Here's some more on pea meal bacon. Link to thread.

I know that this has been discussed and I've Goggled the heck out of it but I'm still not confident in my findings. I've found a vast difference in opinion. If I was to do this cure using #1 pink salt, not Tender-Quick, what would be the amount and/or additions to the original (as posted by Kevin) "recipe"? What would be your formula for TQ substitution?

The pink salt, or Prague Powder #1, is 1/4 level teaspoon per pound of meat.

Paul

Marc-- Are you looking to brine cure or dry cure?

Thanks Paul. Kevin, sorry, I forgot to specify: dry cure.

You'll need salt as well plus a little more sugar in addition to the brown sugar already noted. Go with 1/4 t pink salt plus 1/2 t sugar plus 2.5 t table salt per pound of meat, plus the additional flavorings, if using.

Kevin, That's what I was looking for! Thank you. So in the event of stumbling across a TQ recipe, that's the equivalent blend/mix (?).

Pretty much.

Not sure wher to find TenderQuick, but I did find a meat ternderizer in the local grocery store. The list of Ingridients says

Salt
Dextrose
Bromelain
Tricalcium Phosphate
Hydrogenated soyabean and cottonseed oil

Is this the same stuff? Can I use it to make bacon?

No, no, no! That will turn your meat to mush.

Skip the TenderQuick and just get some curing salt (pink salt) here. (You can get TQ there as well but you might as well get pink and make your own cure. Cheaper, it contains sodium nitrite, the key element (after salt) for curing. (Pink salt, like TQ, should not be used like regular salt. It is colored pink to differentiate it from plain salt. Keep out of the reach of children. Like TQ, use as directed only.)

Can this be sent "thru the mail", vac sealed, say along with other gifts and not be kept frozen or chilled? I know that it is cured and smoked and I would like to send to some family members that are a distance away. Thanks!

quote:

Skip the TenderQuick and just get some curing salt (pink salt) here.

Dave, here is a link for a Canadian company, Halfordhide, out of Edmonton. They list prague powder but you'll have to enquire if it's #1 or #2, you want #1 for this. It's in the Butcher Supply catalog.

Funny, I just found it today looking for pink salt, I got 22lbs of back bacon on the go today.

With exchange it might even be practical for US customers to order from, not sure.

quote:

Originally posted by B. Kaylor:
Can this be sent "thru the mail", vac sealed, say along with other gifts and not be kept frozen or chilled? I know that it is cured and smoked and I would like to send to some family members that are a distance away. Thanks!

No, back bacon is cured but it's not shelfable, it has to be kept cold. Those sausages and jerky strips that sit on the counter forever in gas stations are loaded with salt, nitrites and must get below a certain moisture level and may have other requirements.

You can send it on dry ice if you like ... check Chris's info topics on the website.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Shawn W,

quote:

Post
No, no, no! That will turn your meat to mush.

Thanks Kevin, you stopped me from ruining a good pork loin. I thought afterwards, and called a local place that makes a lot of summer sausage etc, she buys it in bulk and can sell to me whatever it is that I need. If I do a dry cure, does the meat turn out as good as if I brine it?( As in, does the meat turn "pink " all the way through like some of the pictures
upthread)

Edit: Noticed that Shawn used a dry cure as well in the process, so I am assuming that it will turn out just fine with a dry cure

Actully, it's about 26lbs of back bacon on the go.

1 loin in TQ dry rub with spices as per Kevin's post near the top of this thread:




3 more loins in brine cure with TQ, pickling salt and 4 color peppercorns:




3.750 litre / 1US gallon water (could use the proper 3784g by weight)
165g Tender Quick
355g Pickling Salt
55g raw cane sugar
2T assorted peppercorns, lightly toasted, whole

Bring to boil, simmer 10 minutes, chill, pour over pork loins. Brine 4 days. I doubled the recipe and did 19.5 lbs of pork loin in a sterilized cooler.

This recipe allows curing for back bacon replacing prague#1 with TQ. Calculations based on: Nitrites/nitrates in TQ is 1% by mass, prague#1 is 6.25%. Estimation TQ is 60% salt, 40% sugar by weight. Baseline 2T prague#1 and 12oz salt per US gallon of water.

With the weather the way it was it was just above freezing in my garage. The plan was to keep the cooler in there, but a chinook blew in so it's outside at 45ºambient hence the ice pack. No taking any chnces on cracks in the ice pack so it's inside the other container.

I left the fat and silver skin on intentionally this time.

Hope it works out, I'll update when they are done.

Looking forward to it.

I haven't had time to cure anything in a while and am out of belly bacon. I thought to get something together when I was home for Thanksgiving, since I would be home for long enough, but with the T'giving prep and cook, and so forth, I just couldn't get it together.

I smoked the first two loins yesterday over ML lump with some hickory, the other two are going today. They were about 8.5 hours at 160ºF and 1.5 hour at about 200ºF.

I was out of time and had to push them to finish from 130º so I upped the temp. Checked at 140ºF and let them go a little longer, pulled at 143ºF internal, they looked good and felt good.

The brine worked and it's a winner! I liked the mild pepper flavor. The salt level was great, much better than the tq dry rub package instructions that I've always done. If I had followed TQ brine instructions I would have used 750g of TQ, nearly 5x as much and not quite twice as much TQ and salt as I used combined!

The reasons I used TQ in the brine were because I don't have prague at present and I wanted pink. That TQ level was sufficient to pink the meat. I wonder if a shorter brine duration would work just as well or better?

The tq dry cure was as always, salty even after a 4 hour soak. I loved the herbs Kevin, what you came up with there is exceptionally good. The way the herbs come together with the smokey back bacon is like pb&j or chocolate and peanut butter. Having said that, it's strong to nearly the point of me not recognizing back bacon. Not bad strong at all.

I will certainly make it again, but I'll probably make some plain and some of this and I'll weaken the herbs a bit ang go with the brine version you posted above. Your brines posts were the reference for this, I just subbed TQ for prague.

I had expected the brined meat to have more moisture. You know how the dry cured stuff can be dry but commercial back bacon is brined and in packages loaded with so much water you can wring it out? Well after frying I couldn't tell a difference in moisture between the two and I was suprised. By texture the dry cure came out slightly firmer.

I like the fat left on it's so tasty! I won't be trimming them any more, just removing dangly bits.


Test slice, brined on the left:




First slices, dry herbed on the left:




Top view, herbed on the top:



The white you see on the pics is that fat sweat I've talked about ... chilled. Rended fat.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Shawn W,

That looks better than my 1st attempt, Shawn. I trimmed the bejesus out of mine but your untrimmed loins look fantastic! That's the way I'll do mine next time.

Bill

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Hays:
That looks better than my 1st attempt, Shawn. I trimmed the bejesus out of mine but your untrimmed loins look fantastic! That's the way I'll do mine next time.

Bill

thnxs, I can relate to that trimming thing Bill, the silver skin can be miserable, my first trimmed looked like donair meat on the vertical roaster

Looks fantastic Shawn. Been awhile since I made any Canada Bacon.