Bacon curing no weight loss

Air dried cured meat and salami recipes

Bacon curing no weight loss

Postby wallie » Wed Dec 15, 2010 12:41 pm

Something strange happened to my last lot of bacon.
I cured two batches of belly pork.
One using Oddleys Traditional cure, which I have used many times.
One using Wheels bacon cure from his blog.
With Oddley's and Wheels the cure was rubbed in they were then bagged and into the fridg for 14 days turning every day.
When I unpacked and weighed them, they had gained about 10grams in weight. I think this is because with being bagged they are actually cured in the brine.
Then I hung them in the fridg for a week.
Weighed them again and they were still the same weight.
This has never happened before I have always lost between 4 and 8% after hanging, using the same cures.
I am beginning to suspect my Cure 1 is defunct (has this stuff a shelf life?)
Also I noticed when I opened it to rub into the pork it was slightly damp.
Maybe that was the cause.

I would like to hear any comments on this.
wallie
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Postby wheels » Wed Dec 15, 2010 5:08 pm

Wallie

I've had a similar thing happen in the curing. Sometimes the meat loses a lot of weight, sometimes it gains weight. Sometimes there's loads of liquid, sometimes virtually none. I wouldn't worry about it. Some people maintain that the liquid makes the meat tough; I've not found this to be the case.

As to no weight loss during the time in the fridge - that's surprising, but unlikely to be related to the viability of the Cure #1. It's more likely to be that the fridge, for whatever reason, had a fairly high humidity at this time.

The damp Cure #1 doesn't seem like a good thing, but I'll leave others who are better qualified to explain why.

Phil
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Postby ddmaan2 » Wed Dec 15, 2010 8:59 pm

Wallie
According to the label on my Cure No 1
Shelf Life: 6 months from date of manufacture when stored correctly.
Storage: Store in a cool, dry place away from direct light.

Dave
Cheers Dave

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