Mmmmmm Bacon

[Fents]

Cheers for the reply Merc. I think I'll be trying to get my hands on one of the A-MAZE-N cold smokers too. Pity though as I think they are out of stock at the moment.

Cheers SJ

Edit: It seems they should be back in stock later this week. Have ordered one and will give it a test run.

was gonna say if its not to late i'll grab one too? and if Merc wants one lets make it three and see if they will cut us a deal? by the sounds of it you have already orderd tho

 

[Supra-Jim]

Order placed already. However once it arrives you're more than welcome to swing by and taste the results. The Hopburst IPA will be on tap this weekend too if you need a further excuse!

Cheers SJ

(I'll send them a quick email and see if they can do a price break for a couple as I don't think the order will be dispatched for a few more days)

 

[davo4772]

I bought a piece of belly pork. Problem is it has rib bones still insitu. Have I the wrong part of the belly, can the bones be cut out.

Can't take it back of course so will forge ahead.

 

[Sully]

I bought a piece of belly pork. Problem is it has rib bones still insitu. Have I the wrong part of the belly, can the bones be cut out.

Can't take it back of course so will forge ahead.

Yep its fine, cut them out. Do a google search for recipes for "American Style Ribs" :icon_drool2: You don't want to throw them. I made mine into bacon bones for Pea & Ham soup.


Bought some Rolled Pork Loin yesterday for the third batch of Bacon. I find Belly is too fatty.

:icon_cheers:

 

[punkin]

I use a commercial cure for my bacon, hams, chicken, turkey and jerky.

It's called "Royal Ham Cure" and is made up into a wet brine.

I have lots of 60ml syringes and 18 gauge blunt needles for my mycological hobbies so i pump the meat with the brine and brine for different lengths of time from 3 days to 3 weeks. Without pumping a ham can take up to 6 weeks in a wet brine


I use a home made wet brine with brown sugar and salt for cold smoking fish.


I jazz up the commercial depending on what i'm making, but a whole dried habernero or smoked jalepeno usually makes it in there, along with whole peppercorns and a star anise or two.

I cold smoke at 60C for 16 hours or so for bacon, less for chicken and 3 times as long for ham.


Needless to say, i don't do ham very often :blink:

Some bacon here..




Bacon and turkey wings..

 

[Phoney]

That's looks awesome Punkin!

Where do you source your Royal Ham Cure from?

 

[punkin]

That's looks awesome Punkin!

Where do you source your Royal Ham Cure from?

I used to buy it straight from the manufacturer, but they refuse to deal with nonaccountholders now. There's a local butcher who does a lot of smoking of turkey thigh fillet and some other stuff.
he loves my jerky so just gets a bag when i want it.

It's about $15 or so for a 4.5 kg bag, that'll last the average home bloke about twenty years i reckon.

Only just about to open my second bag in ten years and i use it a fair bit with the jerky sideline.


If you get on well with your local butcher ask him to source it for you, it's a Leslies product. You need to do your research as to safe levels of use and mix accordingly to what you're happy with. Just don't believe the chicken littles and the rumours about the terrible things it does to your testicles, google for the truth. :icon_cheers:

 

[manticle]

Hot smoking another batch at the moment.

This time I'm trialling some pork loin - more meat, less fat (but still plenty of fat).

For the cure, I used plenty of salt, as well as garlic, fresh oregano, black pepper, mountain/native pepper and chilli. After rinsing off the salt cure through a strainer, I added back the herb/chilli mix for the duration of the pellicle development. Chucked that stuff into the smoker with french oak chips and some dried oregano and dried sage. Smells great.

 

[Muscovy_333]

I used to buy it straight from the manufacturer, but they refuse to deal with nonaccountholders now. There's a local butcher who does a lot of smoking of turkey thigh fillet and some other stuff.
he loves my jerky so just gets a bag when i want it.

It's about $15 or so for a 4.5 kg bag, that'll last the average home bloke about twenty years i reckon.

Only just about to open my second bag in ten years and i use it a fair bit with the jerky sideline.


If you get on well with your local butcher ask him to source it for you, it's a Leslies product. You need to do your research as to safe levels of use and mix accordingly to what you're happy with. Just don't believe the chicken littles and the rumours about the terrible things it does to your testicles, google for the truth. :icon_cheers:




Does look good!

I used to be the R&D scientist that mad cure blends like that for a living (along with trillions of other tasty things).

generally speaking they are a blend of phospahte salts (tripolyphosphate etc.) designed to increase pH above neutral which has a fairly dramatic effect on certain cuts of meat. I.e denatures certain proteins and causes ionic repulsions between meat fibres to modfy meat texture and increase water holding capacity.

If you cant get hold of the commercial "salt blends" then table salt with your flavour seasonings will come a close second in performance.

In the kitchen I use hydrated stock powders as a base for brining meats (got a couple of dirty old syringes myself), just work to about 1% NaCl in finished product for balanced seasoning. Vegetable stock is a good all-rounder.

 

[benno1973]

Made another batch of bacon this morning - the simplest possible as time was short. Pork belly, salt, sodium nitrite, brown sugar and ground black pepper. 5 minutes to weigh out the spices, pack it all into a bag and vacuum seal it, couldn't be easier. I did it all while I was eating the last of the previous batch, with a fried egg on sourdough. Awesome! It's so much tastier than commercial bacon!

Anyway, into the fridge for a week of curing, then cold smoking and oven baking (I don't currently have a hot smoker that works well).

Porky goodness.

 

[fraser_john]

Made another batch of bacon this morning - the simplest possible as time was short. Pork belly, salt, sodium nitrite, brown sugar and ground black pepper. 5 minutes to weigh out the spices, pack it all into a bag and vacuum seal it, couldn't be easier. I did it all while I was eating the last of the previous batch, with a fried egg on sourdough. Awesome! It's so much tastier than commercial bacon!

Anyway, into the fridge for a week of curing, then cold smoking and oven baking (I don't currently have a hot smoker that works well).

Porky goodness.

<snip pics>

KS, I am interested in the vacuum bagging whilst letting it salt cure.....does it help the salt penetrate more evenly? I find if I just rub salt on and sit in the fridge, one side ends up being too salty and the other does not have enough!

 

[DU99]

:icon_drool2: bacon..

 

[benno1973]

KS, I am interested in the vacuum bagging whilst letting it salt cure.....does it help the salt penetrate more evenly? I find if I just rub salt on and sit in the fridge, one side ends up being too salty and the other does not have enough!

I don't know about helping it cure more evenly, but I tend to flip it each day (which helps it cure evenly) and that is much easier in the vacuum sealed bags. I guess the cure may be more even, given that the liquid extracted from the belly tends to sit around the meat within the bag after day 1 - if that makes any sense.

 

[fraser_john]

<snip> I guess the cure may be more even, given that the liquid extracted from the belly tends to sit around the meat within the bag after day 1 - if that makes any sense.

Yeah it does, given I am on my last pack of home made bacon, I'll try the vacuum bag method for my next one.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

i vac seal everything i "dry" cure - I dont even bother to flip things over anymore. Works a treat every time.

 

[Phoney]

Is it still necessary to heat the bacon to 65C if you add a teaspoon of 2% nitrates and cold-smoke it for 5 hours? (I have an A-MAZE-N cold smoker)

My last batch I didnt and im obviously still alive, but I dont want to die the next time. :lol:

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Its not necessary to heat it at all, no matter whether you use nitrites or dont smoke it at all.

But "Bacon" as its usually understood by aussies, is a cooked product, traditionally it would be cooked by hot smoking it. When you cook it at home, you are really twice cooking it.

But - if you cold smoke it, then there is no reason to cook it at all the first time round, unless you prefer it "twice cooked" (i do) its just that when you cut yourself a slice of bacon, its a "raw" chunk of meat you are dealing with rather than something pre-cooked.

It will be less shelf stable unless you also dry it out like a prosciutto, so keep it in the fridge. But it'll be delicious. While the weather is still cool... i'd be tempted to leave it to hang and dry a little, pancetta style, before you hook in, that'll intensify the flavours.

TB

 

[punkin]

I use the same precautions as i use for ham and any cold smoked meats. That is 60C core temp for safe eating. Removes the doubt. I use nitrites as well.

I have temp control in my cold smoker.

 

[Phoney]

Thanks guys.

I guess the difference is with bacon, when you cook it on the fry pan it will kill off any nasties, whereas with ham you don't ever cook it, and therein lies the risk.

Then again also I make prosciutto without ever heating it or use any nitrites...

 

[Mikedub]

hello national bacon week and a $120 bacon and egg roll

http://www.australianpork.com.au/pages/page219.asp