I'm curing 11.25lbs of pork belly right now, to smoke Tuesday. Any tips? Some people say to just wash off be brine and smoke on the seventh day, some say it's too salty, and to soak a couple hours first. Anyone have experience?
Smoking bacon
- Thread starter pinkbunny
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I wash off the brine and mix black pepper and 1Tbs of Borax in a tub and drop meat in and rub deep. The Borax helps keep the skippers out of the meat if you hang the meat outside. If your hanging inside you dont need it. The meat will take the salt it wants. Salt is the most of the preservative so you want the meat to have plenty and you can always soak some out later in a tub of water. Once you do this though it will need refrigerated at that point. I smoke for about 8 hours and you can smoke a lil more in the future if you have meat that stays around a long time. Any hardwood will work for smoking although peeps will argue this....Ive never noticed a difference. Some of my meat hangs outside and grows lots of pretty molds; just wire brush this off and cut out any deep black mold as there will be a couple spots. If your worried about the saltiness, cut off a piece, clean it up and fry it. If its too salty for your tastes give it a couple hour soak in a tub of water IN THE REFRIGERATOR. I lost a couple slabs one year as I soaked overnight and the meat spoiled identified by the smell and taste. I threw it all out just to be safe. Let us know how you fair.
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My first batch was a hit, but I recognized what I did wrong, so we're making another batch tomorrow.
1.) I was worried that the dry brine was too dry, so added some water, which diluted it. I will remove the water and up the maple more.
2.) I was trying to remove the cuts from the bags and dry off one handed. Even though studies have shown that smoke adheres to wet meat better, I think I left it too wet, gave it a place for the heat to draw out some of the brine that had soaked in. Having a second person help me at that most crucial portion.
3.) I use an electric smoker, and was using a smoking tube to add smoke. But since I only needed 2-3 hours smoke, I tried half filling a smoker tube and lighting. This went out partway, so I got nowhere near as much smoke as I liked. I got a special 6" smoker tube for 2.5hrs smoke.
4.) Was grinding a good bit of pepper in a spice grinder. Added too much pepper in there, which left some of the pepper too coarse to properly absorb(like some whole grains). I'll grind pepper in batches.
5.) I brined 2x 5.5lb belly portions. Instead, I'll do 4x 3lb portions.
This second batch should be worlds better. It'll up the maple, pepper, and smoke.
1.) I was worried that the dry brine was too dry, so added some water, which diluted it. I will remove the water and up the maple more.
2.) I was trying to remove the cuts from the bags and dry off one handed. Even though studies have shown that smoke adheres to wet meat better, I think I left it too wet, gave it a place for the heat to draw out some of the brine that had soaked in. Having a second person help me at that most crucial portion.
3.) I use an electric smoker, and was using a smoking tube to add smoke. But since I only needed 2-3 hours smoke, I tried half filling a smoker tube and lighting. This went out partway, so I got nowhere near as much smoke as I liked. I got a special 6" smoker tube for 2.5hrs smoke.
4.) Was grinding a good bit of pepper in a spice grinder. Added too much pepper in there, which left some of the pepper too coarse to properly absorb(like some whole grains). I'll grind pepper in batches.
5.) I brined 2x 5.5lb belly portions. Instead, I'll do 4x 3lb portions.
This second batch should be worlds better. It'll up the maple, pepper, and smoke.
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I did a couple jowl years ago and added "sugars" to the cure rub. Interestingly the microbes ate those jowls completely in about 3 years. I only had the bag hanging in the smokehouse; I dont use anything sweet in my cure now.
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