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My pork belly still had the skin on it (including a nipple), should I have taken that off?
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Jan 7, 2013 04:10
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| # ? May 18, 2024 18:51 |
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You can take the skin off before or after making the bacon. I prefer doing it before because I like seasoning all sides prior to smoking, and seasoning the skin is kind of a waste because it has to come off before you slice it into bacon. On the other hand, you could probably use the smoked/cured skin to flavor a soup or something if that appeals to you (or rinds maybe).
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Jan 7, 2013 04:25
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It is super easy to take the skin off post smoking - not that easy to do before smoking. But as GigaFool said it allows seasoning more of the finished product you will be eating.
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Jan 7, 2013 19:23
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I'm taking the plunge and have two duck breasts covered in salt ready to go tomorrow, and I think I found a decent place in our old house to hang it, only I'm worried the space is too small and will inhibit airflow. It's an old window hole converted into a very shallow cabinet in our unheated (50-55 F)mudroom, and two small tupperwares brings it up to 70% humidity. I also want to do a corned beef and got some (white?) curing salt, called nitritpökelsalz here, from my butcher. It's apparently 1% nitrite, I hope that's the right stuff, I feel a little sketchy about using it considering the potential dangers combined with my lack of knowledge. The recipe in Charcuterie calls for 25 grams of the pink salt, but thats for a 5 pound brisket, and mine is only 1.5 pounds. Do I cut the brine recipe into a fourth or should I make the entire brine?
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Jan 8, 2013 19:27
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 Ruhlman's adapted savory bacon recipe from Charcuterie. 8 lb Berkshire pork belly. Black pepper, red pepper flake, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, nutmeg, juniper berries, and maple syrup for sweetness. Not pictured: Two 3 lb Berkshire hog jowls, one curing with nothing but pink salt, kosher salt, and dextrose. The other with the Lola cure. This Sunday is the Baconing. The day of pork porn to inaugurate my new Weber Smoky Mountain. SO MUCH PORK WILL BE SMOKED.
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Jan 10, 2013 05:07
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Frog Lip posted:My pork belly still had the skin on it (including a nipple), should I have taken that off? I leave the akin on the whole time, I love the taste of crunchy skin and the subcutaneous fat after frying. It's awesome.
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Jan 10, 2013 05:45
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I bought 4lbs of boneless pork belly from whole foods today. I (mostly) followed Ruhlmann's recipe, trying, more or less by sight, to take out 20% of the ingredients to account for the smaller size:   Two questions: 1) judging by other pictures, I think I may have included too much rub. Is this a problem? 2) I left the skin on. Is it best to cut it off before or after cooking? Any other advice appreciated as this is my first attempt! I'll be trying to cook this in my oven next weekend. e: my deviations from Ruhlmann (apart from portion) were no garlic or thyme, but added mesquite and grade a dark amber maple syrup. Petey fucked around with this message at 06:31 on Jan 13, 2013 |
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Jan 13, 2013 06:28
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Petey posted:I bought 4lbs of boneless pork belly from whole foods today. I (mostly) followed Ruhlmann's recipe, trying, more or less by sight, to take out 20% of the ingredients to account for the smaller size: Skin on is good. It'll almost slide off right after smoking it.
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Jan 13, 2013 08:29
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The Baconing happened today. Ruhlman's savory bacon recipe adapted from Charcuterie, out of the bag before rinsing and smoking.  When one kind of bacon won't do, make 4! Clockwise starting from the leftmost: Berkshire hog jowl with simple pink salt, kosher salt, and dextrose cure. Lola style cured Berkshire jowl. Berkshire belly with savory bacon cure from Charcuterie. Berkshire belly with savory bacon cure and added red pepper flake for heat.  Time to  After almost 3 hours over hickory and apple wood you end up with this.  Money shot. 
Huge_Midget fucked around with this message at 00:42 on Jan 14, 2013 |
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Jan 14, 2013 00:40
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Huge_Midget posted:The Baconing happened today. This is gorgeous. Good work.
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Jan 14, 2013 09:07
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Here is my second attempt at making bacon. I followed the general guidelines of Ruhlman’s recipe but made a few choice modifications. (My belly was 4 pounds without skin) 1/4 cup Morton or Diamond Crystal coarse kosher 2 teaspoons pink curing salt #1 4 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper 4 bay leaves, crumbled 1/4 cup of vanilla bourbon syrup (I’ll explain below) 5 cloves of garlic, smashed with the flat side of a chef’s knife 5 to 10 sprigs fresh thyme All the dry ingredients minus the garlic were thoroughly mixed into a bowl then half was sprinkled then rubbed into one side, then the remaining on the back side and edges. Next I placed the salted belly into a 2.5 gallon bag and poured about a 1/4 cup or so of the vanilla bourbon syrup (less mess this way) and from the outside of the bag I rubbed it on both sides of the belly. I got the vanilla bourbon idea from another forum after I looked up “vanilla bean bacon” because I had some extra vanilla beans I wanted to get rid of. I found some guy making vanilla sugar by scrapping the insides of the beans into a couple cups of sugar. He then added a couple cups of bourbon to a cup or so of the sugar and a smidge of maple syrup and made a “bourbon simple syrup”. This tasted AMAZING. I plan on making some for mint juleps too. I then placed the five or so crushed garlic cloves around on both sides of the belly. I double bagged it then put the entire thing on a cookie sheet in my fridge for the next 7 days, flipping it about every day or so. (Thursday night the 3rd till Friday afternoon on the 11th)  After I took the belly out of the fridge I rinsed it off as thoroughly as I could under cool water. Some of the black pepper remained in the fat on the fattier side. The taste of this extra pepper was noticeable on my initial presmoke/salty taste test but after smoking were negligible. It was a tad bit saltier so I let it soak for about an hour (I think it still would have been fine if I didn’t soak though). Then I dried it and let it set (in the open) on my enclosed porch (38F outside) to avoid any contaminating other foods in the fridge. This is to help create a pellicle for smoke absorption. My initial plans were to try and cold smoke the entire belly for 10 or so hours then cut it in half and hot smoke the other half to ~130-150F but I couldn’t get my newly made contraption to work correctly.  I blatantly stole the idea from A-MAZE-N smoker people but I had the materials and the tools necessary to make this in less than 10 minutes. Why not?!  I figured out what I think I was doing wrong after I got frustrated and just decided to hot smoke the entire batch with hickory. The sawdust wasn’t dry enough and too coarse. I eventually got it to burn right and smoke some cheese with it. Turned out pretty good!  I smoked it till about 135F at 200F smoke temperature. This took about 3.5-4 hours with the outdoor temperature being an unseasonable warm 60F for western New York.  I took the bacon out and let it sit overnight in the fridge to firm up for slicing the next morning.   Why yes I do have a commercial deli slicer and yes it’s as awesome as you think. The only problem is where the meat goes and where you turn it on.  (Sorry about the blurriness, I didn’t realize this until I just uploaded it) If I didn’t have this slicer I honestly don’t think I would do bacon again because I tried hand slicing some and it was a pain in the rear end. Bacon came out great! Great salt level, perfect thickness and length. Note the bag at the top of the image, I cut off about 4” of thin part of the belly so that I could freeze. This way I can make any size slice I want or lardons for salads. As for the bourbon syrup? I think I’m going to use less sugar next time because the bacon came out sweeter than I thought it would.
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Jan 14, 2013 16:45
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Hello wonderful charcuterie thread, nice to meat you. I got myself a ridiculous big smoker and some pink salt. I want to try the recipe in the OP for bacon, but with my smoker rather than oven. I was thinking apple wood chips? Do I set it for a certain amount of time or do I have to probe it until it is 150? I can't wait to try my first homemade bacon! I raise quail and want to figure out what I can do with them, too. I was thinking something similar to the duck breast in the OP? I am open to suggestions; I have six to process next week and want to cook outside of my norms. My other goals with this smoker include cheese, fish, and sea salts since those are my biggest grocery expenditures at this point. Has anyone smoked their own salt? I assume I just chuck it in on a shallow pan and stir sometimes.
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Jan 16, 2013 22:09
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First real corned beef I've had since moving to Europe 7 years ago. This is a big deal.
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Jan 16, 2013 23:35
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Pardalis posted:Hello wonderful charcuterie thread, nice to meat you. I got myself a ridiculous big smoker and some pink salt. I want to try the recipe in the OP for bacon, but with my smoker rather than oven. I was thinking apple wood chips? Do I set it for a certain amount of time or do I have to probe it until it is 150? If you are hot smoking it, smoke at 200* until your probe says it is at 150*. Mine took over 2 hours, but it was also <30* out when I smoked it.
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Jan 17, 2013 00:57
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Pardalis posted:Hello wonderful charcuterie thread, nice to meat you. I got myself a ridiculous big smoker and some pink salt. I want to try the recipe in the OP for bacon, but with my smoker rather than oven. I was thinking apple wood chips? Do I set it for a certain amount of time or do I have to probe it until it is 150? Always use a probe when smoking. You may not always be going to a precise temperature, but you want to know what is going on inside. I have seen people smoke salt using a screen (like a fry splash guard) so the smoke can flow over the salt. You have slightly bigger crystal salt, but I think it would be worth it, and you can always grind it later.
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Jan 17, 2013 01:34
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Pardalis posted:Hello wonderful charcuterie thread, nice to meat you. I got myself a ridiculous big smoker and some pink salt. I want to try the recipe in the OP for bacon, but with my smoker rather than oven. I was thinking apple wood chips? Do I set it for a certain amount of time or do I have to probe it until it is 150? From everything that I've found on the internet, you dont need to smoke it to any specific internal temperatures. The amount of time you smoke it should be dictated by the amount of smokiness you want. Since the belly is already cured, you can simply slice it and fry it up. The only thing that hot smoking to 150F seems to do is render a little bit of fat off the belly, give it that nice looking bark, and allow you to eat it without frying it since it's techincally "cooked pork", Go ahead and smoke it till 150 internal temp at 200 smoker temp though because this is your first time. Keep in mind that this will definitely take longer than 2 hours, more like 4-5 hours depending on the size of the belly. After a couple times smoking pork bellies and other meats, you'll get a handle on how long you'll want to smoke for and what woods work best for the flavors you're looking to achieve.
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Jan 17, 2013 17:35
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So I just unwrapped and rinsed off my 4 lbs of pork belly after a week in the fridge on my first attempt. Here's what it looks like. It is still soft, but it looks a little brown and dry, at least compared to those from other folks in this thread. Is that bad? I've got it sitting on the skin in the oven for 200 degrees for 90 minutes right now. Unfortunately the local deli isn't open tonight but if I can't cut it myself I'll try to take it there tomorrow. 
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Jan 19, 2013 00:34
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...so I think I did it wrong. The bacon didn't appear to be really done like others had been at 90 minutes at 200 degrees, so I kept it in for another 45 minutes at 250. It came out rubbery and solid and dry. The skin didn't come off easily at all; I had to cut the fat with the knife and peel it away with my hands. The pink fatty parts taste like ham. The other parts are really dry. Any ideas what went wrong? Or is this how it is supposed to be? It's sitting on my closed porch cooling now in 30 degree weather.     
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Jan 19, 2013 04:43
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Petey - have you tried cooking a slice in a skillet to see how it turns out? It's possible you left it in too long, but I'd test it by cooking up a slice before making any conclusions.
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Jan 19, 2013 05:04
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Petey posted:...so I think I did it wrong. probably a humidity problem. did you use the water pan?
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Jan 19, 2013 12:20
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Stringent posted:probably a humidity problem. did you use the water pan? No? That wasn't in Ruhlmann's directions for an oven.
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Jan 19, 2013 23:31
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schwein11 posted:Petey - have you tried cooking a slice in a skillet to see how it turns out? It's possible you left it in too long, but I'd test it by cooking up a slice before making any conclusions. I did. It came out pretty rubbery and tasting more like ham than bacon :/
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Jan 20, 2013 02:31
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Petey posted:I did. It came out pretty rubbery and tasting more like ham than bacon :/ I am assuming you used DQ #1 curing salt? Put my first pancetta in the curing chamber last night, now for the wait for it to lose 30% of its weight.
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Jan 20, 2013 17:40
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Anyone have a recommendation on a pork provider that can deliver to the Chicago area?
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Jan 20, 2013 21:44
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dms666 posted:I am assuming you used DQ #1 curing salt? Yes I did - in the amount specified. Anyone have suggestions for troubleshooting?
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Jan 20, 2013 23:51
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Petey posted:Yes I did - in the amount specified. Anyone have suggestions for troubleshooting? It's kind of tough to troubleshoot if no one knows exactly what you did. Exactly what did you do, besides the Ruhlman recipe? The Ruhlman recipe works, so if you came out with something weird that isn't bacon, there must must be some detail that's different. Did you follow it exactly? If not, what did you do different? (Also: the Ruhlman is going to be a bit sweeter than the bacon you might be used to, since it includes sugar in its rub--that might be the ham taste you're getting.)
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Jan 21, 2013 06:09
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I think I had a similar problem on my first batch of bacon. Instead of just cooking my bacon for 90 minutes at 200C, I tried using a cooking thermometer to cook by the internal temperature. After 90 minutes it wasn't close to the desired temp so I left it cooking for quite a while longer too. Mine didn't seem to turn out as bad as yours (it was edible) but it wasn't amazing and was a little bit rubbery. It also had a bit of an odd taste I couldn't quite put my finger on. For my next batch I just cooked 90mins @ 200C and it turned out perfectly. Much better texture and no weird taste.
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Jan 21, 2013 06:29
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So I did the front page pork belly with some that was a day before it's Sell By date. I did the exact recipe and left it in the fridge for 10 days. It smells right now at the point where I would consider it just past eating. I don't know what to do. Is it still OK and it's supposed to smell questionable? Did I gently caress something up? I'm heating the oven right now but I'm in a totally new area. edit: To describe the smell, it smells like lunch meat roast beef. Seriously. edit2: VVVV OK, things actually sound a lot like that. However I am a moron and forgot to rinse before cooking. Any reason it might be ruined? Adult Sword Owner fucked around with this message at 22:36 on Jan 21, 2013 |
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Jan 21, 2013 10:03
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Petey posted:bacon bummer The whole thing is essentially a wet cure. The salt should draw sufficient moisture out of the pork as it sits and cures that there should be liquid in the bag/dish and that is why you want to flip it regularly - to even out the cure. It seems odd that when you got it out of the cure originally "it looks a little brown and dry". It should have a squishy texture like a brined porkchop or something. So it will be firmer than when you put it in the cure, but not at all dried out. If I remember right the meaty part of the belly is what gives up the moisture not the fat, so a leaner belly will result in a wetter cure. This picture from earlier in the thread is a good example of what I would expect it to look like after the cure: Kid posted:After a week of curing, with me flipping the bag over each morning, I rinsed the belly off Did you cure the belly in an airtight/ziploc bag and was there a lot of moisture released during the week you let it cure? I wouldn't give up on the baconing. Use this less enjoyable stuff for building flavor bases for soups and braises, and make some more for eating by the slice.
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Jan 21, 2013 16:11
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Nicol Bolas posted:It's kind of tough to troubleshoot if no one knows exactly what you did. Exactly what did you do, besides the Ruhlman recipe? The Ruhlman recipe works, so if you came out with something weird that isn't bacon, there must must be some detail that's different. Did you follow it exactly? If not, what did you do different? (Also: the Ruhlman is going to be a bit sweeter than the bacon you might be used to, since it includes sugar in its rub--that might be the ham taste you're getting.) The only thing I did differently from the Ruhlman recipe was leave it in for 130 minutes (rather than 90) at 200 degrees. I did this because at 90 minutes it seemed really uncooked to the eye and I thought my stove might have been too low (some garlic bread cheese wasn't melting either). So it wouldn't surprise me if that was the problem since that was the only deviation I made. Xarb posted:I think I had a similar problem on my first batch of bacon. Instead of just cooking my bacon for 90 minutes at 200C, I tried using a cooking thermometer to cook by the internal temperature. After 90 minutes it wasn't close to the desired temp so I left it cooking for quite a while longer too. Thanks, that's helpful, and probably what I did wrong! KWC posted:
Yeah it wasn't squishy and it didn't look like that picture so I'm guessing there was also a leak (see below). My cut was also suboptimal so I guess I'll just try again. quote:
Petey fucked around with this message at 05:48 on Jan 22, 2013 |
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Jan 22, 2013 05:45
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Petey posted:The only thing I did differently from the Ruhlman recipe was leave it in for 130 minutes (rather than 90) at 200 degrees. I did this because at 90 minutes it seemed really uncooked to the eye and I thought my stove might have been too low (some garlic bread cheese wasn't melting either). So it wouldn't surprise me if that was the problem since that was the only deviation I made. You did 200C right? even 50C below that would be melting cheese.
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Jan 22, 2013 10:25
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If you are using Celsius, the oven should be 100C max. I usually put mine around 90 and it takes less than 2 hours to reach 65C internally. I messed that up the first time as well, since I'm not used to reading Fahrenheit in recipes and turned it on 200C. Made about 10 batches since then and all came out great. General question; I made the standard bacon once, but the bay leaf/black pepper/garlic is so good I haven't gone back to the normal one. I tried using ground up dried chili, but while the belly got a beautiful red crust there was absolutely no change in flavor. Should I use more or is it just really hard to get spicy bacon? I used about two tablespoons on a 1,5Kg/3lb belly and it seemed like overkill already.
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Jan 22, 2013 11:51
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dalstrs posted:You did 200C right? even 50C below that would be melting cheese. ...no, 200F. BioTech posted:General question; I made the standard bacon once, but the bay leaf/black pepper/garlic is so good I haven't gone back to the normal one. I tried using ground up dried chili, but while the belly got a beautiful red crust there was absolutely no change in flavor. Should I use more or is it just really hard to get spicy bacon? I used about two tablespoons on a 1,5Kg/3lb belly and it seemed like overkill already. I'd *love* to make a "sweet and spicy" bacon (that's my favorite taste combo), so if you figure this out, post it!
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Jan 22, 2013 13:39
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Don't give up on the baconing guys. I just had about 15 lbs come off cure on Sunday and I cooked them up (in the oven, no smoker yet). I had to post this because it's probably the best looking final product I've made to date. This was a cayenne pepper and cacao powder recipe I made based loosely around the recipe from Charcuterie. It came out pretty good, but I think I'll add more of each next time because the flavors didn't come through as much as I wanted.
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Jan 22, 2013 20:06
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For those of you who've made Duck Proscuitto, how long did you hang it? Ruhlman says 7 days, as do quite a few blogs, but mine have been hanging in 50-55 degrees/65-75% humidity for almost twice that and have lost just under 15% of weight in that time. They still feel slightly squishy, one more so than the other, but they've definitely firmed up and everything smells good. Any advice?
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Jan 22, 2013 22:47
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Armed Neutrality posted:For those of you who've made Duck Proscuitto, how long did you hang it? Ruhlman says 7 days, as do quite a few blogs, but mine have been hanging in 50-55 degrees/65-75% humidity for almost twice that and have lost just under 15% of weight in that time. They still feel slightly squishy, one more so than the other, but they've definitely firmed up and everything smells good. Any advice? Eat it and see what it's like. There's loads and loads of variable to take into account when curing that for the home curer you'll get pretty wide spread of results. Take some pictures and look at the texture etc and perhaps we can work out what we can change, if we need to change anything, to get better results for your environment. It could be your humidity was a little low at the start which can make it retain a bit more.
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Jan 23, 2013 14:42
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So I just started curing my first batch of bacon, used mostly the same recipe as the OP, added some chile arbol and a chipotle and a little whiskey. I think this other one I want to just drown in whiskey, has anyone tried this? also what are different variations people have used? I thought maybe using a little splash of vanilla extract would be alright.
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Jan 24, 2013 00:03
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My first pancetta finished up and I'm planning on trying it out in some carbonara tonight.
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Jan 24, 2013 00:09
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Generalissimo
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Petey posted:Thanks, that's helpful, and probably what I did wrong! Note that I assumed you mentioned 200C, not F. I can't actually remember what I cooked it at but it was as close to the Ruhlman recipe as possible, so just do whatever he says.
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Jan 24, 2013 02:16
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Toast posted:My first pancetta finished up and I'm planning on trying it out in some carbonara tonight. That looks incredible.
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Jan 24, 2013 16:53
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