Mmmmmm Bacon

[Doogiechap]

Try these.

Small one:

Hope this helps Sean...

Just to justify a frivolous post
When I saw the thread title this old chestnut came to mind......
Apologies in advance .

Two Mexicans are stuck in the desert, wandering aimlessly and close to death. They are close to just lying down and waiting for the inevitable, when all of a sudden

Hey Pepe, do you smell what I smell. Ees bacon, I is sure of eet.

Si, Luis, eet smells like bacon to meee.

So, with renewed strength, they struggle off up the next sand dune, and there, in the distance, is a tree, just loaded with bacon.

Theres raw bacon, dripping with moisture, theres fried bacon, back bacon, double smoked baconevery imaginable kind of cured pig meat you can imagine!!

Pepe, Pepe, we ees saved. Eees a bacon tree.

Luis, are sure ees not a meerage? We ees in the desert, donforget.

Pepe, when deed you ever hear of a meerage that smeell of baconees no meerage, ees a bacon tree.

And with thatLuis races towards the tree. He gets to within 5 metres, Pepe following closely behind, when all of a sudden, a machine gun opens up, and Luis is cut down in his tracks. It is clear he is mortally wounded but, true friend that he is, he manages to warn Pepe with his dying breath.

Pepe go back man, you was right, ees not a bacon tree

Luis, Luis mi amigo what ees eet?

Pepeees not a bacon tree







Ees

Ees

Ees







Ees, a Ham Bush

 

[Katherine]

The uncooked pics are definately chicken thighs...but the cooked pic looks like rabbit ?

Tastes like smoked chicken...

Really nice on a pizza, with onion, ham, pineapple and olives topped with smoked cheddar.... or in a pasta with bacon, peas and cream... topped with chives.

 

[Adamt]

Hahahahahah ham bush...

Sorry for the hijack but that's a good laugh

Exit, left!

 

[Tanga]

Hahahahahah ham bush...

Sorry for the hijack but that's a good laugh

Exit, left!

Here's a cheaper one from Rays:
https://www.raysoutdoors.com.au/catalog/pro...products_id=714

$34

My folks were going to buy my brother one. Wish they had now, then I could borrow it . Another thing to add to my list. Smoked foods are great!

 

[tcraig20]

Thanks Thirsty Boy. This is going to be on the cards here one weekend soon.

Here's a cheaper one from Rays:
https://www.raysoutdoors.com.au/catalog/pro...products_id=714

$34

My folks were going to buy my brother one. Wish they had now, then I could borrow it . Another thing to add to my list. Smoked foods are great!

Not bad at all seeing as Mitre 10 just tried to bail me up $70 for a gal garbage can

 

[Thirsty Boy]

$70 for a rubbish bin ... bloody hell.

In a pinch... a carboard box will do the job just as well.

The last of my bacon got eaten for breakfast on Sunday... time to make some more. And some sausages for Christmas.

 

[robbo5253]

Has anyone Tried smoking in their webber? If so does it work ok?

Have heard you just have to have your coals on one side with the chips and then your meat on the other side.

Cheers

Robbo

 

[browndog]

Had some pork belly soaking in the salt/honey mix for 5 days now, going to smoke it on saturday. Going to slice it thick like spare ribs then bake it, can't wait to try it!.

cheers

Browndog

 

[Mercs Own]

some piccies of my bacon makin:

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Nice Merc, whats in the cure??

 

[Mercs Own]

Its a secret but as long as you dont tell anyone:

Dry rub
1 cup of salt
1 cup of brown sugar
1 tablespoon of tasmanian pepper berries - slightly crushed
1/2 cup of maple syrup

combine dry ingredients and rub well into pork belly (1 1/2 - 2 kilo piece) then lay in a tray and pour maple syrup over. Cover with plastic wrap and leave in the fridge. Turn over every day for 6 days.

smoked for 2 hours keeping temp around the 100 c

All the liquid you see in the photo came out of the pork.

My wife thought it was a little salty - I didnt. it was bloody delicious.

 

[Tim F]

Nice, so you hot smoke it? I've been doing a kilo every few weeks in the cold smoker but thinking of hot smoking some next time.
Great pink colour in yours given no nitrite in the rub!

I have been making a rub with
4g sodium nitrite
685g salt
310g sugar

When making the bacon I grab about 50g of the rub per kilo, and add other flavours. my favourite addition so far is a few cloves of mashed garlic. Then dredge the belly in cure, and put it in a large ziplock, which makes it very easy to keep the juices in contact with the meat as well as turn it over with no mess.

 

[Bizier]

You can absolutely smoke on the weber.

I built a very similar smoker to Katie, though used 2 free round 20L drums, square would be more space efficient. I just chuck a couple of heat beads in there in a perforated tin, and some smoking wood on top in another tin, and it basically holds 100c for hours.

Your bacon pics are porn there TB, I've been meaning to do the same with no nitrates and keep portioned in freezer.

 

[pipmoy]

This is the link I used to help me with my bacon adventures

http://www.3men.com/bacon_making.htm

 

[Thirsty Boy]

mmmm - the pepper berries are a nice touch Merc

I hot smoked my first couple of batches - and it certainly makes it look fantastic. But it does make it really really super smokey. Delicious if that's what you are looking for.

I have cold smoked a batch or two really lightly, then cooked it in the oven (or left raw and cooked only once at eating time) and that gives a bunch more control for me over the level of smoking. I also find the smoke flavour more delicate and a bit less bushfire effect. I love both - but my wife likes the more delicate version. I use the heavily smoked version as seasoning rather than straight eating bacon.

Recently - I have been curing with a little liquid smoke added, air dry for a day or two... and then you just have to cook it in the oven. Easy as you could possibly ask for and the smoke flavour from the liquid smoke is to my palate, just as good as the mucking about setting bits of wood on fire. I'll still use the smoker every now and again.. but the liquid smoke is really good and sooooo much easier.

i am using nitrites these days - I like the pure salt bacon, but prefer it with the nitrites. Makes it more bacony/hammy and less porky. Plus it gives me an added level of confidence that I'm not going to kill anyone.

I'm using the "Basic Dry Cure" from the book Charcuterie - The craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing. Which in my case amounted to

450g Salt
225g Sugar
50g Cure #1

(gives a nitrite level of 4.3mg/g)

I use this at 22g/kg of pork and it makes for great bacon and ham.. as a matter of fact I am about to go put 2 pork hocks on to cure - they will be ham sandwiches and pea and ham soup in the very near future. I might post pictures if I get enthusiastic.

 

[winkle]

mmmm - the pepper berries are a nice touch Merc

I hot smoked my first couple of batches - and it certainly makes it look fantastic. But it does make it really really super smokey. Delicious if that's what you are looking for.

I have cold smoked a batch or two really lightly, then cooked it in the oven (or left raw and cooked only once at eating time) and that gives a bunch more control for me over the level of smoking. I also find the smoke flavour more delicate and a bit less bushfire effect. I love both - but my wife likes the more delicate version. I use the heavily smoked version as seasoning rather than straight eating bacon.

Recently - I have been curing with a little liquid smoke added, air dry for a day or two... and then you just have to cook it in the oven. Easy as you could possibly ask for and the smoke flavour from the liquid smoke is to my palate, just as good as the mucking about setting bits of wood on fire. I'll still use the smoker every now and again.. but the liquid smoke is really good and sooooo much easier.

i am using nitrites these days - I like the pure salt bacon, but prefer it with the nitrites. Makes it more bacony/hammy and less porky. Plus it gives me an added level of confidence that I'm not going to kill anyone.

I'm using the "Basic Dry Cure" from the book Charcuterie - The craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing. Which in my case amounted to

450g Salt
225g Sugar
50g Cure #1

(gives a nitrite level of 4.3mg/g)

I use this at 22g/kg of pork and it makes for great bacon and ham.. as a matter of fact I am about to go put 2 pork hocks on to cure - they will be ham sandwiches and pea and ham soup in the very near future. I might post pictures if I get enthusiastic.

Pics when it happens please TB.

 

[Tim F]

TB, I've found the opposite with my setup. The cold smoke can be a bit strong and not always the exact taste I'm after at first. But after I wrap it in the fridge for a couple of days the excess smoke seems to dissapear, it's lovely after that. But the hams I've hot smoked have had the smoke just right. I use redgum though, what wood are you using?

Where did you track down the nitrite? The only source I've found is a local butcher supplier who have a very different ratio in the cure that required a spreadsheet to get it to match the recipes in charcuterie

 

[Thirsty Boy]

TB, I've found the opposite with my setup. The cold smoke can be a bit strong and not always the exact taste I'm after at first. But after I wrap it in the fridge for a couple of days the excess smoke seems to dissapear, it's lovely after that. But the hams I've hot smoked have had the smoke just right. I use redgum though, what wood are you using?

Where did you track down the nitrite? The only source I've found is a local butcher supplier who have a very different ratio in the cure that required a spreadsheet to get it to match the recipes in charcuterie

I imported some from the states - cheap as chips to buy, poison to ship. Have found this guy in Aus

http://stores.ebay.com.au/BBQHQnet

Who sells cure#1 and cure#2 - but as you said in slightly different strengths to the original. I have written the guy and asked him for the percentages opf nitrite/nitrate he uses. They are a little stronger than the US versions, so to match the recipes in charcuterie, you can just dilute the cures from this guy with normal salt till the percentages match. Then you dont need to convert every time you bust out the recipe book.

 

[TasChris]

Following this thread with great interest. I raise 3-5 pigs every year and have found difficulty in getting a buthcher I like that will do decent ham and bacon.
Most seem to use a horibble cure that turns bacon black when you cook it ( too much pineapple in the cure I have heard)

I have also found that a few of the butchers I have used suffer from poor maths. Only one eye fillet per pig or pigs with only two legs unless its the Tassie breeding ?


Cheers
Chris

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Bacon's easy enough to have a crack at straight up... Hams you might want to get a bit of practise in before you launch into a full pig program! One of the reasons i am mucking about with hocks - cheap easy practise runs for bigger hams. I've done one or two boiled ham style things and they worked out well enough though.

There are a few guys on AHB who are right into this stuff - salami, prosciutto etc. Search around and you should find enough posts to track the culprits down and PM em for extra info. I'm still inexperienced enough that i am proud of myself when stuff doesn't turn out to be rancid or poisonous.