Bacon: skin on or off during curing

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rdstoll

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Going to be curing a belly starting today and want to see what people do with the skin. Some folks say to take it off before curing as the cure and flavor cannot penetrate the skin during the curing process. Others say to leave it on and then take it off after smoking it as it will be easier to peel off.

What say ye, bacon curing experts?
 
Off, preferably done by the butcher, or it is kind of a chore. If not you can hot smoke it for a bit after the cure and it peels off easy, but you will have half cooked bacon.
 
I can only get belly with the skin on. Tried one time to remove it and said screw that....PITA. The cure gets all the way through the meat if you give it enough time. Nobody that has my bacon complains about the skin being on there so I just leave it as is....:biggrin1::biggrin1:
 
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I've done it both ways but the results of my bacon curing experiments thus-far have been mixed to poor so I haven't been able to do a true evaluation of skin on vs skin off. I think I've ironed out all the wrinkles so I wanted to settle the skin on/off debate to the extent it even makes a difference. Various recipes and books seem to be pretty evenly split about whether to take the skin off or leave it on.

I dry cure for about seven days. Flip the zip-locked bags each day so as to evenly distribute any liquids that have been extracted.

Once done, I wash the bellies off and stick them in the fridge uncovered overnight to rest. Then next day on to a pit at about 175-200* until the bellies have an IT of approximately 135*. Skin comes off relatively easily at this point.
 
A very sharp knife and a little patience works for me.
I don't try and get it off in one piece. I take it off in strips.

I only cold smoke, so it's the same if I wait till after the cure.
 
I've been leaving it on, dry cure, easy to remove after smoking, though frankly, you barely notice the skin most times
 
If you are good with a flexible boning knife you can take it off with a little extra effort.

While it is true that the cure will not penetrate the skin, you simply adjust the cure time to accommodate leaving the skin in place. With proper curing time allotted, the cure and the flavoring ingredients will fully penetrate the pork belly.

During smoking, I can easily remove the skin once the belly nears 125°. It just easily peels off with little resistance.

I recently did 60 pounds of pork belly and I peeled it during the last stage of the smoke. The smoke fully penetrated the bellies even with the skin on.

Smoking until the internal temperature of the bacon is 125° is not hot enough to cook, half cook, or even to kill bacteria. But this helps to melt some of the saturated fat to concentrate the flavors of the bacon, as well as firming to facilitate easier slicing.

.

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I cold smoke so it is no easier to remove after smoking than before. Therefore, I always buy belly with the skin already removed by someone else.
 
I have done both.
I cold smoke and actually prefer to have the skin on.
No particular reason, I just like it.
I tend to dry my bacon for quite a bit after smoking and cut on to the rind, so in the end I end up with the rind which goes into flavouring soups etc.
 
Badjak said:
I have done both.
I cold smoke and actually prefer to have the skin on.
No particular reason, I just like it.
I tend to dry my bacon for quite a bit after smoking and cut on to the rind, so in the end I end up with the rind which goes into flavouring soups etc.
Click to expand...

Same here, actually like chewing on the rind:thumb:
 
I ended up leaving the skin on and will take it off when I smoke it. Did one of Cowgirl's recipes from her site and a Ruhlman maple bacon recipe from his Charcuterie book, which I have zero idea how to pronounce.

9lbs in total started curing last night!
 
cure can't penetrate the fat cap anyway, so removing the skin won't make any difference. You just need to give the cure enough time to pentrate completely through the muscle side. If anything, I would remove the skin just to make cracklins.
 
Very interesting reading.
I did one the other day, skin on. It cut off like a filet after being smoked and dried overnight. There was a few wrinkles in it to negotiate around, but it wasn't too bad and hardly no waste. I think I would prefer one off if I could buy it like that. Or the next one I do with it on will be laid nice and flat and smooth for the smoking and resting so I can cut it off easier.
 
If you are hanging full length belly, the skin actually helps support the weight. Very easy to remove after smoking. I did a Costco skinless belly last year and noticed no flavor difference using my same curing method.
 
To skin bacon by hand, I use my boning knife and keep it sharp. I partially freeze the belly so it's a bit rigid and start slicing back a flap of skin.

Then, I make a finger hole almost like when you're skinning a filet of fish to help pull back the skin as I slice it off the fat.

Works pretty well.
 
Skin on, cure 10 days, cook to 150F, peel the skin off. Slice when cooled. That said, I picked up a skinless belly at Costco and have it curing right now. I'll see how that goes.
 
Bellies around here are always skin off, personally I'd take it off. The processors have a cool machine to strip the skin off. Most want it that way so they sell it to secondary processors. Surprised it's sold that way near you.
 
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