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I just found that the local william-sonoma has pink curing salt, so tonight after my daughter's birthday part I am going to pick some up, and tomorrow morning pick up some Pork belly from the butcher to make bacon. YUM! never tried it before, but i think its going to come out fantastic.
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Apr 5, 2014 17:49
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| # ¿ May 13, 2024 22:24 |
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Thanks holttho. I could not wait to start for today, so I actually started it last night. I sort of used a recipe based on the 1st post, but varied a bit based on some other feedback. I started off the rub with 1 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup kosher salt, 3/4ths teaspoon pink salt.  I then added about two tablespoons Chipotle rub I have used for other BBQ that I liked for the finishing of the spices. I did not add anything else. I got my pork belly from my local butcher but it was kind of expensive at 45 bucks for 7 pounds. Unfortunately that was the smallest he had and he said he could not sell me a smaller chunk because the rest would be unsellable. Next time I'll shop around a bit, but I was enthusiastic to get started. I am using half, and have frozen the other half for later. I made sure to make a nice even rectangle, and pealed off all the membrane I found on the meat side   I then placed the meat into a casserole dish and rubbed the salt mixture on firmly for a good five minutes. Every bit of the meat was covered with salt.  I then placed it into a gallon Ziploc bag and stuck it in the refrigerator overnight. This is what I saw this morning after about 9 hours of sitting:  That was a surprising amount of liquid on the inside of the bag! This evening after I flipped it, I found even more!  Its going to be very hard to wait until next Sunday to smoke this sucker, but I'll do it somehow. I am REALLY excited to taste this stuff.
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Apr 7, 2014 03:11
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holttho posted:Looking good. Now that lots of juices have come out, you will probably want to remove as much air from the bag as possible. That will help keep the brine in contact with as much meat as possible. Also, placing a large weight on top of it in the fridge will help give it a more betterer texture when it is done. I usually do a pan with a couple water bottles or soup cans or whatever I got that's heavy. it came without skin, i have a fat layer on the top, and the meat on the bottom. Its not terribly thick however, maybe two inches at the thickest part. I am a bit disappointed by that, i thought it would be thicker. Oh well, I'll shop around for better meat the next time, I was just eager to get started.
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Apr 7, 2014 15:53
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Oh, also do you think 3/4th of a teaspoon pink salt is enough, or should i add another teaspoon in just to be safe. I don't want to get sick from this stuff.
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Apr 7, 2014 16:05
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Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:You're gonna cook it, right? yeah, smoke it until 150-160 internal temp, then cook it like normal bacon.
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Apr 7, 2014 17:02
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Martello posted:Then don't stress the pink salt. The cooking will kill anything the salt misses. Oh, I put another teaspoon in this afternoon. No worries however.
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Apr 7, 2014 23:30
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I have to say, its hard to wait until saturday to throw this thing on the smoker. I want to cook it NOW, not wait!
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Apr 9, 2014 20:05
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Well, I plan on smoking my bacon tomorrow, so I took it out of the brine solution and tried it off However, I am a little confused if the fat layer on the top is actually just fat, or if its skin too. I'm fairly sure its fat, can anyone confirm?   Lastly, I fried up a small piece to have a taste, and HOLY poo poo IT WAS LIKE EATING A SALT LICK. GAAAAAAAAAHHHH! I have it sitting in a bowl of cold water right now to cut down on the salt content, and in two or three hours I'll take it out. Hopefully that will do it.
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Apr 12, 2014 02:46
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Thank you for the words Holttho! Bacon is done, I completed it on saturday. its REALLY good, but still a bit too salty for my taste. I think next time I'll use a bit less kosher salt, and add some maple syrup instead of a dry chipotle rub as the flavoring. The little bit of extra sugar may really make the difference. My buddy really liked it too. I'll post pictures of it when I can later, i've been too drat busy lately however. Thanks all, this is for sure something I will do again!
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Apr 14, 2014 20:33
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dms666 posted:Um, so I saw this slicer on Craigslist and couldn't resist buying it... are you married, and if so, what does she think of that?
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Apr 19, 2014 03:18
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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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I was flipping thought the channels the other day and caught "The Chef's mind" or some such thing on PBS. The were walking though a Kentucky smoke house where they age hams 12 or 18 months. Then they sliced some open and it looked almost exactly like prosciutto. My taste buds started to water a bit, so i looked online and found the smoke house. http://www.newsomscountryham.com/agkencounham.html Yes, the web page is godawful. 100 bucks for a ham? Holy poo poo, are they really that worth it? What would I do with a ham like that?
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Nov 1, 2014 17:40
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| # ¿ May 13, 2024 22:24 |
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Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:A little of that goes a long way, plus those hams are huge. $6/pound really isn't expensive. So what would I do with the stuff, and how long would it be good after i cut it open? How would i store it? I'm assuming it would not serve it like a spiral ham, but more like shavings, right?
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Nov 1, 2014 18:14
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