Made my first bach of bacon! Need some help

[alnicol]

I've just finished my first batch of bacon and have some teething issues which I need to iron out before I can call it a success.

I used a cure called supracure. It recommends 5% (or 6% when used in a 90% salt to 10% sugar ratio). I used 75g for my 1.5kg pork belly which I rubbed into everywhere. I then tipped in any remaining cure that hadn't stuck to the pork belly, and vacuum sealed the bag.

I've just finished smoking it and I have two problems:
1) The bacon is very salty. After rubbing the cure into the bacon I vacuum sealed it (with a food saver style vacuum). A small amount of liquid appeared in the bag after a day or two, but not much. I left it in the bag for 7 days (turning it over most days) and then released the vacuum. The amount of liquid in the bag didn't really increase.
2) I cold smoked it for about 8 hours using oak (not ideal, but not too unusual). The smoke taste is very overpowering. I know this is a silly mistake to make (always start out smoking something less that it needs to be), but I've read articles where people smoke it for multiple days. I used a pro-q cold smoker which puts out a good amount of smoke.

So, how would you go about solving both these problems? I think I used the right amount of cure, but should it be reduced when vacuum sealed? Is 7 days too long? I like the sealing as it prevents contamination of other food in my fridge ... but is this just wrong? The bacon had a uniformly salty taste, so it seems like the cure penetrated well.
As for the smoking, I guess I should just smoke for a couple of hours? How do people smoke for days and no get a horrible taste? Do I just need to let the bacon rest pos smoking for a few days to let the taste mellow?

Any help is appreciated. I'm still very proud of my first attempt at bacon, but it's not something I'd like to serve to guests quite yet

[quietwatersfarm]

Way too much salt, soak it in clean water and change the water a couple of times until its back with us again in term of saltiness.

It will probably then taste great. Well done btw, homemade bacon is unbeatable!

Always give your bacon a few days to even out after curing/smoking - a week is good I find

Next time do everything the same but use about a third of the salt

[DanMcG]

Can someone tell me what percent the Nitrite content is in supracure? I've looked around on the net but yet to find it.
that is a lot of salt, but without knowing the nitrite content, I'd be reluctant to tell ya to use less, so soaking is good advice, and change the water often.

[wheels]

You've been looking in the wrong place Dan. It's under your nose

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=5967&p=51254&hilit=Weschs#p51254

Phil

[DanMcG]

Oops. thanks Phil

[alnicol]

Thanks for the advice - I'll give it a soak for a few hours to see if I can rescue it from the salt. So next time I should use a salt level closer to 2%? Or should I try and find something else with less salt but enough nitrite/nitrate?

Hopefully the smoke flavour will mellow out as well given some time.

[wheels]

Hi alnicol

Welcome to the forum.

I'm guessing that DanMcG asked for the details of Supracure so that he could advise the correct amount to use.

If that's not the case, and there's no reply in a couple of days or so, post back here and another of us will work it out for you.

Phil

[LM600]

Hello Mate,

I also use Supracure at a ratio of 5% to the weight of the meat.

Here is what I do.

1) Rub about a third of the cure into the meat and put the meat into a Tupperware and put this in the fridge.
2) Next day, drain any liquid from the Tupperware and rub about another third of the cure into the meat, back in the Tupperware and back into the fridge.
3) Repeat step two the next day.
4) Keep draining any liquid out and keep it in the fridge for 5-7 days.
5) Once the meat is cured, wash it in cold running water and then soak it overnight....I change the water as I remember to.
6) Dry the bacon and put it onto a rack over a baking tray and back in the fridge uncovered for another day or so for the pellicle to form.
7) I cold smoke using hickory over 5 days of 12hrs smoke, 12hrs rest (in the fridge), 12hrs smoke, 12hrs rest etc.
Slice, vac. pack and either freeze or fridge.

I like it!