I have come to conclusion that curing and smoking bacon is a bit of both art and science. On the bearded butcher's wet brine method, they immerse the whole belly in a brine solution. Do the math an it is a 12.5% brine solution, along with some sugar and pink nitrite cure salt. The theory is it is going to take from 7 to 10 days for the salt, cure and sugar to work it's way into the entire belly. The art part comes in.........less time if belly is thin.........more if its thick. The science of it would suggest if you leave it in the brine to soak, no matter how long you leave it, it should come out OK. That it can become too salty suggests the 12.5% solution is also too salty......so maybe cut it back to 10%......or pull it sooner. But it still has to have time for salt and cure to work all the way in to the center. If pulled early, it is still probably moving and mobile as it tries to equalize. My salty bacon became less so over time.
Going the dry cure route........weight of dry salt, sugar, cure, etc according to weight of belly........is also a way of getting to a percentage of salt to meat......but in both cases, you have to give it enough time to work it's way all the way to the center. Then it becomes a combination of time vs. how thick. 7 days seems to be about right.
And again, once you pull the belly from the brine or dry box..........you rinse it all off.......nothing left.........then belly has to hang to dry for at least 24 hours or so to both dry and form dry skin that will absorb and take on the smoke. Traditional home cured bacon was not smoked to 150 internal as a lot of guys are doing now. Only to 120 to 130......if that. It is cooked for food safety when you fry it.
