Charcuterie basic Cure verse Maple-Cured Smoked

fruitguy

Question is, am I safe to cold smoke. Did not notice the difference in the cures until today. On day 6. Basic dry cure has much more pink salt , 56 grams. Maple only has 14grams. Belly is in ziplock bags and very little liquid has came out over the 6 days. Wondering if I will be safe to cold smoke this round or should I just hot smoke this one and use the other cure with the higher pink salt content for cold smoking. In my book p39 and p81. Thanks James

Chubbs

My current batch had one bag that didn't firm up too much. I left in cure for a few days longer. Still softer than others but you can always keep in cure longer. Once you rinse the cure, you can cut a piece a fry it up and check the color or taste. If too salty soak in water. If satisfies your taste, get that pellicle going and smoke away. Good luck

fruitguy

So as long as it firms up, I have enough cure to be safe on a cold smoke. Just nervous.

Little Steven

Is that for the same quantity of belly? Cure is generally a cure and most should contain 1% nitrite for dry.

fruitguy

Both 5lbs.

fruitguy

Do you guys drain the liquid or leave it in the bag

theyolksonyou

Leave it. Just flip every day or two and keep liquid in contact with the meat.

Chubbs

fruitguy said:

Do you guys drain the liquid or leave it in the bag

Leave the liquid in and try to keep it in contact with the slab when you flip. This process is called over-hauling and is an important step. Once done curing, discard the liquid.

HawkeyeEgghead

If I recall the basic bacon for 3-5lbs belly is 56 grams of the premixed cure plus optional sugar up to 125g.  Ruhlman suggest hot smoking. 

The maple bacon for 3-5lbs belly calls for a total 114 grams cure (50g kosher salt, 14g Pink #1, 50g Sugar, plus maple syrup). (more salt overall then basic bacon and also suggest to hot smoke)

Personally, I don't care to take a chance on cold smoking meat as I have no way to test to ensure pathogens are gone.  Cheese is a different story, I'll cold smoke cheese.  Concur on the liquid recommendations.

fruitguy

Thanks