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Making Bacon


Really Nice!

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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.

 

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Don't ask. Eat it.

www.kayatthekeyboard.wordpress.com

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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.

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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 !

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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 :D

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.

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  • 1 month later...
  • 1 month later...

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.

DSC01761.jpgDSC01759.jpgDSC01760.jpg

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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.

DSC01761.jpg

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?

"Sense Of Urgency" -Thomas Keller

86ed Chef's Advice

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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.

 

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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.

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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4 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

Mine is 'Okanagancook' controlled!xD

 

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

 

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

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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  • 1 year later...

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

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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!

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

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quality control sample  🙂

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Edited by curls
fixed typo (log)
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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.

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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.

Mark

My eG Food Blog

www.markiscooking.com

My NEW Ribs site: BlasphemyRibs.com

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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.  

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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?

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