Making Bacon

[kayb]

Very nice. I JUST remembered I have a chunk of pork loin, cured for Canadian bacon, air-drying in the fridge. Oh, well, it'll get an extra half-day's drying time, as I'm not about to start smoking it at almost 8 p.m. CDT.

 

[sartoric]

1 hour ago, Captain said:

Over a year gone bye on this thread....  Ok wakey wakey.

This is my first ever attempt at bacon. I'm very happy.

Thanks for looking.

 

Well I'm impressed. Please tell us how it tastes.

If you need a second opinion I live in postcode 4214, but can travel to kickatincanalong wherever that is !

[Okanagancook]

Captain, great results for your first try.  Lightly smoked?

My DH likes doing some non-smoked rashers too.  We cure it with pepper, bay leaves and a little garlic.

[rotuts]

@Captain  

 

congratulations !   and what a fine piece of meat to start with !

[Captain]

Thanks. Yes I got lucky with the cut. After I got the belly home and had a closer look I knew what I wanted to do.  Home is 4213 @sartoric

I cured it quite simply with brown sugar, a little salt and black pepper.  Smoked it using Banksia cones.  I love the taste. Lightly salty, sweet smokey flavour.

Thanks again.

[Captain]

This Bacon me Crazy,

My second attempt. I used Maple Syrup with this one. Very tasty indeed.

[rotuts]

@Captain 

 

congratulations.  Id love a taste

 

the slab you worked with looks extra nice !

[Okanagancook]

Just finished our annual bacon making session although my pancetta is still in the garage for another few days.

There is the set up with the slicer and a couple of pics of meat.  We did half a belly as a simple recipe with sage, black pepper and a little garlic; another half was cured with maple syrup and the last half was done with honey.  We used hickory smoke and a Bradley smoker for about 6 hours to get the internal temp to 155F.  Really nice smoke flavour.

[nonkeyman]

2 hours ago, Okanagancook said:

Just finished our annual bacon making session although my pancetta is still in the garage for another few days.

There is the set up with the slicer and a couple of pics of meat.  We did half a belly as a simple recipe with sage, black pepper and a little garlic; another half was cured with maple syrup and the last half was done with honey.  We used hickory smoke and a Bradley smoker for about 6 hours to get the internal temp to 155F.  Really nice smoke flavour.

That looks beautiful! Is that slicer reliable? I am used to restaurant grade machinery and so I am curious what to buy for home use?

[Okanagancook]

It is a Chefs Choice slicer that I have had for about 17 years!  We still have the original blade and it seems sharp enough but perhaps time for a new one.  We only use it a couple of times a year and now we are lending it out a couple of times a year.  It has served us well.  Easy to use BUT when slicing the bottom part of the meat doesn't get sliced all the way so I do two slices then flip the meat and do two more which eliminates the flap of uncut meat...if that makes sense.  It is quite compact.  I put it in a pillow case to keep the dust off and store it on a shelf.  I will take some pictures for you tomorrow.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I don't have much to add except that in my former career I used to sell equipment to the bacon slicing industry.

 

Makes me hungry to think of it.

 

[Okanagancook]

Here are a few pictures of the slicer.  It is 13 inches long, 11 inches wide and it about 10 inches high.

[Okanagancook]

Also check out the "someone please talk me out of buying this" thread for a discussion on slicers.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

The bacon slicers I was involved with were laser controlled.

 

[Okanagancook]

Mine is 'Okanagancook' controlled!

[JoNorvelleWalker]

4 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

Mine is 'Okanagancook' controlled!

 

Yeah, but you're not trying to make a living selling optronics.  Think something like this:

 

http://www.provisur.com/formax-slicing/products

[curls]

Finally everything fell into place enough that I was able to join in and try making my own bacon! Thank you for all your posts over the years -- definitely don't think I would have done this otherwise. Hot smoked on my Kamado Joe with apple wood chunks and used the Simple Bacon Recipe from amazingribs.com. Will definitely do this again -- planning to use hickory wood chunks for the next trial.

 

smoking away with temperature probes in each porkbelly chunk

 

piece one & two post smoking -- next time I'll keep the piece as big as possible to fit the fridge & smoker

pretty sure that I did not need to cut this belly in half - lesson learned!

 

all sliced up and ready to package up for the fridge and freezer

 

quality control sample  🙂

Edited September 8, 2018 by curls
fixed typo (log)

[Okanagancook]

.well done😀  making bacon gets easier and easier each time you do it.  I enjoyed a BLT just this morning.😍

[curls]

Thanks Okanagancook! Looks like you make quite a bit of your own bacon. I'm with you on the BLT's. I had BT's (BLT without the lettuce) for dinner twice this week!

[Okanagancook]

BT’s are wonderful too.  Emphasis on the T.  Come to think of it it was a BT that I had at breakfast today...with six slices🐷

[kayb]

That's good looking stuff.

[FeChef]

Why does raw cured bacon have a longer shelf life in the fridge then cured cooked bacon? I always bake a pound and freeze for quick reheat in the microwave but the slices can be a pain to separate when frozen. I was suprised to read the fridge shelf life was 4-5 days? That seems odd to me.

[mgaretz]

10 hours ago, FeChef said:

Why does raw cured bacon have a longer shelf life in the fridge then cured cooked bacon? I always bake a pound and freeze for quick reheat in the microwave but the slices can be a pain to separate when frozen. I was suprised to read the fridge shelf life was 4-5 days? That seems odd to me.

 

I use parchment paper to separate the slices when freezing.  I lay the pieces out on the paper with about an inch between them, then roll/fold the paper.

[Baron d'Apcher]

20 hours ago, FeChef said:

Why does raw cured bacon have a longer shelf life in the fridge then cured cooked bacon? I always bake a pound and freeze for quick reheat in the microwave but the slices can be a pain to separate when frozen. I was suprised to read the fridge shelf life was 4-5 days? That seems odd to me.

Who or what says so?  Invariably, bacon is fully cooked during the smoking process, or else it isn't bacon.  Cooked bacon will last a very long time in the fridge.  

[gfweb]

20 minutes ago, Baron d'Apcher said:

Who or what says so?  Invariably, bacon is fully cooked during the smoking process, or else it isn't bacon.  Cooked bacon will last a very long time in the fridge.  

 

But what about the stuff you buy in the supermarket? That's uncooked and smoked, no?