Bacon Cure Question

[Steve Risse]

Re: bacon cure injection question

Hey Jonathon - I am making bacon with the new brine injector. Got everything mixed up and then realized I did not first cool water to 38 deg or below before mixing. DOH! I have not injected the pork bellies with the brine yet and put the mixture in the fridge to cool. Do you think I can then use the cool brine to inject or did the warm water already neutralize the cure. It is not clear from your video whether its the injecting of warm brine solution into the meat that renders the brine ineffective or if its actually a chemical reaction between the water and the cure. What do you think?

[Jonathon]

Steve Risse I don’t think you are going to have any issues with the cure being inactivated. How hot was the water? It has to be pretty hot to effect the cure in any real way. You want the cure water very cold mostly because you dont want to inject hot, or even warm water into the center of a cut of meat. If you can wait until tomorrow (Monday) I will have a chat with my application specialist and see what he says but I’d say you are good to go.

[Steve Risse]

Thanks, it was lower than room temperature when I mixed it, but not lower than 38 degrees. Now it is lower than 38. I kind of figured it had more to do with injecting the meat with a warm solution than a chemical reaction within the cure.

[Jonathon]

Steve Risse Yeah, there is no study or evidence that warm water makes the cure dissipate faster, though there are still people who do believe it does. What I would be more concerned about is the time that is has been in the liquid as once it gets wet it will begin to convert to nitric oxide. If you have the option I would go ahead and mix up a new batch to be on the safe side.