Mmmmmm Bacon

[Danwood]

Smoked mine up this evening.

Worked out quite well. Basted it a couple of times with honey laced with black pepper, and smoked with cherry for 3hrs until 70C internal.

Rolled shoulder next time, I think.

 

[shaunous]

I have shoulder wet curing now. My initial thoughts are it's going to be a prick to carv without a slicer, as shoulder doesn't really hold much form. Hopefully I'm wrong after smoking it.

 

[Danwood]

Luckily, my BIL has a slicer.

I'll inquire about getting it ready brined next time.

 

[beercus]

This it out of the smoker/BBQ, internal was 65oC. Smoked with hickory.

Beercus

 

[Maheel]

if you using pork shoulder then i suggest get the "collar butt" section of the shoulder.

it is the part of the Rib fillet (rib eye of the bacon) that runs up into the shoulder.

if you buy a boned out and rolled shoulder some butchers will remove the "collar butt" before rolling and roll in the shank / hoc / hand of pork area and put it in netting . This may cause it to fall apart when trying to slice it up as bacon.

Asians like to buy the collar butt but so you often see it in Asian butchers skin on and skin off.
some cut it up for that red pork in hong kong BBq joints
so in some asian butchers it is very well priced

 

[manticle]

When I did it, the butcher pretty much sliced it straight off the sow in front of me.
I hope I can find a butcher close to as good down here. Anyone in brunswick, vic area should visit manago's meats at union square in west brunswick.

Lucky I have bok's bacon locally made to tide me over till I get sorted. Delicious stuff.

 

[beercus]

Some beauty shots....

 

[Danwood]

Well, that 2kg belly didn't go very far once the word got out! This is the last few slices.

I'm very happy with the cherry smoke and honey cure/baste combination, great depth of flavour.

It's not salty enough, however. It tastes seasoned, but not salty, as bacon should be. I'll double it next time.

And the nitrite has given the bacon that nice pink colour...plus nobody got botulism, yay !

(They did get fatter, though)

 

[manticle]

You won't get botulism from whole muscle cuts so bacon, pancetta etc are perfectly safe. Add nitrites because you want pink (rather than grey) cooked bacon or ham or enjoy the specific flavour ir brings.

Anything minced is a totally different story and if it's not cooked/heat treated, it carries a risk.

It is a risk some are willing to take and I have enjoyed some delicious home made nitrite free non botulistic salami.

 

[Danwood]

Didn't know that, thanks.

 

[indica86]

Add nitrites because you want pink (rather than grey) cooked bacon or ham or enjoy the specific flavour ir brings.

Really? The two kilos of bacon and one kilo of ham - all free range and brine not nitrite - I have in the fridge and freezer is not grey, it is pink and tastes great.

 

[manticle]

When cooked, un-nitrited bacon can go greyer than nitrited. Cured in my experience will see them as pink as a baby's pink texta drawings but cooked it may lose some of that. Nitrites and nitrites also add a flavour some people associate with bacon and ham.

Personally I don't care - I just use salt (sodium chloride) and love the results. I'm just distinguishing between using nitrites to prevent a rare but deadly disease and using them for other purposes.

 

[Brew Forky]

Smoked up my bacon on Sunday for about 3 1/2 hours around the 100 c mark. It had been sitting in the fridge for 2 weeks because couldn't cook it due to being incapacitated with the flu. It was very salty upon eating due to the time with the rub on it and the extra salt I added.



I cut half of it after tasting and soaked it in water for about 6 -7 hours to leech the salt and it is much better but missing a bit of flavour. Next time I won't add the extra salt and leave it at 3% and see how that goes.

 

[manticle]

Good idea to test before smoking by cooking a small piece. Should give you an idea whether it needs soaking to remove salt (or extra salt/extra time).

 

[beercus]

If you can not cook/smoke straight away then you can just rinse, dry and leave in the fridge. It is cured and will not go bad, for a while..

Beercus

 

[shaunous]

So i wont make bacon from whole shoulder again, doesnt hold enough form. I cut it up as bacon steaks, which taste amazing, but that cut of meat should be kept for Smoked Pulled Pork.

if you using pork shoulder then i suggest get the "collar butt" section of the shoulder.

it is the part of the Rib fillet (rib eye of the bacon) that runs up into the shoulder.

if you buy a boned out and rolled shoulder some butchers will remove the "collar butt" before rolling and roll in the shank / hoc / hand of pork area and put it in netting . This may cause it to fall apart when trying to slice it up as bacon.

Asians like to buy the collar butt but so you often see it in Asian butchers skin on and skin off.
some cut it up for that red pork in hong kong BBq joints
so in some asian butchers it is very well priced

I have delved into the pork shoulder more, and got the neck cut out form it, and im trying 2 new things this time, Dry Cured and Pork Neck. Buying the neck cut was more expensive then the standard $9kg for bone-in shoulder, but meh (Next time i'll be more wiser and buy a whole shoulder and butcher the neck out myself).

Im guessing 'Collar Butt' is basically the same as 'Pork Neck' Maheel, just different end of the pig???

Here she lays, all 2.2kg of her :beerbang:

Its a Southern American Style Bacon taste i've gone for this time.

 

[Spohaw]

Anyone here tried Duck Bacon ...same process but with duck breast

Its worth a try if you havent

 

[manticle]

I have done duck proscuitto. Would do again but with black pepper rather than white.
Just followed the recipe in the charcuterie book.

@ shaunous - sorry if I led you astray. It's been so long since I did any my memory might be suspect. Could have been loin rather than shoulder I ended up using in place of belly. Definitely held together.

 

[shaunous]

Nah all good Mants, made good Bacon Steaks but not the best thin bacon to work with.

 

[manticle]

That might be it too - all my bacon was hand cut and thick.