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That bacon looks delicious and that slicer is awesome. May I ask how much you picked it up for? New or used? Looks brand new.
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May 22, 2014 20:20
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The Midniter posted:That bacon looks delicious and that slicer is awesome. May I ask how much you picked it up for? New or used? Looks brand new. Chef's Choice brand I imagine and if that is the case they are fairly cheap at around $135 for that model.
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May 22, 2014 22:53
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The Midniter posted:That bacon looks delicious and that slicer is awesome. May I ask how much you picked it up for? New or used? Looks brand new. Bone_Enterprise posted:Chef's Choice brand I imagine and if that is the case they are fairly cheap at around $135 for that model. Absolutely correct. $135, well reviewed on Amazon, and works well for my purposes. Not terribly easy to clean though. http://amzn.com/B0058VCYWS It's not quite professional grade. The blade moves slower than I expected but the blade is serrated and razor sharp, so it goes through the bacon like it's nothing. Teflon gloves are a good idea to go with it. http://amzn.com/B003TV40XA
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May 22, 2014 23:14
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smilingfish posted:Absolutely correct. $135, well reviewed on Amazon, and works well for my purposes. Not terribly easy to clean though. http://amzn.com/B0058VCYWS Yeah the first time I turned mine on and it slowly chugged along I was mind blown having worked in a sandwich shop as a teen and using a blur of a deli slicer.
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May 23, 2014 04:58
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Making first bacon this weekend. I thought maybe it would be best to use my vacuum sealer to cure in. I have always got a full fridge and would make it much easier to store and almost leak proof so no tray needed. Anyone done this? Edit: worked out fine, it's been 6 days. I'm soaking in cold water now. ChuckHead fucked around with this message at 18:46 on May 31, 2014 |
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May 25, 2014 02:17
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Venison backstrap, cured bresaola style: It's been hanging for a week. I'll give it a couple more. My basement has become perfect for salumi this year. We had an unbelievably cold winter (Fort Drum NY area) and I packed fiberglass insulation into the small basement windows to keep the pipes from freezing again. Now that it's warm, the insulation has evened out the basement and it maintains 65-70 percent humidity and a temperature of around 60 F. It rules.
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May 25, 2014 14:15
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I cured some pork tenderloins and hung them in my drying fridge to dry out and there is mold on them and I'm worried I hosed up and ruined them. They were cured separately for two days in a standard salt/curing salt mix, then wrapped in cheesecloth and put in the drying fridge on May 4th. about a week ago some mold started to appear on them and now there is alot of it. They are starting to reach the right weight so I took one out, rinsed off the mold and cut it in half to take a look at the meat. Is the mold superficial, or is the meat ruined? Meat hanging in the fridge:   Tenderloin I took out and rinsed off:  
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May 25, 2014 20:45
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smilingfish, thats awesome man, simply awesome. If you have a smoker, you should try putting it in there for an hour or so.
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May 26, 2014 17:27
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Update time! The brown sugar maple bacon was a success. It came out of the cure looking glorious.  A quick 90 minutes in the oven dried it out nicely.  However, tragedy - my wife finds the bacon too salty. A soak in ice water in the fridge for 6 hours drew out a good deal of the salt and made it palatable. Slicing up the bacon on my awesome deli slicer got me my first injury in the line of bacon-making duty:  Not to worry, just a small nick under my fingernail while cleaing the blade. Time to package this up. Oh wait, what's that? That's right, a new vacuum sealer, for easier storage of my bacon.  The vacuum sealer has other, non-charcuterie uses too:  Not to mention, between the new slicer and the new sealer, my cat now has a kick-rear end box fort: 
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May 27, 2014 15:56
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Awesome smilingfish! I smoked about 3.5 lbs of pork shoulder bacon (country bacon?) this weekend and it turned out awesome. I used the recipe from the OP, but it's so much better than my last attempt. The pieces are smaller and fall apart sort of easily, but it's a lot less fatty (obviously) than belly, and is like awesome smokey bacon-y ham. Going to have to keep an eye out for sales on pork shoulder.. or loin, canadian bacon might be good.
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May 27, 2014 16:24
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Kramjacks posted:molds White surface mold is the mold you want. It is harmless, and and in many cases will provide a piquancy to the food that nothing else can bring to the table. Many will occur naturally, some you have to inoculate. Fuzzy/poofy white mold is so-so. Green mold is not good, but you can just wipe it away with a good, strong salt water and check for any deterioration of the meat. (from you photos, you don't have any to worry about). Black mold, on the other hand, just throw whatever you are making away. Not only is it rather toxic, but it sends down 'feeler roots' into the meat that you can't see and can easily penetrate the entire depth of the product. There is essentially no way to cut away the bad parts. If you keep a clean house with little rot (building and structure rot, not like rotting food laying around) and low humidity, black mold has a hard time taking root. If you've recently recovered from a flood, do not cure meats, as black mold will likely be lurking about. Anyways, I recently finished a new pancetta recipe. I based it on Ruhlman, but then fiddled about with it. Doubled the black pepper/juniper (I love the stuff), a tiny touch of red pepper flake, and added a few more Mediterranean savories. After two weeks in the fridge, I hung it in the closet under damp paper towels for about 5 weeks. Turned out pretty awesome. Man is it potent. The drat thing was too large to roll, so I just had to fold it in half for the drying. About 9.8lbs. 
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May 28, 2014 16:55
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I made the bacon recipe in the OP and just smoked it on my Big Green Egg today. I really don't think I can go back to store bought bacon again. What have you done to me, thread??
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May 30, 2014 20:53
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All of this pork belly bacon is like 60%+ fat and little meat. You all need to get on curing pork loin for back bacon instead. The taste is all in the cure and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. You get so much more meat
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Jun 2, 2014 22:38
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Nah, they're not interchangeable. Canadian, UK, US bacon are all awesome in their own right. It's like when people get you to drink almond milk and say now you never have to have cow milk ever again. I like both kinds, but one does not exclude the other.
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Jun 2, 2014 22:56
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Jose posted:All of this pork belly bacon is like 60%+ fat and little meat. You all need to get on curing pork loin for back bacon instead. The taste is all in the cure and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. You get so much more meat But he fat is the good part. I love me some back bacon as well but the mouth feel of belly bacon is delightful.
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Jun 3, 2014 00:19
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Central Market is having a special on berkshire pork, but apparently wasn't able to get any pork belly... The rep said its impossible to keep in stock. Heading back on Saturday morning in case they get some in. If not, I will have to settle for something lesser, but either way I will be starting my cure this weekend.
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Jun 4, 2014 00:38
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Did you talk to the butcher to see when they get their deliveries? That's always a great way avoid going at the wrong times. You may also need to specify to them that you want a large sized belly. I may be mistaken, but the rep may also mean that those of us that require whole belly are so rare to a grocer that it isn't economical to keep any in stock; rather than it flying out the door too fast.
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Jun 4, 2014 00:45
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Yeah, he said that if they were going to get some, that Saturday morning would be my best shot. But, since you mentioned it, I might make a call to see if they are going to stock the large bellies... I told him I wanted to buy 3-5 pounds, but wouldn't hurt to be sure.holttho posted:Did you talk to the butcher to see when they get their deliveries? That's always a great way avoid going at the wrong times.
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Jun 4, 2014 02:19
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Dr. Pangloss posted:Central Market is having a special on berkshire pork, but apparently wasn't able to get any pork belly... The rep said its impossible to keep in stock. Heading back on Saturday morning in case they get some in. If not, I will have to settle for something lesser, but either way I will be starting my cure this weekend. Are you in San Antonio or Austin? If you are in San Antonio while it isn't Berkshire Bolners always has slabs of belly at around 4-5 lbs for sale.
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Jun 4, 2014 17:21
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 Latest bacon experiment: spicy cajun with brown sugar!
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Jun 8, 2014 17:27
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Errant Gin Monks posted:Are you in San Antonio or Austin? If you are in San Antonio while it isn't Berkshire Bolners always has slabs of belly at around 4-5 lbs for sale. DFW...  No go at CM this weekend, either. Gonna pick up what I can this week and get started on this, though.
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Jun 9, 2014 19:22
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I managed to gently caress up my first bacon try. It could have been the mortens tenderquick or the wrong type of wood pellets in the smoker. Got the AMNPS and it came with a bag of "pitmaster pellets" so I just used that. I got some actual pink salt today from Williams-Sonoma for an atrocious price but wasted belly in more stupid. Thinking to get some hickory or apple pellets. Any opinions on the best wood smoke for bacon? I don't like sweet so I plan to go low sugar so maybe hickory might be best.
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Jun 10, 2014 02:45
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ChuckHead posted:I got some actual pink salt today from Williams-Sonoma for an atrocious price but wasted belly in more stupid. I looked up W-S and that is really expensive. I got a 1kg bag of curing salt from a local place $3.25.
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Jun 10, 2014 03:09
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Apparently we should put this link in the OP. http://www.amazon.com/D-Q-Curing-Salts-Pink-Salt/dp/B0050IM4MY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1402408579&sr=8-2&keywords=pink+salt
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Jun 10, 2014 14:57
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Or for a quarter of the price: http://www.butcher-packer.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=237_12&products_id=56
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Jun 10, 2014 15:25
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both links have been added to the op. If you all want me to add other lists of things to buy let me know and I will update it.
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Jun 10, 2014 16:21
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Reminds me I need to make a drive into Houston and go here to pickup some things: http://www.alliedkenco.com/
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Jun 10, 2014 21:58
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I have been making various forms of pork rilletts as of late. I currently finished a rillett that is made with jowl, back fat and pig cheek. I cured the back and jowl with a homemade bourbon salt. I did not take any pictures of the process of making this, but here is the final product, including the pickled items I made to go along with it.  Rillettes by Ashade76, on FlickrServed with pickled onions and pickled peppercorn grapes. Next week, I am making this again, but with rabbit.
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Jun 11, 2014 20:11
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That spread looks delicious. drat. I don't know if its quite charcuterie but I was working with some brined pork belly and made a confit using Keller's directions, pressed and chilled it then brought it back to temp, seared it along the sides and top and bottom and served it over a sauce of bourbon, honey and angostura bitters to make a "Pork Belly Old Fashioned."  It came out pretty well garnished with some lemon zest. I think I might use orange zest next time to make it more authentic to the drink.
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Jun 11, 2014 20:31
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Errant Gin Monks posted:both links have been added to the op. If you all want me to add other lists of things to buy let me know and I will update it. NB: Shipping from Butcher-Packer is $9.75, at least to my area. Amazon may actually be cheaper, especially if you've got prime. Not sure how B-P handles shipping to different areas or if you're ordering multiple items. I got my Cure #1 from Amazon, it's been working great so far. Either should work, but definitely a good idea to have both links. Maybe something about the shipping cost from B-P should be the OP.
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Jun 12, 2014 23:11
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Yeah, I didn't check the shipping from B-P, sorry  Maybe if you've got other stuff to order it'd be a better deal through them.
dedian fucked around with this message at 05:39 on Jun 14, 2014 |
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Jun 13, 2014 00:01
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Should I thaw pork belly in the fridge overnight before starting, or is it ok to put the rub on frozen and let it thaw as it goes? I'm assuming the former, but thought I'd ask. Skimmed the thread, apologies if I missed this!
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Jun 13, 2014 20:52
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Subjunctive posted:Should I thaw pork belly in the fridge overnight before starting, or is it ok to put the rub on frozen and let it thaw as it goes? I'm assuming the former, but thought I'd ask. I always thaw mine, wash it well, dry it, then put the rub on and seal it. You want to get whatever bacteria on the surface from the packer off to begin the curing process.
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Jun 13, 2014 22:10
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Thawing then drying will also help you reduce excess moisture in the bag during the curing process. Not only does freezing trap a little atmospheric moisture on the meat, but it also ruptures cell walls, allowing interior liquid to be released once thawed. Thawing completely then drying will remove all of this. The less liquid you have, the better. Though once you start the curing process, leave any naturally liberated liquids in the bag.
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Jun 13, 2014 22:17
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Excellent, thanks!
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Jun 13, 2014 22:35
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Musket posted:I cured the back and jowl with a homemade bourbon salt. I... I might have to beg or bribe you for this recipe. Seriously... I am on my knees here. Wow.
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Jun 14, 2014 03:36
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CaptainCrunch posted:I... I might have to beg or bribe you for this recipe. Tools needed: Mortar and pestle Silicon cupcake holders Baking Pan Oven Timer Rocksalt Set oven to its lowest temp setting. Mine is 200f. Pour about 1/2 ounce of bourbon into each silicon cupcake tin you want to use. I use 8 for a total of 4oz used. Place silicon cups on baking tray and place in oven. I tend to keep the rack about mid-way from top and bottom for this. Leave it alone for 12-18hours. Your oven may vary. You want the lowest setting for this to work. You know you are done when you are left with a crystal formation at the bottom of those silicon cups. Extract crystallized bourbon from baking cups and place in mortar. Add very coarse rocksalt. (I have used smoked salt and regular sea salt in rock form. I personally like the smoked sea salt for this.) Beat to coarse table salt size or to preference. Use as much or as little of the crystallized bourbon as you feel is needed. Start off light, this flavor is potent. Bourbon salt goes a long way. If you are making a curing salt, go hog wild a bit on the Bourbon amounts you will mix in. You want that flavor to seep in. If you are making a table salt or want to use this as a garnish or dessert salt, go light on the bourbon crystals. Recommended Bourbons based on my use: Buffalo Trace, Bulliet Rye, Temperance (is pure poo poo bourbon, so feel free to waste this as much as you want) Angels Envy, Makers 46. You want to use a quality bourbon here. One for the salt, One for the Cook.
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Jun 16, 2014 21:27
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So let's say I left a vacsealed piece of thawed pork belly in my fridge for 5 days, because I am not very smart. Still ok to bacon with, or should I get another?
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Jun 17, 2014 00:02
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edit: network error tricked me into a double post
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Jun 17, 2014 00:13
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Musket posted:snip: bourbon awesomeness Thank you VERY much!
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Jun 17, 2014 00:26
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