salute! Which seems low for me, but I’m not doing commercial bacon (often brined though). You basically get to a level where it’s killing most of the bad bacteria, and when you’re adding the pink curing salt I believe this is taking care of the rest. The key aspects of equilibrium curing are the precision and percentages. Next, create your cure by adding seasonings like salt, pepper, thyme, and sugar to your curing agent. Refrigerate meat while you prepare the cure. Feel free to experiment with a brine on a pork belly. Place the bag on a baking dish to catch possible leaks, and allow it to cure in the refrigerator for 1 week, flipping it over and moving around the liquid each day. So, for example, you are aiming for 2% total salt to the weight of the meat. If you are using pink curing salt, make sure you understand that this stuff at the right levels is toxic. } There are lots of ways to make bacon. To achieve this you can use a manual grinding method or automatic grinding methods like a coffee spice grinder. I created an equilibrium curing calculator to make it simple for anyone, function rounddp(x,digits) { Keep the refrigerator's temperature at 40 degrees Fahrenheit and let the pork belly sit until its core temperature drops to 42 degrees, which will help kill bacteria. You can also use celery powder as a curing agent. function docalc() { Please help us continue to provide you with our trusted how-to guides and videos for free by whitelisting wikiHow on your ad blocker. These are not an expensive item but make a big difference in your curing mix. The discarded skin can be cooked on its own, either by grilling or deep-frying. There are 13 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. You need some scales that will measure in 0.1g increments. Definitely using the metric system is the easiest when it comes to equilibrium curing or brining. or const poundsPerKg = 2.2046226218; The good old-fashioned saltbox or saturation method is based on leaving the meat in the cure for a day per 2 pounds or 1 kg. pork belly). Any honey will do, but chestnut honey works particularly well here. I find lukewarm to cool water temperature work well, with a fine powder it dilutes pretty quickly, you just want to make sure you can’t see any particles of the cure. Cured Pork Loin - Curing Your Own Bacon - Preserve & Pickle } You make a mixture of salt, curing salt and a sweetener. Turn the bacon over every day in the liquid that will accumulate in the dish. Spareribs. This site is about sharing my passion for the craft of charcuterie, cold smoking, low & slow BBQ, wild game and meat curing. Even this basic recipe can be altered to suit your tastes by exploring the effects of different types of sugar, salt, and pepper. Some people like to wash the brine off, I guess it’s completely up to you and what salt level you decided to go for as well. For the best texture and taste, insist on meat that is organic and/or free of artificial hormones. Commercial bacon producers use pumping as it’s the cheapest and the fastest method. Last Updated: November 18, 2020 So it was a bit of a revelation discovering how to equilibrium cure or brine bacon, it means I had control over the level of saltiness that you taste (rather than guessing with the old covering the bacon with the salt method). var weight = document.getElementById('calcweight').value; Investing in accurate digital scales that go down to 0.X decimal places or even 0.XX 2 decimal places is the only way. For me personally, my bacon is generally dry salt cured at 2.25% total salt (which includes the 0.25% pink curing salt). By signing up you are agreeing to receive emails according to our privacy policy. I’ve read on some forums guys only using vacpacs for the equilibrium dry curing. Whilst also the size of the salt, but in comes the wonderful equilibrium curing or brining. kg After 3-10 days curing, wash the salt/sugar mixture off of the pork belly very carefully. After bacon is done … % of people told us that this article helped them. Awesome glad to hear you’ve got a setup! document.getElementById('calcwaterrow').style.display = ''; After the five days, lift the pork from the bag, rinse it off and pat it dry. I’ve done a little bit of hot smoking bacon, but to be honest for me it’s not really bacon, as you’re just really curing and then low & slow smoking a piece of pork belly. // convert weight to kg I have left equilibrium cured bacon in the fridge for an extra five days no problems getting up to 7 to 9 days even. How To Equilibrium Cure or Brine Bacon (Calculator & Tool), Whole Muscle Charcuterie Online Meat Curing Course - Click Here, equilibrium curing and brining calculator tool, Calculate Equilibrium Cure (Calculator Tool), Accurately Use Scales to Measure Out All Ingredients, Grind the Salt/Spice Cure to a Fine Powder. Scales that Walter White might have used Here is another page (with same tool but other info) on how much with equilibrium curing here as well. return Math.round(x * Math.pow(10,digits)) / Math.pow(10,digits); There are affiliate programs and is compensated for referring traffic and business to these companies. Bring two quarts of water to a boil and then pour over what’s in the bucket. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. By using this service, some information may be shared with YouTube. The most important thing you can remember is that the total amount of saltiness will include the pink curing salt (@ the recommended 0.25% pink curing salt quantity to the total weight). Okay the obvious ones first, if you use in equilibrium curing or brining method you end up controlling the level of saltiness and therefore taste. Once you've covered the bacon, put it in a sealable plastic container and set it in the fridge for 5 days to cure. If you want to learn different flavors and seasonings for your cure, such as honey or sage, keep reading! 4 lbs. "; Need some kind of air sealed bag, ‘ziploc’ work very well for this. You now have bacon, it’s that easy. Let it air-dry on a rack, uncovered, in the fridge for 48 hours. Cure No. [1] X Research source Specify that you want a raw pork belly that hasn't already been cured or sliced. Quite often, (I have a large amount of meat after harvesting and animal and I have to do the calculations for the various meat curing projects.). So I created this calculator and tool for easily doing the equilibrium curing and brining, you can find a link here to the calculator. Irish and Canadian bacon are made from lean pork loin and utilize a brine to cure the pork. But I can’t report a proper procedure for this yet so watch this space. http://barbecuebible.com/recipe/8-steps-making-bacon-home/, http://amazingribs.com/recipes/porknography/making_bacon_from_scratch.html, http://meatsafety.org/ht/d/sp/i/26023/pid/26023, http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/harmful-effect-sodium-nitrite-food-11184.html, http://www.splendidtable.org/recipes/curing-your-own-bacon, http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/homemade-bacon.html, http://essentialstuff.org/index.php/2012/06/09/Cat/curing-meats-at-home/comment-page-1/, http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety-education/get-answers/food-safety-fact-sheets/meat-preparation/bacon-and-food-safety/ct_index, consider supporting our work with a contribution to wikiHow. If I have a computer nearby, I just use a google sheet to keep a record of all the recipes & percentages, but I’ve been known to have a few too many pieces of paper floating around with “secret” bacon recipes. It helps to heat the mixture up to fully dissolve it, wait until it is room temperature, then it is ready for use. What I like to do is place the spice grinder onto the scales, and then I can zero TARE the ingredients as I add them in. If you skip straight to this part, I have mentioned that I got my mathematical brother to create an equilibrium curing and brining calculator tool, so if you want to have a look. The curing salt is a mixture of salt and sodium nitrite that gives the bacon its cured flavour and red colour. And really wiping up the cure with the meat inside the bowl, so that the bowl is practically clean of curing mix at the end of it. At this point, you can smoke the bacon at 200F until the internal temperature reaches 150F, or roast it in the oven at 200F for two hours. Just like the explorers of the old world, on their voyages across the globe with salt fish or salt pork for instance. weight = weight * 1.4; Step 7: Remove belly from brine and dry off. It also inhibits bacterial growth. And I can understand why sweetness does go very well with pork. Make a mixture of (by weight) of 2.5 parts salt (kosher adheres very nicely), 1 part sugar, then add a generous grind of black pepper. I find using a good-sized bowl is a really good method because you’re holding the cure in one area. This is a bright pink slat added to the brine in the case of a wet cure and added dry in the process of making dry cured bacon. You can use non-metallic weights to achieve this - we use old, heavy crockery. Also in terms of Curing Time for Equilibrium Curing = I go by about 1 week per 1 inch thickness of meat. Remove the loin from the brine, rinse it, pat it dry, and refrigerate it uncovered for 4 hours or up to a day. Sea Salt Again it’s just about taking your time I reckon, having a good size mixing bowl is the way I like to do it. Place the pork belly in gallon ziplock bag or container that just fits the size of the pork belly and pour the brine over it. To cure bacon, start by making a curing agent with kosher salt and sodium nitrite. rounddp(weight * 0.4,3) + " litres or " + I’ve been making my own bacon for about 20 odd years. I have a few recommendations of decent digital scales, check them out here (near the bottom of the page). Sometimes I just get hungry and what to try it! I’ve tried dry curing and wet brining with a whole different array of smoking woods and techniques – so to settle in on one’s technique now really is a blessing. It’s now ready to slice into … Then you just have to ziploc close the last bit up. Buy a fresh pork belly. else if (unit === "g") weight = weight / 1000; docalc(); Pink curing salt (also known as Prague powder or sodium nitrate) You can read more on charcuterie on the Charcuterie Subreddit. // If brining, add the weight of the water Meat Curing Calculator Tool wikiHow is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together. Bacon slabs cured with nitrites will last 4 to 6 weeks in the refrigerator and 3 months in the freezer. } else { The drying intensifies the flavor! Remove the bacon from the bag, rinse it and pat it dry. You can, of course, rub the equilibrium cure into the meat on a wooden board, but I have found through experience that you always end up having some level of cure left on the board rather than adhering it to your meat. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/b\/b8\/Cure-Bacon-Step-1-Version-2.jpg\/v4-460px-Cure-Bacon-Step-1-Version-2.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/b\/b8\/Cure-Bacon-Step-1-Version-2.jpg\/aid1406943-v4-728px-Cure-Bacon-Step-1-Version-2.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":"728","bigHeight":"546","licensing":"