for its curing time.


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## Bret (Oct 3, 2003)

You may send a slab to me at the Indiana Fudge and Bacon Testing Laboratory for a evaluaton. No MSG.


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## postroad (Jan 19, 2009)

Bret said:


> You may send a slab to me at the Indiana Fudge and Bacon Testing Laboratory for a evaluaton. No MSG.


 No MSG. Salt pepper and brown sugar plus apple wood smoke. The slabs where a bit fatty this year but we gobble it down as fast as my wife can fry it . She uses he excess fat to make cream gravy for mashed potatoes.


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## marinemomtatt (Oct 8, 2006)

My husband is hooked on home-made bacon!
He uses salt only in the curing process and so far he has used maple, apple and cherry woods in the smoker (I think he likes the cherry wood best).
I think he plans on giving his step-dad a couple pounds of belly and a pound of salt for Christmas....kind of the 'teach a man to _____' over 'give a man a ____'.


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## ErikaMay (Feb 28, 2013)

krackin said:


> You need to learn modern methods for curing and smoking. Things have changed dramatically from hand me down recipes. Smoking at low temps with improperly or uncured meat can lead to disastrous results.
> 
> You appear to be using brining which is fine. Here is a link to get you started with a very clear and concise method of brining.
> 
> ...


 I used a recipe out of a urban farming magazine i bought last year....shoulda been not a hand me down...but during the process i realized there were a few gaps in the provided information. Also heard the "little chief" smoker was fine for bacon only to have it not really heat up. 

researching i read peoples account of cold smoking for 36 hours. that seems like a bad idea from a food safety standpoint, but maybe okayw ith the use of pink salt. there is so much contradictory information out there.

What i ended up doing was smoking then finishing in the oven. should have rinsed it better. its a bit salty so i soak it for a few minutes before using and is just fine.


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## ErikaMay (Feb 28, 2013)

Post that is an awesome set up you have! I'm so jealous!


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## Skandi (Oct 21, 2014)

ErikaMay said:


> researching i read peoples account of cold smoking for 36 hours. that seems like a bad idea from a food safety standpoint, but maybe okayw ith the use of pink salt. there is so much contradictory information out there.
> .


If you've made it in a way which is cold smoked for that long, it doesn't need refrigeration ever, becasue of the ammount of salt in it. Things like dry cured hams/salamis, are hung for up to two years without refrigeration, it relies on salt to preserve it. Traditional bacon also doesn't require refrigeration but yes it is VERY salty. For a frying bacon you will need to refrigerate it, and use less time in the salt, keep playing you'll get there.


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## krackin (Nov 2, 2014)

What is called pink salt is what you want to use for curing. It contains sodium nitrite mixed with salt for ease of mixing and colored pink as an identification marker. It has other names, Insta-Cure, Prague Powder #1 come to mind. This is mixed with additional salt for use in brine or dry rub. Cold smoking is safe when the meat cured using this mixture as directed. Otherwise, conditions are favorable to botulism.

Sodium nitrite will oxidize out of the cured meat in about 2 weeks. For longer curing applications sodium nitrate is used which slowly converts to nitrite. Potassium salts are not used commercially anymore and are inferior to using the sodium salts. It is now easier to get the sodium compounds anyway.

Yes, rinsing is needed before smoking. Some smokers even recommend a short soaking. I don't do that. I just rinse. If a batch is too salty I just slice the bacon and put it in cold water for 10 to 20 minutes which helps dramatically without altering the flavor adversely. Hard to believe but true.


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## postroad (Jan 19, 2009)

I never rinse and have perfect bacon. But on the other hand it only sits in the cure for ten to twelve hours as opposed to days or a week.


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## postroad (Jan 19, 2009)

ErikaMay said:


> Post that is an awesome set up you have! I'm so jealous!


Thanks! A little "primitive" but it works. Here's a link to our Facebook page
if you need any more ideas.

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.739843106064207.1073741832.682198201828698&type=1


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## treefrog (Mar 18, 2006)

here's a link to a HUGE archive of curing recipes. ham, bacon, sausage, and much more. the link begins near the bottom of the archive. remember to scroll up AND down.

http://lpoli.50webs.com/Sausage recipes.htm#BRINED

here's a link to a source for premixed cures

http://www.sausagemaker.com/meatcuring.aspx

here's a link to a really good explanation of the differences between cure #1 and cure #2

http://hubpages.com/hub/Whats-the-D...a-Cure-2-Understanding-Which-You-Need-and-Why

if you do not understand what you are doing, you can make a mistake that could result in BOTULISM which is FATAL.

don't be scared, but please understand what you're doing before you hurt yourself or your loved ones. it's not rocket science.

curing meat is less dangerous than driving a car. you shouldn't get behind the wheel of a car before you know what you're doing either.


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