Curing pork belly for bacon - how much juice should come out?
So I am curing some bacon - my third batch using small 1.5kg pieces of pork belly. The method is simple: cut skin off, rub in salt and a little brown sugar, put in a ziplock bag in the fridge and flip each day for five days then rinse thoroughly and then start the smoking process.
My first two were great, but very salty. Some googling suggested I was using too much salt. I really did pack in on and there was excess thrown in the bag too. For this current batch, I rubbed in what I could then let the excess shake off before bagging.
My question is: my latest method has extracted less than half of the juice of the first too. Is this normal and how can I tell if it's actually cured properly?
Best Answer
I make bacon and other cured meats frequently. I find that the amount of liquid released from pork belly varies. That is not a useful measure of how the cure is proceeding. Bacon, in particular, is usually cooked after the cure, so I don't worry too much. I use the salt-box method, coat the belly in cure mixture, place in large zip lock, place in container slightly larger than belly and put in fridge. Flip every day or so for a week. What I look for next is a firming up of the belly. I pinch it. If it has firmed up after a week, I move on to hot smoking (or you could use your oven). If it still feels soft, I give it another day or two.
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How do you know when pork belly is done curing?
Check the belly to see if it's done curing. Press on it in several spots to see if it is firm. If it is not firm all over, let it cure for another day or two.Can you cure pork belly too long?
So I've employed the wet curing method several times now and found it to be very effective. It can also be a bit too effective if you let the bacon cure too long or use too much salt in your cure, resulting in meat that tastes overly salty (yes, you can have too much salt in bacon).How do you know when bacon is cured?
It should be firm to the touch all over, like touching a cooked steak \u2014 a sign that it has been cured. If the flesh still feels spongy and soft in spots, massage the meat again with an additional 2 tablespoons salt and check it again after 1 or 2 days.How long can you let pork belly cure?
As a rule of thumb, about five days is considered a good average for thin pork belly, roughly an inch and a half thick. This is a good starting point to use when trying to decide exactly how long you should be curing your bacon, depending on how salty you want it and how thick the belly is.Easy Homemade Bacon | How to Cure Your Own Bacon at Home
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