FRANKS DIRECTIONS ON MAKING BACON! Ok, upon request, Frank sent me over these directions on how he made his excellent bacon from our pork belly. Thanks Frank! Here is an overview of the process and the basics. For a detailed description I recommend Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing by Michael Ruhlman. He has an excellent discussion of the steps to safely cure, brine and smoke meats. While remote, the possibility of food poisoning exists and he devoted many pages to eliminating that risk. I use The Sausage Maker in NY (sausagemaker/) as my source for supplies. I have also heard that The Butcher Packer (butcher-packer) works well. First square the belly to fit nicely in your container. It needs to be deep enough to contain liquid that develops during the curing process. Your 12-13 lb bellies still exceed 10 lbs when squared so it takes a large container. A half belly will fit in a 2gal ziplock bag. The trimmings can be cured the same way to make bacon chunks for use in vegetables, baked beans etc. I also used them to make pork belly confit Rub the belly with a cure. Basically sugar and salt but can contain other flavors as well. I found dextrose is easier to work with than sugar. This will typically also contain pink salt. For those wishing to avoid nitrites: the amount here is so small (less tham ½%) and it gets washed off later. This is far less than commercial products and the safety factor is worth it. Put the belly in a suitable container (covered) and refrigerate. Turn the belly every other day, leaving the liquid. Essentially the cure creates its own brine as the salt pulls moisture from the belly. Depending on thickness, curing takes a week to 10 days. The belly is cured when it is not squishy and feels firm all the way through. Smaller pieces will be closer to a week, a full belly more than 2 in thick is more like 9 days When cured, wash the belly in cold water to remove all residual cure and pat dry. Discard the liquid Dry the belly in the fridge for about 12 hours on a rack. The surface must be dry for the smoke to be able to work Smoke the belly. I have used apple, hickory, maple and combos of these and my favorite is apple with just a little hickory added. I smoke at about 180 degrees until the belly reaches about 150 degrees. It is not cooked by any means at this point despite the temperature. This takes about 5 hours for the full belly. A bacon hanger makes this MUCH easier and only costs about $7. Smaller pieces will need to come out earlier Cool the smoked belly and refrigerate over night I have a Waring meat slicer. It works ok but is a little small for slicing the belly. I can get pretty uniform slices from it however. I would not recommend slicing by hand. Medium to thick slices yield about 150 slices from a 10 lb belly Package and freeze. Since its semi cooked during smoking, it cooks pretty fast and at a lower heat than commercial bacon. Also, because the outer edge absorbs the most heat during smoking, it gets a great char on the edge when fried All told, its about three weeks from when I pull a belly from the freezer to thaw until its packaged with the vacuum sealer Ruhlman’s book also presents options if you do not have a smoker. I have never tried oven smoking so can’t comment on the results.
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 02:25:23 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015