Problem with Ruhlman/Polcyn Cure

[thaisausage]

Help please

I followed the recipe from Ruhlman's Charcuterie book

First oi made the # cure 15 parts non iodised salt and 1 part sodium nitrite.

i then mixed 450g salt, 225 g sugar 50g # cure to make their basic dry cure

I then had a nice 6kg side of back bacon and added 240g of the bacic cure, put in a large plastic bag in the fridge for 7 days, massaging daily.

The resulting pork didn't taste of bacon at all just sweet pork slightly salty.

Any ideas? we make bacon commercially with a bought commercial cure and its perfect but the manufacturer is very tight lipped about what was in it. As i wanted to make canadian bacon and pancetta i thought i would try their basic cure as a bench mark to compare with the commercial cure. The ommercial cure costs about 5pounds per kg... is that expensive?

In Oddleys recipe he also adds saltpetre which i believe to be potassium nitrite correct? That is not available here can I just add extra sodium nitrite? if so, a direct replacement weight for weight? What is the effect of adding Sodium Ascorbate?

Thanks to anyone who will help

[wheels]

It's annoying when things don't turn out as you expect, but, I can't see why the pork wasn't bacon.

240gm of the cure mix you used should have given 2.74% salt, 1.24% sugar and 165mg/kg (Parts per million) Nitrite: typical for a sweet cured bacon. Reducing the sugar would, of course, reduce the sweetness but bear in mind that it also 'mellows' the saltiness.

Sodium Ascorbate makes the nitrite work more quickly and more efficiently. Saltpetre is Potassium NitrAte rather than nitrite. It should not be replaced with more Sodium Nitrite.

HTH

Phil

[thaisausage]

so if i add the equivalent amount of sodium nitrAte it will improve? also is 165ppm a bit low?

[wheels]

165ppm is fine. Adding Nitrate is down to personal choice.

So that you can make an informed decision, you should know that it's banned from commercial bacon in the US due to scares that it may form cancerous nitrosamines when eaten.

Personally, I'm happy to use it when curing bacon over longer periods of time - such as in pancetta. I don't use it in quick cures for bacon.

If you do use it, I'd use 150ppm and cure at 7-8°C for a minimum of 10 days.

HTH

Phil

[NCPaul]

How sure were you that the cure #1 was evenly mixed? I'm with Wheels, I don't see why what you describe did not make bacon.

[DanMcG]

Along the same line of thought at Paul, what color was the bacon after cooking? Was it a nice red/pink color or gray like roast pork?

[ComradeQ]

I have a problem with any recipe that suggests premixing an all purpose curing salt and then only using a small percentage for your cured meat. The problem will inevitably arise where you can not ensure an even mix of the cure and the salt ... other issues can also affect this, differing size of salt crystals for example. I would avoid using recipes that suggest this, it is too hard to control how many or how few nitrites will be used in your cure. Most likely your cure ended up on the low end of the nitrite level. Are you using cure #1? His suggestion in the book is to use the U.S. cure #1 at 6.25% sodium nitrite. If you are using a cure that is lower you may have also spread it too thin. The only reason your bacon tastes like pork and not bacon is that there was not enough cure.

Edit: Sorry I realized you made your own cure ... that could also play a part. When made commercially the salt and nitrite is bonded together so it ensure an even distribution of the cure. Mixing your own you will potentially face the issue I stated above with not evenly mixing it. If you can I would buy cure #1 online if you can't find it locally as it is a more reliable product. Just my thought ...

[thaisausage]

i mixed the ingredients together in a tupperware container -- it was about 1/3 full. put the lid on and shook it turned it everything i could think of to mix it well for about 5 mins. with the same mix i made some canadian bacon which turned out fine. I have since just added a neat 20g of cure no 1 to the "bacon" and some water so its evenly distributed and put it back in the fridge and it seems to be turning colour a bit now. How do I attach photos?

also like to say i tried brining for the first time some pork chops. what an amazing difference!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to everyone for trying to help

[wheels]

Here's how to post an image:

viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1610

Phil