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Which way do you guys typically slice your bacon after it's smoked? Long slices on the left or short slices on the right? or does it not really matter? I've done it both ways due to the shapes of some of the bellies I've cured. (Borrowed the above picture for reference only)
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Dec 23, 2012 19:20
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 09:46 |
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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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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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I upped the production this time around! Started out with about 11-12 pounds of pork belly. ~3pound x 2 and one 5 pounder. Since my last two batches of bacon went fairly smoothly, loosely following the Ruhlman's savory bacon recipe, I decided to branch out and try something new on the smaller of the three slabs. BEER! No, I didn't brine the pork in Westy 12 but I did dry hop the hell out of it. I took a 1oz bag of cascade hops (pellets) and put them in a food processor and ground them up into a fine powder and added that to the recipe below for the dry portion of the rub. (I didn't use the entire 1 oz bag in the actual rub though, I sort of eye balled that portion, sorry!) —Mix the following together in a small bowl: ~1.25 ounces kosher salt 1.25 teaspoons pink curing salt #1 (I use this DQ Cure from Butcher-Packer, $2) 2.5 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper 1/4 cup of bourbon syrup I mixed this all together and rubbed it on the belly. Then I mixed up a bit of extra light malt extract (powder) and some water and warmed it up on the stove to make a small malt base and poured some of that on to the belly in the bag working it in with my hands. The next of the smaller batches was just regular old bacon: —Mix the following together in a small bowl: ~1.25 ounces kosher salt 1.25 teaspoons pink curing salt #1 (I use this DQ Cure from Butcher-Packer, $2) 2.5 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper less than a 1/4 cup of (white) vanilla sugar  Rubbed that in and put it in a 2 gallon bag for the rest of the week. The 3rd and largest of the bellies would be another batch of savory, again mostly following Ruhlmans recipe except I omitted the garlic so I could compare with my last batch to see exactly what the flavors it was giving to the bacon. Except I forgot the bay leaves. poo poo. —Mix the following together in a small bowl: 2 ounces (1/4 cup Morton or Diamond Crystal coarse kosher) salt 2 teaspoons pink curing salt #1 (I use this DQ Cure from Butcher-Packer, $2) 4 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg 1/4 cup bourbon syrup 5 to 10 sprigs fresh thyme (optional) I put these in the fridge on Wednesday night and flipped them each day till Wednesday. I felt each belly and noticed the beer and the savory were not as firm as the regular so I left those two in their cures and removed the regular one. Washed it off and set it out to sit over night. The next day I did the same with the other two and prepped to smoke on Sunday.  Got the meat hung and started to smoke it @200degF with hickory sawdust This is what they looked like right before I took them out, internal temp around 140-150degF.  This is what they looked like after I let them sit for another day to firm up before putting them on the deli slicer.  Notice how the middle belly has the the bottom end cut entirely cut off. I like to cut off the fattier or thinner end of the belly for a couple reasons. 1. It keeps my bacon slices to a easy to manage length of around 10". 2. I can freeze this entire chunk that I cut off and then make lardons with it, to the thinkness that I want and as much as I want without thawing the entire piece. Great for salads! You'll see this same thing in some other pictures too. You have to sample! [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/JFqpeC5.jpg[/tIMG] I usually cut my slices in two thickness, little less than 1/8 to an 1/8 of an inch for my normal slices. and my thicker stuff is about 3/16". And again, I always have the chunk I cut off at the bottom to make really thick stuff or cubes if I want.   So how did the Beer Bacon turn out? Interesting. First bite of a piece, it tastes of bacon, normal bacon. Then an after taste of hops. Its not something I would necessarily eat by itself or with breakfast. But perhaps on a burger? or Paired with nice IPA or light pilsner (Prima Pils comes to mind). Would I make it again? I think it turned out great but not until I find something to pair with it. Overall, another bacon success!
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Mar 28, 2013 14:49
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What's overpowering the flavor? Salt? I'm no expert but if that's the case, cut back on the kosher salt and add more of the fennel
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Mar 28, 2013 15:16
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In WNY I've seen bellies cost about $2.5-3 a pound for frozen with skin on at public markets. Its also available at about one meat market (Palmers) in my area for $4 a pound with out skin. The asian food market that I went to had them for about $3, maybe less but they were significantly worse looking cuts and much smaller, in the range of about 1-2 pounds.
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Apr 16, 2013 14:51
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That's just it. It's a cut of pork that your average consumer doesn't normally buy. They take up a lot of room on the shelf or in the cooler too. I think the last time I looked at oscar myer bacon it was about $6-$7 a pound so buying our own is still cheaper and significantly better tasting than store bought. Making bacon, similar to making beer isn't about saving money, it's about creating something that is unique and delicious.
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Apr 16, 2013 18:31
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bunnielab posted:Before: Did you not rinse the cure off before you smoked(?) it? If you didn't, that's not what people mean by "skin" if that's what you were thinking.
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Jun 11, 2013 19:10
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Lord of the Llamas posted:No one gives a poo poo? Gotta show some flesh I suppose! Yeah I hear ya. I wish this thread was a bit more active. My most recent experimental batch of bacon was Cinnamon Bacon. code:It was definitely good and I would potentially make it again but next time up the amount of peppers I use.
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Aug 13, 2013 13:53
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lifts cats over head posted:Quick question about bacon. I just bought all the stuff I need for my first attempt but then realized I have to go out of town for a few days next weekend. Will adding 2-3 days to the curing make a major difference or become damaging in any way? I dont think so. It may be a little saltier than normal but you can always soak the belly in cold water for an hour or so to take out that salt back out.
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Aug 26, 2013 12:31
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lifts cats over head posted:I finished my first batch of bacon this weekend. Overall the flavor was good except it turned out too salty. I'm pretty sure that's because I messed up with the ration and made the cure from the original post which is for a 5lb slab but only used about 3.5lbs of pork belly. Still edible but will probably use more as an added component to other food. The hardest part about the whole process was slicing it. I already wanted to get a deli-slicer but now I think it's a guarenteed purchase whenever I get some extra cash. You have to be careful with measuring out your pink salt with the actual weight of the belly you are going to cure. Also, before you smoke/oven your next batch, cut off a couple slices and fry them up to check the salt content. If its too salty, soak the belly in water for 30 to 60 minutes then let it rest over night. Siochain posted:Okay, whomever suggested using the leftover bacon chunks cut down into rillette's... That may have been me. I always cut a good 3" to 4" chunk off the end of the belly and freeze for lardons later. I started doing this mainly because the bellies were always too long to fit in a frying pan after their slice. I now cut them off to keep the bacon a good 10" long and the rest for slice nice 1/4" thick slices for BLTs or lardons for salads.
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Sep 4, 2013 14:11
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So delicious, so much better than store-bought stuff.
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elnoseface posted:Are all of the juices supposed to soak back into the bacon? I am following the directions in the OP and there is stills good amount of liquid in the bag after 7 days. Nope, the salt will pull out a ton of moisture from the pork.
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Sep 21, 2013 22:15
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Try blanching a couple pieces and see if they're as salty as just pan frying them.
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Nov 25, 2013 19:13
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Whybird posted:Blanching for five minutes helped enormously, thank you! I think for this batch I'll actually keep the rashers fairly roughly cut with a kitchen knife -- having the bacon be thick-cut and chewy like a gammon steak turned out to be pretty nice. No problem! I love thick slabs for BLTs I actually just pick up about 17 pounds of belly today. Going to make a regular batch, a "polish spice" batch. and some cinnamon / chili pepper batch. The cinn/chili batch will be upped a notch. Last time I couldn't even tell there was chili powder in there.
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Nov 26, 2013 20:54
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Martello posted:edit: I left it in the cure way too long cuz I was out on the range training my dudes to shoot brown babies inside houses, so I guess I'll have to blanch it before frying. The flavor's great, but just too salty. In case you didn't do this last time, after you take it out of the cure, rinse it thoroughly and slice off a bit and fry it up. If it's too salty, soak the belly in water for awhile and then fry up another piece. atothesquiz fucked around with this message at 21:05 on Dec 10, 2013 |
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Dec 10, 2013 20:58
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Aramoro posted:When making Bacon do people generally leave the skin on or take it off? I've heard both just curious what people do. The first time I ever made bacon it was with the skin on and it was fine. I smoked it with the skin on as well. After the smoke, the skin pretty much fell off and gave it to my mother to use for soups. Every batch after that I've bought skinless, mainly because it was the only option at the particular place I go to now. I will probably stick with skinless because I probably wouldn't use the skin afterwards. at that point it's just wasted weight that I'm paying for.
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Dec 11, 2013 15:47
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Martello posted:I made a bourbon maple butter sauce for it. Go on...
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Dec 15, 2013 00:28
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EngineerJoe posted:Does anyone know where I can buy pink curing salt in Canada (Preferably online)? I found a place that sells Morton's Tender Quick but that seems to have very little Sodium Nitrite and Sodium Nitrate. amazon? http://www.amazon.com/D-Q-Curing-Salts-Pink-Salt/dp/B0050IM4MY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1387065636&sr=8-1&keywords=curing+salt This should be good for like A LOT of meat.
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Dec 15, 2013 01:02
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I haven't tried doing a wet cure with booze before but what I have done is use a bourbon syrup. While I dont think I would have noticed if I used it or not, you could try it with a little bit more bourbon than what I used. I made a simple syrup where I substituted water with bourbon. Equal parts bourbon to sugar then i added a bit of maple syrup when it was almost done to help thicken it (or I hoped it would). This would substitute the sugar you'd be adding to the belly during the cure. Give it a shot?
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Dec 20, 2013 18:18
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I dont think it's a good idea to put wood into your oven. Do you any type of grill? Propane, NG, charcoal? You dont necessarily need a smoker to smoke something. Smokers are just better at it.
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Jan 17, 2014 14:47
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Doom Rooster posted:Take it to my local butcher/deli and bribe them into running it all through the machine? If I wasn't fortunate enough to have a deli slicer, this would be my first idea. I've never attempted it nor have I heard of anyone actually doing it, but I sure have made the suggestion before. If I were to ask, I'd make it clear that I just want it sliced, not packaged. I could see places turning you away if they assume you also want it nicely packaged because of the additional effort and material. It doesnt hurt to offer a couple bucks and some free bacon too.
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Apr 2, 2014 18:18
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Subjunctive posted:Finally making bacon! I am very excited, even if I did end up paying way too much for the belly. How much per pound?
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Jul 14, 2014 16:23
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Chef De Cuisinart posted:Holy poo poo that's highway robbery. Dude, that's more expensive than a prime ribeye. I was expecting $7, maybe $8. Surely you can source it somewhere else for cheaper. Even mail order has to be cheaper than that.
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Jul 14, 2014 18:26
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I made another 27 or so pounds of bacon.  Hopefully it's ready to smoke this Sunday.
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Oct 2, 2014 16:25
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How are you guys grinding your meat if you're not using an auger style stuffer/grinder? I have an industrial sized electric meat grinder and i still use the auger style for packing.
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Oct 15, 2014 17:06
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lifts cats over head posted:Last year I did some home-cured bacon for a bunch of people that turned out pretty well so I'm thinking of doing it again. Problem is, I don't want to repeat the recipes so I'm trying to think of some new ideas. Anybody have any unique cure recipes they've used in the past? I've made a cinnamon bacon a few times. It has always turned out good but I'm also wishing to get a little bit more heat out of it. So feel free to bump up the black and cayenne pepper. Per 5 pounds of skinless belly: code:
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Dec 3, 2014 15:02
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Anyone else notice that pork bellies are coming down in price? Last week I bought two cases (~27 pounds, skinless) for $2.99 a pound. I'm used to paying $3.80-$4. I was pretty stoked.
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May 8, 2015 15:25
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 09:46 |
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Anyone have some fun bacon cure recipes they have been using lately? In the past I've done Ruhlmans, a standard salt/pepper/sugar cure, I've used cinnamon, hops, peppers before. Now I'm looking for something new for my next couple cases of belly.
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Jan 7, 2016 17:33
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