bacon cure

Has anyone tried Amazingribs bacon cure calculator? The cure time and pink#1 are off from the usual recipe I use. Fareway has pork bellies on sale this week so I will be curing a couple bellies.

i made some bacon about a month ago. i skipped the pink cure salt all together and brined mine in kosher salt for 7 days. then smoked it to 160 degrees internal temp and sliced it, vacuumed sealed and froze. i dont like the taste of the cure and if you cook the meat fully and freeze it i dont see the point imo.

The point of the cure is so you don’t develop botulism while its curing in an oxygen deprived environment (plastic wrapped or in a container in your fridge). The cure when used in proper amounts (precisely .0025 times the weight of your meat and any liquid used) not only keeps you safe, it is what makes bacon taste like bacon.
anyone curing their own meat please do some research, its not difficult but its not something you should just make up as you go. I know a people get by without it for awhile, but it can be dangerous. The current fad of uncured bacon is actually cured with celery juice or celery powder, which is just a naturally occurring source of nitrate (cure). look on the label.

Jeff Gilberg wrote:

The point of the cure is so you don’t develop botulism while its curing in an oxygen deprived environment (plastic wrapped or in a container in your fridge). once the toxin is produced by the bacteria even cooking it the the proper temp will not remove the toxin.

Welp, this likely means that due to my procrastination and laziness that I have to throw my “side pork” away that I intended to cure bacon. Its been in my garage fridge in the vacuum sealed packages since I bought it but its been a month, I just keep forgetting about it. Certainly dont want to make anyone sick. Ugh.
Never done it so I was doing research to figure out different recipes for curing, etc, but just hadnt gotten around to do it.
I was going to cure in a vacuum sealed bag, do you think that would work for next time? LOL

Jeff Gilberg wrote:

…once the toxin is produced by the bacteria even cooking it the the proper temp will not remove the toxin

While it’s better to be safe than sorry I don’t believe this is correct. I understand that 10 mins of boiling temps (~212F) will destroy the toxins as well as the bacteria.

Coletrain27 wrote:

i made some bacon about a month ago. i skipped the pink cure salt all together and brined mine in kosher salt for 7 days. then smoked it to 160 degrees internal temp and sliced it, vacuumed sealed and froze. i dont like the taste of the cure and if you cook the meat fully and freeze it i dont see the point imo.

Salt does not prevent bacteria/toxins from forming. Cure does. And smoking at 160 degrees without cure certainly doesn’t kill the bacteria if it develops. Whether or not cooking to 212 will destroy any bacteria/toxins is a crap shoot without using cure.

So a pork belly wrapped in a fridge for a week will develop botulism?

I can see if it’s a long period of time but only 7 days I don’t see how that can be dangerous. A lot of foods at a meat counter probably sit for 7 days
im curious so i guess i should get some pink curing salt

Jeff so if my total meat and liquid is 6 lbs my cure would be 6.803 grams or .015 lbs?

10lb belly gets 2 cups of water, 1/2 cup of salt, 4T of brown sugar, and 1 t of prague powder as a base for me.

i will also smoke it without the curing salt and my wife prefers it. it doesn’t really taste that much different for me, it just goes bad quicker in the fridge if we don’t finish it.

Kind of off topic, but has anyone noticed the price of bacon in the store lately? Its skyrocketed.

Snap wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Jeff Gilberg wrote:</div>
…once the toxin is produced by the bacteria even cooking it the the proper temp will not remove the toxin

While it’s better to be safe than sorry I don’t believe this is correct. I understand that 10 mins of boiling temps (~212F) will destroy the toxins as well as the bacteria.

I stand corrected. According to the center for disease control bringing food to 185 degrees for 5 minutes will destroy the toxin. It takes a temp of 249 degrees for 3 minutes to kill the spores that produce botulism. the temp is lower for longer holding time periods, However I don’t think most food is cooked and held at that temp for that long. It is far better to prevent the development of the bacteria in the first place. this goes to show that you shouldn’t get you info off the internet. I thought I was getting my info from a reliable source, probable misremembered. Not an expert obviously, please do you own research from a reliable source.