PapaSop just have to mix cure with salt (and sugar if you are using it ) well. Then spread it out evenly all over the belly. Put it in a bag along with anything that may have fallen off. Get it all in there. Then wait. I vac seal mine so I will try to rub the little bit of liquid around and flip every couple of days.
I just prepped 2 bellies this morning. Cut one in thirds and cut other one in half. Need to do a few different runs in the pk100 to test it and learn more about what I will like.

Thank you as well. Great info. I guess dumb questions are well received.

PapaSop said in Basic bacon rundown please:

Now that I’ve done a couple runs with the Walton’s dry rub, curious about the EQ method. First dumb question. With such a small amount of cure used, how does this get evenly dispersed through the meat? Thinking about sausage and sticks where I dissolve the cure in water for even dispersion.

It starts with mixing the salt, sugar, and cure #1 plus and other dry ingredients together well. The amounts are calculated to give the requisite concentration based on the green weight of the belly. Next, the well mixed ingredients are sprinkled evenly over the muscle side of the belly.

Next the belly is put in a large ziplock bag or carefully wrapped in plastic film. While wrapping, take care not to lose any rub off the belly. I like to use a 2 gallon ziplock, which will hold a side that has been sliced in half. Put the two meat sides of each half-slab facing together.

Given adequate time, the ingredients will be absorbed into the meat and and the relative concentration of everything will equalize through the meat.

The other reason you use a relatively small amount of curing ingredients is that all of it is going into the meat. Since it is wrapped, the ingredients basically got nowhere else to go. No wet brine so nothing stays behind or falls off the belly like with other dry bacon rub methods.

Some say you don’t really need to turn the belly daily. I do it anyway.

Time is your friend here, PapaSop .

Thank you. That’s basically the answer I was looking for.

Now that I’ve done a couple runs with the Walton’s dry rub, curious about the EQ method. First dumb question. With such a small amount of cure used, how does this get evenly dispersed through the meat? Thinking about sausage and sticks where I dissolve the cure in water for even dispersion.

It starts with mixing the salt, sugar, and cure #1 plus and other dry ingredients together well. The amounts are calculated to give the requisite concentration based on the green weight of the belly. Next, the well mixed ingredients are sprinkled evenly over the muscle side of the belly.

Next the belly is put in a large ziplock bag or carefully wrapped in plastic film. While wrapping, take care not to lose any rub off the belly. I like to use a 2 gallon ziplock, which will hold a side that has been sliced in half. Put the two meat sides of each half-slab facing together.

Given adequate time, the ingredients will be absorbed into the meat and and the relative concentration of everything will equalize through the meat.

The other reason you use a relatively small amount of curing ingredients is that all of it is going into the meat. Since it is wrapped, the ingredients basically got nowhere else to go. No wet brine so nothing stays behind or falls off the belly like with other dry bacon rub methods.

Some say you don’t really need to turn the belly daily. I do it anyway.

Time is your friend here, PapaSop .

processhead maybe this one? Looks like it would work. https://www.waltonsinc.com/escali-precision-digital-scale

Yes thanks ND Mike! That one is perfect and I missed it hidden in with the thermometers instead of the scales.

http://www.diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html
Use this site for the cure ratio. You will need a reliable scale for this. It all depends on weight. Make sure you zero the scale to account for the weight of bowls or containers you are using so it doesn’t throw off the meat:ingredients ratios.

I would add one thing to fallis10 very good summary.
If you are only doing one or two bellies, you are weighing some very small amounts of salt, sugar, and cure #1.

To get the accuracy you need for weighing these small amounts, get a digital kitchen scale with a maximum range of 500 grams.

They are cheap and give you the required accuracy for weighing out the dry ingredients.

Unfortunately, I don’t see any low range scales on Walton’s web site but they are available on Amazon and elsewhere.
Update: Here is the Walton’s scale.