Blue ribbon bacon

[bubba_mcnabb]

Love some thick cut homemade smoked bacon. But couldn’t be possible with out the great pork side from hickory hills meat. A local butcher shop. Smoked in my homemade smoker with hickory wood.

[Jonathon]

bubba_mcnabb That looks awesome, it has been months since I made Bacon. After seeing these I will have to get back to it soon! This coming week I will get these posted on our Instagram and Facebook accounts to show people how good homemade bacon can look.

[bubba_mcnabb]

Jonathon thanks, would it hurt anything if I added a cup of brown sugar to the mix? Think I touch of sweetness would bring it to the top?

[Lost River Jones]

no dumb questions, right? So is the bacon in the top left pic ready to eat or ready for the frying pan or both?

[Jonathon]

Lost River Jones I’d still cook it in a frying pan but technically pre-cooked bacon can be eaten as is but it might not have a good texture to it!

[bubba_mcnabb]

Jonathon so about that sugar? Lol

[Jonathon]

bubba_mcnabb Am I forgetting something, was there something I was looking into for you and forgot? It certainly could be the case, I have been running int 10 directions constantly for the last few weeks!

[bubba_mcnabb]

Jonathon no problem I asked you earlier in this thread if I could add some brown sugar to the mix for a hint of sweetness?

[Jonathon]

bubba_mcnabb Yikes, it was even in this post, I am losing my mind! Yes, you absolutely can. As long as you aren’t adding salt or cure you can pretty much feel free to add ingredients to bacon cures, as long as you aren’t selling it commercially. The last time I did Bacon I rubbed 5 pepper blend all over the outside and it was delicious!

[bubba_mcnabb]

Jonathon thanks man

[jayjayb42]

Hi I’m new to curing bacon and I got the blue ribbon bacon and the taste booster and I was looking to brine my bacon. I didn’t want to buy to much pork belly and end up getting it wrong so i started with 1.5lbs of belly and the math is overwhelming for me. I found out I need .5oz of blue ribbon per pound and I heard you need 1.25 lbs of cure per gallon of water. Is there an easier way to convert all these measurement

[Joe Hell]

jayjayb42 I convert everything to grams and use a digital scale. In this case you would take your package weight of 2 lbs and multiply by 454 (grams per pound) and end up with a package weight of 908 grams. Since the package has enough product to do 100 lbs you divide 908 by 100 and end up with 9.08 grams per pound. If you have 1.5 lbs of belly you will need 13.6 grams of the blue ribbon seasoning

[Joe Hell]

jayjayb42 …for the taste booster, the package is 6 oz so I multiply by 28 (grams per ounce) and come up with 168 grams. Again, this package is enough for 100 lbs., so divide 168 by 100 and you end up with 1.68 grams per pound. For 1.5 grams of belly you will need 2.5 grams of taste booster

[Jonathon]

Joe Hell I think jayjayb42 is wanting to brine though so he needs enough water to cover his belly, It is doing to slightly depend on what container you are using but you should be able to get away with FAR less than a gallon of water to cover a belly. I like to use the Stark Bucket Liners, but you could use really any heavy duty, food safe bag. Also, though the volume measurements arent perfect, the weight measurements should be accurate on our Cure Conversion Chart. Add the correct amount of cure for your 1.5 lb of bacon then add as little water you can to cover your belly, you should be fine!