Making Bacon

[yagisanatode]

Okay this is the result of my bacon that I needed to soak. It still turned out really well. So I am quite happy with the results but I will try the Ruhlman method and see how that works.

Oh this morning I had the best bacon,egg and cheese on home made sourdough muffins ever. I am so loving making my own bacon. I'm smitten.

[technogypsy]

Wow. That looks lovely. The batches we tried with the Ruhiman cure aren't as pretty and I only smoked for 45 minutes* 'casue I was using mesquite and sycamore, which can give a strong flavor. The sweet batch was awesome (left - use brown sugar) but the savory (right) was dang good too. I guess I just favor sweet bacon... We had it for BLTs for lunch and the boys are already thinking we need to do 20 pounds next time.

I got my pork belly from the local Mexican meat-market. They had tons and even had it skinless as they fry the skin as a snack food. It was a bad place for visiting at lunch time. My diet was ruined for the day...

Kevin

*Lamb leg with mesquite seems to get bitter after 1 hour so I figured I'd be safe.

[rooftop1000]

Where there is smoke there is/will be Bacon

[Beebs]

Wow - fascinating topic, everyone's bacon looks so delicious!

I'd like to try making my own bacon, since pork belly is super affordable in my area (thumbs up on Chinese butchers!). My restriction is that I don't have a smoker or bbq, because I live in an apartment complex. So I guess I would be making unsmoked bacon (salt pork???), which is fine.

I've also got limited fridge real estate, so I won't be doing large slabs of belly at a time. I'd rather do smaller quantities, more frequently. I don't intend on keeping the finished product in my fridge for more than week - probably much less if it's really tasty! Can I freeze the cured belly? Or would that change the texture much?

I want to start with a dry-cure that only takes 4-5 days. Can I use the same cure mixtures for regular smoked bacon? Are there particular ratios of salt:sugar:meat that I should be aware of?

And what's the deal with "pink salt"? It's not the Himalaya stuff, is it?

Would love any input/tips/suggestions or simple recipes for dry-cures - thanks, all!

[Chris Hennes]

Unsmoked bacon can be very good, so go for it! Bacon freezes perfectly, so no need to worry about that: I certainly don't eat a ten pound belly in one go! My freezer is full of individual packs ofpre-sliced bacon. I'd strongly encourage you to read through this topic, or at least skim it: there are definitely some specific ratios of salt:sugar:meat to be had, as well as some sources for Tinted Curing Mix (TCM, a.k.a "pink salt", and definitely not the Himalayan kind !).

[rooftop1000]

There are a bunch of sources listed in this thread for the Pink-Curing Salt and here is another. I found this product at Gander Mt which is a hunting/fishing/outdoor Chain Store

http://www.lemproducts.com/product/169/Cure_Ham_Curing_Kits

Its fun try it

Tracey

[Beebs]

Thanks for the responses, Chris, Tracey!

I found three recipes that I think I'll try: Ruhlman's Savory Baconin the NY Times; Saveur's Home-Cured Bacon; and one from the Guardian.co.uk. None of them require smoking, which would be perfect. I wonder how they'd turn out without the oven-roasting, and just slicing and frying?

The Guardian recipe is a little different. It says to pour out the accumulated liquid, but give the meat new applications of the cure every 24 hrs, and it'll be ready in 4 days. Any thoughts on leaving in liquid vs. reapplying cure?

For the pink salt, I'll have to see if I can find it - I'll pester the butcher. From reading some of the posts upthread, pink salt is partly for aesthetics, right? And as for keeping spoilage at bay, I guess it's not crucial, since whatever I can't finish in a few days is getting bunged into the freezer anyway.

Can't wait to start playing around with this!

[prasantrin]

I use the Saveur method. I don't get much liquid seepage, but my unsmoked bacon turns out fine, afaict.

[rooftop1000]

I think the bacon might be harder to slice if you dont roast and chill but....

I started with the Times recipe and 4 pieces of meat, after rubbing the first one I decided I hated the way the seasoning mix smelled so I did 1 more and threw that mix out. I made a half batch of the Pink salt, salt, sugar mix and added some maple syrup and pepper and did the other 2 pieces in that. They actually both taste good, I have used the savory one on cheese burgers and the maple with French toast so far.

tracey

[prasantrin]

In the absence of kosher salt, can one still make bacon (or cure other types of flesh--salmon, for example)?

I'm all out of kosher salt, and a 1.5 kg box (or thereabouts) is more than US$10. I have fine sea salt that has no additives (unlike Morton's kosher salt which has an anti-caking agent added), and it looks coarser than table salt, but it's definitely not as coarse as kosher salt. I might be able to get coarse, but I'm hoping to make do with what I have.

If I can use another type of salt (whether coarse or fine sea salt), should I adjust the salt measurements? For example, my usual bacon recipe calls for 2 1/2 tablespoons of kosher salt for 2 1/2 pounds of pork belly. Would I reduce the amount since kosher salt is greater in volume than seasalt?

[Chris Amirault]

You can absolutely substitute in one salt for another. Just aim for rough weight equivalents as best you can -- or, if someone here has Morton's handy, they can tell you how much 2 1/2 T weighs. (I'm a Diamond Crystal guy.)

[prasantrin]

Thanks! I already looked it up in one of the many kosher salt topics. It's something like 1:1.5:2 table:morton's:diamond crystal. (Something like that. I can't remember off-hand, but I know where to find the info again!)

I should add, the ratio was for volume measurements, not weight.

Edited December 1, 2009 by prasantrin (log)

[ElsieD]

According to Ruhlman in his book "Charcuterie" 1 cup of Morton's Kosher Salt weighs almost 8 ounces. One cup of Diamond Kosher Crustal Kosher salt weighs 4.8 ounces. He suggests using weights. Foe example, in his recipe for Maple-Cured Smoked Bacon, he uses 2 ounces/50 grams kosher salt to cure a 5 pound slab of pork belly. Hope this helps.

[griddler]

OK, so I plan on making bacon with pork belly (US style), Pork loin (Canadian style), heck, I may even try buckboard bacon (pork shoulder). My problem is that the recipes from different sources have very different instructions, especially when it comes to smoking.

My reference list includes:

Charcuterie By Ruhlman and Polcyn (150 degrees F, hot smoke)

Great sausage recipes and meat curing by Rytek Kutas (128 degrees F)

And the Charcuterie blog on this web site (< 90 degrees F, cold smoke)

Question 1. what temperature? I have a hot smoker and can build a cold smoker by adding tubing from the smoke stack to a separate box.

Question 2. how long to cure? It ranges from 48 hours (charcuterie text) to 7days (other blogs).

Question 3. When to remove the skin from the pork belly? (charcuterie text says right after the hot smoke when the fat is soft). Other blogs say trim it before the cure and cold smoke it.

On the upside I am thinking that homemade bacon must be a very forgiving procedure to have so many different approaches. On the other hand, I don’t want to waste time trying all the methods to see what is best.

Has anyone out there experimented with the different approaches?

[Chris Amirault]

Question 1. what temperature? I have a hot smoker and can build a cold smoker by adding tubing from the smoke stack to a separate box.

You can do either hotter or colder smoke, and adjust timing based on what you choose. It's a preference thing.

Question 2. how long to cure? It ranges from 48 hours (charcuterie text) to 7days (other blogs).

That's also tricky. You want to go by feel, eventually, but I lean toward 5-7 days, as I like a more cured profile. You do want to make sure that the cure gets into the meat, and I don't really think that can happen in only 48 hours.

Question 3. When to remove the skin from the pork belly? (charcuterie text says right after the hot smoke when the fat is soft). Other blogs say trim it before the cure and cold smoke it.

Broken record: up to you. I go for Ruhlman's approach and remove it after the hot smoke. (Then I use it all up: that stuff is gold.) I don't see the point of smoking it separately -- what's the reason?

On the upside I am thinking that homemade bacon must be a very forgiving procedure to have so many different approaches. On the other hand, I don’t want to waste time trying all the methods to see what is best.

Of course, "best" is in the mouth of the eater. Keep us posted!

[Blether]

I didn't remember the origin details till I referred back to my recipe just now, where I've noted "Erlandson sweet pickle with spicing based on Harvey/Kinsella and brining technique on Dubbs / Heberle".

In summary, I use an 80% brine and wet cure for 3.5 days. My taste is about middle-of-the-road.

As a Brit, I like 'green' or cold-smoked / raw unsmoked bacon. All the domestic-produced bacon I've ever found in this country is either hot-smoked, or if not smoked at all, then pre-cooked somehow. It never crisps up the way I like, but I've not bothered to nail down whether that's because of the pre-cooking, or because of something else. It goes dry and hard, but not crisp. (I can get imported green bacon that cooks the way I like it).

[dougal]

... I use an 80% brine and ...

I see you've adopted Erlandson's terminology!

Maybe worth explaining that it means 80% of saturated with salt. Make a saturated brine (heat, dissolve what you can, cool, then filter) and take 4 measures of that to one of fresh water to make up the working brine. (Plus whatever flavourings, sweeteners, spices, etc.)

Edited April 13, 2010 by dougal (log)

[Blether]

I'm a dedicated follower of fashion.

Make a saturated brine (heat, dissolve what you can, cool, then filter) and take 4 measures of that to one of fresh water to make up the working brine. (Plus whatever flavourings, sweeteners, spices, etc.)

Interesting approach, that I've not heard before. I go by salt weight to volume of water. Another rule of thumb I've read but not tried is that an 80% brine is just strong enough to float a fresh raw spud.

Edited April 13, 2010 by Blether (log)

[qrn]

after wrestling with brines /rubs, and the final,finished salt levels, I use a dry cure amount based on the weight of the meat. My current finished salt level in bacon, is 3.5% in the finished meat , so, I weigh the meat and add an amount of cure that contains 3.5%(of the meat weight),in salt plus what ever else I want for flavor..,,Then I put the meat in a plastic bag , in the reefer and let it cure until all the cure is absorbed.. (well over a week),Bag needs to be rotated every day or so...In the end, the salt level is always right on, and is never wrong......(If using Insta cure#1 or 2 you need to take the salt weight in that, into consideration in your calculation as well)

For brines I calculate the total weight of the meat, the salt , the liquid, and other ingredients, and cure until the whole thing comes to equalibrium.(I made an excel worksheet to calculate that)..

Bud

[dougal]

Make a saturated brine (heat, dissolve what you can, cool, then filter) and take 4 measures of that to one of fresh water to make up the working brine. (Plus whatever flavourings, sweeteners, spices, etc.)

Interesting approach, that I've not heard before. I go by salt weight to volume of water. Another rule of thumb I've read but not tried is that an 80% brine is just strong enough to float a fresh raw spud.

I believe that the whole thinking behind Erlandson's speaking of "an xx% {of saturated} brine" is the assumption that working with a stock of saturated brine (and diluting it as appropriate) is an easy low-tech approach, which can be scaled as appropriate to production quantity, rather than getting fussed about grams per litre and precise quantities of brine - though careful weighing is the way I tend to go myself!

Potatoes should be more consistent hydrometers than eggs, whose density varies with freshness!

For bacon, I've actually tended to go with the method qrn describes.

Weigh everything carefully. Close it in a bag with the pork (and a tablespoon or so of water to help spread stuff around). Put the bag in the fridge and leave it there for about a week -- while turning the bag over (and squishing its contents) whenever the fridge is opened and a hand is free. Eventually rinse off whatever cure residues and dry for a day or two (ideally hanging) in the fridge. Proper bacon isn't cooked until the time of eating!

I'd just comment that 3.5% of the starting meat weight is quite salty ...

[abadoozy]

I'm following Ruhlman's Maple Bacon recipe in Charcuterie, and the recipe seems to indicate that the pork belly should give off a fair bit of liquid while it sits for a week in the salt/maple syrup rub. It's been a week, and though the pork belly seems to be firming up, it hasn't given off any liquid to speak of.

Should I be worried? I've never done bacon before.

For the record, this was pork belly from a free-range happy pig, not store-bought, if it matters.

[ChrisTaylor]

How much salt/sugar did you use? Are you sure the sugar/salt isn't just absorbing it? Too, er, does the container have a leak?

[Todd in Chicago]

I've made bacon from Michaels book also and my pork belly gave up less than 1/2 cup of liquid - not much at all.

Todd in Chicago

P.S. Bacon tasted great!

[abadoozy]

No leak, it's in a big ziploc, and the ziploc is in a pan, so any leaks would show up in the pan. Salt/Maple Syrup was about 1/4 cup each, and a couple teaspoons of pink salt, for 5# of pork belly.

Good to hear, Todd! I'm not so worried now.

[nickrey]

My bacon releases very little liquid as well. The cure still penetrates.