Yes I rinsed both slabs off.

Any other suggestions?

Have 2 more bellies in the freezer.

What's the recipe you used for your cure?

My first try was too salty as well. I'm going to try soaking it for a few hours in water before smoking to help draw some of the salt out.

The one posted at the beginning of the thread.

I just looked back and saw. 1/4 cup per 5# of belly.

Yeah, I put the cure mix to it and probably used way to much. 1/4 cup doesn't seem like much. The bellies are 10# avg that I have.

I bet I used 3/4 to 1 cup per belly half.

A little bit goes a long way, especially when it's sitting in the cure for 7 days. If using 1/4 cup per 5# of belly and rinsing thoroughly, you'll be good.

We've all made mistakes and don't give up! Once you get it down, you'll never want to buy bacon at the store again.

What can I do with the current product?

Use in beans?

Yep. Would be a great use for it. Just wait to season your beans with salt after they are done cooking to make sure they don't get too salty.

If you have a meat grinder, it would also be awesome to grind a little bit up and mix with ground beef or venison for burgers.

There are ways to use it so don't just toss it! Freeze it and use for stuff like I said above.

Anybody want some of it?

Is it possible for the meat to cure too long? I wanted to get to it earlier but haven't and now the belly has been curing for more like 1.5 - 2 weeks. Worth a shot at smoking it or toss?

Two Down said:

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Is it possible for the meat to cure too long? I wanted to get to it earlier but haven't and now the belly has been curing for more like 1.5 - 2 weeks. Worth a shot at smoking it or toss?

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What did you use to cure it? It will probably be fine, but may be salty. Could be worthwhile to soak overnight in cold water prior to the drying phase.

1/4 cup of this, slightly modified

Quote:

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1 pound kosher salt
8 ounces sugar
8 teaspoons cure #1

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Two Down said:

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1/4 cup of this, slightly modified

Quote:

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1 pound kosher salt
8 ounces sugar
8 teaspoons cure #1

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Slightly modified how? Same ratio of cure #1?

Yeah just supplemented a bit with some garlic and black pepper.

Two Down said:

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Yeah just supplemented a bit with some garlic and black pepper.

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Soak it overnight and smoke away

Hoping to get to it this evening.

Made my first batch of home-brew bacon.
Had 2 whole bellies. Skinned and halved into 4 slabs.
Came out fantastic.

Great advice on this thread.
My lessons learned:

-Used too much salt in my brine. Stick with 1/4 cup/5# rule of thumb. I probably used 3/4-1 cup/5#.
After brine and before smoking, I sliced a piece and fried it up to check salinity. Was too salty.
Per recommendations here, I soaked it overnight, rinsed it, fried up another slice and it was perfect.
Re-seasoned and smoked about 3 hrs @ 150F.

-Brown Sugar/Bourbon was almost undetectable.
Heated brown sugar/butter/bourbon over medium heat and basted for last hour of smoking.
Could use some recco's on this for next time.

-Bought a small meat slicer from Academy. Tray was too small for half-bellies so that was a PITA.
Looking to buy a larger slicer. Tried my slicing knife and was too much work and inconsistent thickness.

Looking forward to next time.

Quote:

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-Bought a small meat slicer from Academy. Tray was too small for half-bellies so that was a PITA.

Looking to buy a larger slicer. Tried my slicing knife and was too much work and inconsistent thickness

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I don't have 1/10th the knife skills that AustinAgChef has and this was my biggest problem...

Luckily I have a neighbor that I shared my first batch with and he had one of THESE sitting in his garage that he hadn't used in years.. He let me borrow it long-term so i just keep him supplied when I make some. I've had to cut the end off of a couple of my weird shaped slabs to get it to fit. I use the trimmings with green beans or when I make a pot of pinto beans.

I'm on about bacon batch #7...tried various combos, kept a couple very basic...but think I have settled on this---

I do still add some coarse black pepper before it goes on the smoker, but that's it. I have plenty of hickory trees, on my place, so that's my choice of smoke.

BigCountryAg said:

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Made my first batch of home-brew bacon.
Had 2 whole bellies. Skinned and halved into 4 slabs.
Came out fantastic.

Great advice on this thread.
My lessons learned:

-Used too much salt in my brine. Stick with 1/4 cup/5# rule of thumb. I probably used 3/4-1 cup/5#.
After brine and before smoking, I sliced a piece and fried it up to check salinity. Was too salty.
Per recommendations here, I soaked it overnight, rinsed it, fried up another slice and it was perfect.
Re-seasoned and smoked about 3 hrs @ 150F.

-Brown Sugar/Bourbon was almost undetectable.
Heated brown sugar/butter/bourbon over medium heat and basted for last hour of smoking.
Could use some recco's on this for next time.

-Bought a small meat slicer from Academy. Tray was too small for half-bellies so that was a PITA.
Looking to buy a larger slicer. Tried my slicing knife and was too much work and inconsistent thickness.

Looking forward to next time.

---

I put the bourbon/brown sugar in the bag with the brine. It always comes out great. Just about a half shot per half slab.

https://texags.com/forums/34/topics/2961654

Made "bacon" from pork shoulder pieces.....because it was one-third the price of pork belly.

My first ever batch is curing. Really looking forward to this weekend to try it out.

My first batch came out pretty good. I was worried about slicing it evenly, but I kept the meat cold and it sliced fairly easily. I would cut about 15 slices, then back into the fridge for five minutes. Then repeat the process.

I will definitely be doing this again.

I used the Maple Smokehouse from McCormick,and I used pecan wood for smoke. I look forward to trying other combinations.

I quit slicing mine for storage after my second batch. I've been making my own about a year. Turns out one of the many great things about homemade bacon is cutting it into whatever shape you want/suits your immediate need.

Slices, thick
Slices, thin
Cubes, ~1\2"
Cubes, 1-1/2"
Lardon batons 1/2"1/2"1-1/2"
Big chucks for soups or a smokey confit.

Slices are actually my least favorite.

ETA: I haven't tried freezing and grating or microplaning. But I think I will!

Just started curing 30# of bacon using Brian Polycn's cure and a mix of random seasonings I had laying around the kitchen.

10# of Papa G's Garlic Butter/Black Pepper/Cure
10# of Papa G's Garlic Butter/Black Pepper/Bay Leaves/Cure
10# of Black Pepper/Cure

This is my first time making bacon so hopefully I get at least one winner.

The losers won't suck, I assure you.

Just finished up my first batch of bacon and it turned out pretty damn good. Do you treat the cure and the seasoning of the bacon as two separate steps? I cured and seasoned in one step but felt like most of the seasoning was rinsed off with the cure.

I like to cure, rinse and then go back with whatever preferred seasoning so that you don't lose it.

Where do you get cure#1?

I ordered mine from Amazon