Dry cured bacon

[Lance Yeoh]

Anyone got a recipe for a dry cured bacon? I'm going to order some cure from Franco soon as my smoked bacon cure that I bought last year is fast running out.
This time I was thinking of buying the cure and mixing the other ingredients myself.

[saucisson]

I use:
2g cure #1
20g salt
10g sugar (white, demerara or muskova, whichever takes my fancy on the occassion)

per kilo of meat

I used to add 5g smoke powder, but now I cold smoke.

Dave

[akesingland]

Hi Dave

Is that an "in the bag" method?

Cheers
Adam

[Gordon]

I'm trying to get into curing bacon, is cure #1 also known as pink salt?

[akesingland]

Yes, but sometimes it is not pink! The last lot I got from Franco was white (I must add it was not sold as Pink Salt but Cure#1). The colour is used to avoid confusion with ordinary salt.

Cheers
Adam

[saucisson]

Hi Adam, yes that is an in the bag method.

Gordon, yes it is the same as pink salt, ie salt and sodium nitrite

Dave

Edit: Adam beat me to it.

[Gordon]

Is cure #1 essential when curing bacon of is just salt and sugar ( two to one mix ) enough ?

I'm sorry I'm being thick but I have had a go at curing some pork loin and although in the main is was 'bacony' it still retained a slight porky flavour and when it was cooked it looked more like pork than bacon

[welsh wizard]

Hi Dave

OOI how long do you cold smoke for?

Cheers WW

[saucisson]

Gordon: if you use cure #1 you are much more likely to end up with bacon than salted pork.

WW, I trickle smoke with my soldering iron in a can method, so I do it for a couple of days, chucking a handful of woodchips in every few hours. I tend to stop when it looks a nice tanned colour.
How long that would equate to smoking in a Bradley I can't make a comparison.
HTH

Dave

[jpj]

ww
as dave mentions, a nice tanned colour is best indication of readiness as opposed to time taken
cold smoking has many variables that can affect the outcome, so there doesnt seem to be a steadfast rule for time . . .

[Lance Yeoh]

I use:
2g cure #1
20g salt
10g sugar (white, demerara or muskova, whichever takes my fancy on the occassion)

per kilo of meat

I used to add 5g smoke powder, but now I cold smoke.

Dave

Thanks Dave,
But can I add spices in with that? Just wondering.

[welsh wizard]

Hi Dave / JPJ

Cold smoking in the Bradley tends to be more of a precise science than trickle smoking, purely because the pucks are burnt at a set rate for a set period i.e. 20 mins. I give my smoked bacon c 3 - 4 hours and although it does get a colour I expexct it is not a dark as yours but the taste is A1.

I am going to have a go at using the Bradley without the electric feed and burn shavings in the bottom of the unit but I I am not too sure of the temprature it will reach where as with my existing method I know it is a true cold smoke.

Cheers Mark -

[saucisson]

Lance, yes add any spices you fancy.

Dave

[Hobbitfeet]

WW I have about 90kg of prime oak shavings if you're interested in experimenting. I would still use a smoke box and some sort of ducting to keep the heat away from the Bradley.

[saucisson]

WW I have about 90kg of prime oak shavings if you're interested in experimenting.

I am

As Hobbitfeet suggested, I'd also be loathe to light a fire in a Bradley box in case it gets out of hand and damages the box.

Dave