Hi,
I've just joined up since I've a question about under-cured Bacon & this forum is the only place I've seen some discussions on it.
Unfortunately those posts don't quite answer my concern so I'll ask in a new one.
My last Bacon attempt was a 3kg Loin (Skin on & 1 piece about 40 cm long) plus two 1.5kg bellies.
I dry cured for 2 weeks, once done I cut the loin in half to check & there was a patch about 1 cm by 3cm about 2/3 up (1/3 down from the skin side) which was not as pink at the rest. I smoked it anyway & when slicing found it to be under cured compared to the other section of loin or belly (an obvious gray section). It was an oval shaped section starting about 1/3 up the length of the loin slowly getting larger to the middle & then getting smaller.
It just looked like the cure hadn't penetrated that far - which I can understand.
So my question is - Can you recover from this? I.e. add some more cure mix & let it go another week?
Basically I'd rinsed off the original cure & soaked the loin for a couple of hours & let it dry for a day in the fridge but hadn't smoked it. I cut it in half to do a check & it was too long for my smoker.
Can you re-do a new cure mix? Would this then add too much Nitrite?
At the moment I'm now cutting the loin into about 1kg bits (about 10 - 12 cm long each) or I could cure a larger piece for 3 weeks.
But what I'm really after is there a way or means to rescue an under-cured piece of bacon?
Thanks
Adam