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MiTEG posted:The bacon should be fine the fridge for a week or so or in the freezer for a lot longer. The sodium nitrate takes care of most of the harmful bacteria. instead of roasting my bacon in the oven I cold smoked it at around 60 degrees for 8 hours. I've been cooking sliced pieces from the freezer for the past few months to no ill effect. Errant Gin Monks posted:Wow... I don't know. It won't keep as long since it wasn't heat treated or smoked. I think I might freeze it and fry as needed. Thanks for the replies, I was worried I might have to scrap the whole batch. I'll keep it frozen and takes slices out as needed.
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Mar 20, 2012 01:58
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So I've stuck some brisket into Ruhlman's corned beef brine today. I'm using half the beef/water/salt. I assume this is safe. Thought I'd check. I massively overused the pickling spice though. I doubt I will care.
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Mar 21, 2012 23:43
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Jose posted:So I've stuck some brisket into Ruhlman's corned beef brine today. I'm using half the beef/water/salt. I assume this is safe. Thought I'd check. I massively overused the pickling spice though. I doubt I will care. Should be fine. Good luck with it. I love corned beef.
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Mar 22, 2012 01:04
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Bacon Questions: 1) How firm is firm? Like, on day 7 (tomorrow) how firm am I looking for it to be? 2) If I don't roast/smoke it until like day 9-10 (awaiting the arrival of a thermopen) should I rest it in or out of the cure?
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Mar 22, 2012 01:23
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bunnielab posted:Bacon Questions: Depending on the thickness my bacons have required 7-10 days to feel completely cured. I would use time as less of a guideline and take it out of the cure when it is "firm". I wish there was a better way to describe that. It doesn't feel like raw meat anymore. It still yields slightly but doesn't feel mushy when poked. I don't think there is a problem with removing it from the cure and letting it hang out in the fridge for a day or two (as long as it is sealed up). I know some people will recommend that a pellicle forms before smoking it and that can easily be achieved by leaving it uncovered in the fridge for many hours or overnight. I would recommend taking the belly out of the cure when it is firm, rinsing it off and patting it dry, then put it back in a clean ziploc until the day of or day before you smoke it. Then uncovering it in the fridge overnight before you smoke it. As for the pellicle, what do people here prefer? After I rinse and dry the belly, I just let it sit out at room temperature for 30-40 minutes while I mess around preparing the smoker and getting the fire ready. I can't say I ever tried to achieve a pellicle on bacon, but I also smoke skin-on and it doesn't seem to make too much sense if you cut off that huge surface area.
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Mar 22, 2012 02:53
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KWC posted:As for the pellicle, what do people here prefer? After I rinse and dry the belly, I just let it sit out at room temperature for 30-40 minutes while I mess around preparing the smoker and getting the fire ready. I can't say I ever tried to achieve a pellicle on bacon, but I also smoke skin-on and it doesn't seem to make too much sense if you cut off that huge surface area. I give mine about 12 hours in the fridge fat side down. The lean side gets a bit of a blueish tinge by the end of it. I've never done it another way, so I can't say whether or not it makes any difference.
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Mar 22, 2012 03:21
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When my brisket has finished curing, should I still boil it for the 3 hours Ruhlman calls for? Seeing as how it only weighs around 2.2lbs instead of 5 in the recipe
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Mar 22, 2012 15:08
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Boil er down til she falls apart like overripe peach.
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Mar 22, 2012 22:08
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Jose posted:When my brisket has finished curing, should I still boil it for the 3 hours Ruhlman calls for? Seeing as how it only weighs around 2.2lbs instead of 5 in the recipe Yes, you still need the time to break down the connective tissues. Just because its smaller doesnt mean it requires less time for that to break down.
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Mar 22, 2012 22:13
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Just picked up 12lbs of fresh local Ontario never frozen meaty pork belly ready to be cured then smoked. (My butcher demanded a sampling once completed.) Now to come up with a few different curing recipes. MmMmm
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Mar 23, 2012 22:16
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I decided to take a crack at the bacon recipe in the OP. Tomorrow's day seven. I went with maple syrup for the cure, since I had a bottle of the good stuff on-hand. We will see how it turns out; I'm cautiously optimistic. But first, a question about cutting the meat. I sure as hell don't have a deli-slicer, so I planned to just use my chef's knife. What's the consensus on prepping this stuff for the pan? Should I slice it all up in one go, and freeze the remainder? Cut up only what I expect to eat right away? What's a good thickness to shoot for?
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Mar 25, 2012 05:08
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Rangpur posted:But first, a question about cutting the meat. I sure as hell don't have a deli-slicer, so I planned to just use my chef's knife. What's the consensus on prepping this stuff for the pan? Should I slice it all up in one go, and freeze the remainder? Cut up only what I expect to eat right away? What's a good thickness to shoot for? Seriously, just wrap it up and take it to your local grocery store (or butcher). Every one around me will gladly slice it for free. I've tried to hand slice, and its just a pain in the rear end, especially once you take it into the store, and they're done in under a minute.
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Mar 25, 2012 06:04
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I have a big 12" slicing knife and I slice all of the bacon in one go after it is cooled. It is a pain in the rear end, but you get pretty good at it after a while. I like to vary thickness so I have some nice thin 1/8" slices and some thick 1/4 - 3/8" slices for different uses. I have not tried to take it to a store near me to have it sliced but that would be worth a try - the worst outcome is they say no and then you slice it yourself. As for storage, I have a foodsaver that I use to vacuum seal in .5 lb packages. I usually end up giving about half away and there is no need to freeze the rest because it lasts so drat long in the fridge.
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Mar 25, 2012 16:31
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I've got to try taking it to the grocer. But I generally try to keep it whole until I want some bacon, then I slice off what I plan on eating.
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Mar 25, 2012 17:16
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I've been following the recipe in the OP, which treats 90 minutes/150 degrees as roughly equivalent. I have a probe thermometer so I figured I'd go by internal temp. It's a 4.8 pound pork belly, and it's been cooking at 200 degrees for more than three hours. No part of it reads hotter than 142. Seriously, what the hell am I doing wrong here?
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Mar 26, 2012 00:22
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Rangpur posted:I've been following the recipe in the OP, which treats 90 minutes/150 degrees as roughly equivalent. I have a probe thermometer so I figured I'd go by internal temp. It's a 4.8 pound pork belly, and it's been cooking at 200 degrees for more than three hours. No part of it reads hotter than 142. You keep opening the oven to check on it? Your oven/smoker has a bad thermometer?
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Mar 26, 2012 13:05
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No, and... I don't think so? My best guess is that something about trying to keep it right at 200 degrees fucks up whatever regulating mechanism it uses to maintain the heat. Turning it up to 250 stabilized things, and it finished up fast after that, only a few degrees over 150. Baffling oven voodoo aside, it was goddamned delicious. Was thinking of trying Ruhlman's corned beef next.
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Mar 26, 2012 13:19
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My corned beef is ready on wednesday and I'm intending to use it mainly for sandwiches for work. If I eat it hot though what is traditional for a full meal?
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Mar 26, 2012 14:42
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Cabbage and potatoes boiled along with the meat for the last bit of cooking.
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Mar 26, 2012 15:21
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Rangpur posted:I've been following the recipe in the OP, which treats 90 minutes/150 degrees as roughly equivalent. I have a probe thermometer so I figured I'd go by internal temp. It's a 4.8 pound pork belly, and it's been cooking at 200 degrees for more than three hours. No part of it reads hotter than 142. That happens a lot with meat. The internal temp will hit a plateau and seem to stay at the same temperature for a really loving long time. Then all of a sudden it will spike up.
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Mar 26, 2012 16:44
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Casu Marzu posted:That happens a lot with meat. The internal temp will hit a plateau and seem to stay at the same temperature for a really loving long time. Then all of a sudden it will spike up. CASU IS ALIVE!!!
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Mar 26, 2012 17:12
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Ok, my bacon is on day 11 in the cure and is no firmer then it was day 7. I am going to pull it tomorrow morning and see what is up.
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Mar 27, 2012 00:25
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I'm not sure how good of an idea this was, but I made a wee little pancetta out of a duck breast.  It was cured in tons of salt, garlic, and rosemary with a bit of sugar, then dried for a while. I just fried up a sliver and I'm surprised at how strongly the garlic and rosemary came through. It's pretty tasty, and a quick, easy charcuterie project for a newcomer like me.
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Mar 27, 2012 13:18
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I've just put my brisket in to boil for corned beef. I'm a bit concerned it wasn't a uniform colour. It was pinkish near the bottom but somewhat brown at the top. It was in the brine in the fridge but I didn't have the brine in an airtight container, just a bowl with clingfilm over the top. Does this matter?
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Mar 27, 2012 17:41
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Jose posted:I've just put my brisket in to boil for corned beef. I'm a bit concerned it wasn't a uniform colour. It was pinkish near the bottom but somewhat brown at the top. It was in the brine in the fridge but I didn't have the brine in an airtight container, just a bowl with clingfilm over the top. Does this matter? Sounds like it wasn't fully submerged and your nitrates didn't protect the pinkness of the top of the beef. Next time, flip it over each day during the corning, or keep it in a freezer bag full of brine like this:  They are in glass trays in case the seal fails. Since it's grey and not green you're probably fine to eat it, sounds like enough salt soaked up through the beef to halt bacterial growth. You'll know by the smell if it's not safe.
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Mar 27, 2012 19:15
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Doing that only occurred to me today. Didn't notice any green but the smell of the brine was sufficiently strong it would have had to be really bad for me to notice. The only bit of the beef not completely submerged was a little bit of the fat at the top. Almost everything else was completely soaked the entire time.
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Mar 27, 2012 19:18
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You should be fine, there wont be anything noticable but if you are worried just trim it up when it comes out of the boil.
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Mar 27, 2012 19:32
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It had come out the boil a nice shade of pink. Not as bright as I've seen in photos but it is looking good. Going to make some amazing sandwiches tomorrow. It looks really good but I may have overdone the cloves in the brine/boil as they're by far the dominant flavour. Not the end of the world though Jose fucked around with this message at 09:22 on Mar 28, 2012 |
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Mar 27, 2012 22:25
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My bacon is too salty.  I left it in the cure for 10 days because it didn't seem firm enough. I now regret that. Happily it was only a 1.5lb chunk so I can blanch it and use it up as an ingredient. Also, I oven roasted it and it really lacking the smoky "bacon" flavor. I think I will get some hardwood pellets and smoke the next one. Because clearly I am going out tomorrow and buying an other belly.
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Mar 29, 2012 01:37
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bunnielab posted:My bacon is too salty. Best of luck... I just put 20lbs of pork belly in to cure. Planning on hickory smoking it in ~7 days.
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Mar 29, 2012 04:49
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Aaaaaaand, it's bacon!
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Apr 5, 2012 07:31
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bunnielab posted:My bacon is too salty. Soak the belly in water for an hour. Change the water and do it again. It'll be a lot more palatable.
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Apr 5, 2012 17:04
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I think I made a bacon mistake. I used Ruhlman's recipe for a basic dry rub (1 lb salt, 8oz sugar, 10tsp pink salt), added some spices, and used it on five pounds of pork belly. It's been about a week and I'm ready to smoke it, then I happened to glance at the book again. It says to use a quarter cup of cure for 3-5 lbs of belly. I got a little nitrite-scared and realized I used about 10x the amount of nitrite, or about 2.5x higher than the maximum limit for human consumption. The bacon will be eaten by the trash can, and I'll have to wait another week.
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Apr 5, 2012 23:48
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Timo posted:I think I made a bacon mistake. Make sure you read the label on the pink salt. Mine gives a suggested amount per 100/lbs of meat.
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Apr 6, 2012 02:58
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Just made some pork tenderloin lonzino and some guanciale. The lonzino is so loving good. Here's the lonzino:
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Apr 6, 2012 16:17
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Here is the guanciale. Can't wait to make real carbonara from it!
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Apr 6, 2012 16:18
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Those look goddamn fantastic. I need to make lonzio, I've got some coming eventually from a kickstarter I funded.
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Apr 6, 2012 17:26
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I want to make the pancetta, but I'm worried about like how do I keep bugs off it? If it's just hanging there in the kitchen. Does it make the whole house smell like drying pork? Should I like clear off a cabinet and hang it in the cabinet? I live in the pacific NW, seems like the average temperature about now would be about right. Do you wrap it up when you hang it, or will that prevent it from drying properly?
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Apr 6, 2012 20:23
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Huge_Midget posted:Just made some pork tenderloin lonzino and some guanciale. The lonzino is so loving good. That looks amazing! Since it's tenderloin, it would be the same as a spanish lomo? Please tell me you won't fry it up, like I saw someone do to a nice serrano the other day 
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Apr 9, 2012 12:20
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Do some types of meat take brining better than others? I'm starting to worry my palate is blown out or something: I recently tried Ruhlman's corned beef recipe, but used a hunk of pork shoulder instead because I happened to have it on hand. It spent almost 5 days in the brine, then got boiled until tender. Despite soaking in the brine for that long, the meat ended up being pretty bland and I actually need to salt each serving for it to taste good, and the typical corned beef flavour is barely there; almost none of the aroma or flavour from the brining spices came through
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Apr 10, 2012 00:21
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