Applewood Smoked Cider Mill Bacon

TentHunter

TentHunter

Moderator
I got some $$$ to go towards a meat slicer for Christmas and that was exactly the incentive I needed to finally try my hand at making some bacon.

I really like cider cured bacon and apple wood is my favorite smoke for bacon, so that's the flavor profile I'm going with. Needless to say this will be a wet cure.


I picked up a 14 lb. pork belly side from the butcher.
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Skin trimmed off and cut into 3 large slabs plus 1 smaller 1/2 slab.
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The Brine is basically my ham brine with cider replacing some of the water.

The ingredients:
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Ingredient Amounts
4 quarts Cold Filtered or Distilled Water
2 quarts Apple Cider
1¼ cups Pickling Salt (360 grams by weight)
2 cups Brown Sugar
4 tsp. Cure #1 (Contains Sodium Nitrite 6.25% -also called Prague Powder #1 or Insta-Cure #1)



Added 1/14/2012 - Very Important: If you heat your brine to dissolve the salt/sugar, then DO NOT add curing salt until AFTER the brine cools! Heat deactivates Sodium Nitrite/Nitrate.

I like to mix the ingredients in a stainless steel stock pot using cold water. That way I can stir it pretty vigorously without splashing & making a mess. No waiting for the brine to cool means I can use it right away.


Slabs put into in plastic zipper bags with the brine, all nestled in a tub and into the fridge.
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I'll rotate/flip these once per day for the next 5 - 7 days.

See you in about a week!
 
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ACW3

ACW3

New member
Cliff,
I like where this is headed. I just happen to have a jug of cider in my fridge right now. In fact, I have all the ingredients necessary. What proportions did you mix for this?

Art
 
squirtthecat

squirtthecat

New member
Dumb question... Do you split that brine up evenly between the bags? Does it have to be exact?

I'm used to dry curing, and you have to measure everything to the ounce for each piece of meat being cured.
 
TentHunter

TentHunter

Moderator
I divided it up as evenly as I could being sure they were submerged/surrounded by what I thought was plenty of brine.

Believe me I wondered the same thing before I started. Based on what I've read, with a wet cure, it's not the amount of salt per pound of meat, but rather the brine's salt concentration that determines the meat's saltiness since the salt in the brine and meat equalizes.

Michael Rhulman seems to prefer a 5% concentration for good curing time without being too salty. My ham cure is similar to his. Also the local butcher where I bought the pork belly explained his wet cure process. He smokes & sells some of the best bacon around, so hopefully I'm on the right track.

Either way I plan to test the bacon BEFORE I smoke it to be sure. After the recommended 5 - 7 days, I'll take a slice or two out of one the slabs and fry it up. If it's not salty enough then It'll go back into the brine with additional salt for a couple more days (I'll keep a log).

I sure hope this makes sense! :p
 
squirtthecat

squirtthecat

New member
Make perfect sense! I going to try the wet brine we discussed on a small loin, in a 1/2 gallon container - no room in the house fridge for any big science projects.
 
TentHunter

TentHunter

Moderator
Hey, I found some better info on Michael Rhulman's website that answers these questions a little more concisely.

These were questions posted by readers on his website (lots of great info - be sure to check it out):

Quoted from: Canadian Bacon: Brining Basics | Michael Ruhlman

Q. How much brine? Do you need just enough to cover the meat, or do you need say X number of litres per kg of meat? I know salt concentration and time in the brine are the most important factors, but does the quantity of brine matter?

A. You need enough brine so that it is in contact with the brine. Don’t really need X liters per Y kilos. Theoretically you could have too little, a film of brine uniformly around the meat wouldn’t work.
Click to expand...
The recipe in his "Charcuterie" book uses a 10% solution whereas he now recommends a 5% solution. Here's his response as to why:

A. The book is five years old and I’ve been reevaluating salt concentrations. You can use a heavy brine if you want but it’s too easy to make too salty. I find 5% brine is a great all purpose brine for everything. with 5% you really aren’t likely to overdo it. But: you can under do it. I’d rather underdo and add salt as needed rather than overdo it on the salt.
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If I calculated correctly my brine is about a 4% concentration (salt + curing salt), so for the lower salt that I like, I should be ok.


One more note about salt: After researching all this, I'm beginning to see the wisdom in weighing salt versus measuring it, because a cup of course salt is not the same as a cup of fine salt.

I revised my above post to reflect the weight.

I like Pickling salt for its consistency, it's readily available, fine grained so it dissolves readily. Also, it is a form of kosher salt being free of iodine or anti-caking agents.
 
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ACW3

ACW3

New member
Cliff,
Nice follow-up research. Good information. I used a gift card at Christmas to buy the Rhulman book. I'll check out his web site.

Art
 
TentHunter

TentHunter

Moderator
Update - Almost ready

It's been 4 days in the brine, so time to test...

I took a slice right from the middle of one of the slabs and fried it up for the family to taste.
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I estimated about 5 - 7 days with a 4% brine and I think its right on target. It's developing a really nice flavor, and the salt level is near perfect. I don't think it's going to get much more salty than this, but I think another day or so in the brine will even it out a little more.

Wow, do I like the way this cider & brown sugar combo is tasting. The wife doesn't care for sweet bacon or ham, but really likes this. There' a definite hint of the cider that comes through that balances the brown sugar and salt very well.

Some apple wood smoke should compliment the apple cider really well and only make it better!

I can't wait; this is going to be good!
 
TentHunter

TentHunter

Moderator
Patrick_CT said:
Think this can be done without the cure salt? Trying to have no nitrates while the wife is pregnant
Click to expand...

This is a good question, because a lot of folks are concerned with this. Without getting into the wherefore's of Sodium Nitrite, the short answer is:

Yes, but you'd have to either accept that the bacon will NOT be pink, or drastically increase the amount of salt if you want to cure the bacon properly so it stays pink. It also means it's not safe to cold smoke or you risk botulism.

Since I'll be hot-smoking (not cold smoking) Botulism is not a concern. Therefore I only used about 1/3 the normal amount of cure #1 only to help it stay pink. The amount of actual sodium Nitrite in this recipe is miniscule and for me is better than high amounts of salt.

Hope this helps!



Note: If Nitrite/Nitrate is a health concern then be sure to read labels, because one or both will be in almost any type of sausage, hotdog, lunch meats, etc. Do some research because it occurs naturally in many vegetables (spinach for example, is very high in sodium nitrite).
 
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Deb

Deb

New member
TentHunter said:
Note: If Nitrite/Nitrate is a health concern then be sure to read labels, because one or both will be in almost any type of sausage, hotdog, lunch meats, etc. Do some research because it occurs naturally in many vegetables (spinach for example, is very high in sodium nitrite).
Click to expand...

also celery juice and can be labeled as natural flavors
 
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