Home-made Bacon...I'm not impressed

MJLivingston · January 2015

@henapple The name of it is 412 meat processing they are a slaughter house. Pork bellies is about the only thing they sell there to the public. They mostly do dry aged beef to all the steak houses in Nashville. They are located in chesterfield you would get off the 126 (bet you know what exit that is)

then turn on to 412 in parsons then it's about 10 miles or so down the road. Then you could get back on 40 at exit 93. Or I will pick you one up and meet you on 40 they usually 15-17lbs. That was the price about a month ago.

yzzi · January 2015

I also throw a lot of cinnamon in the Ruhlman cure thanks to Boyd Crowder on Justified telling his posies they're in for a real treat with the bacon cured with cinnamon.

nolaegghead · January 2015

trick: make your cure, press the belly into it, covering the belly. That's enough salt. It won't be too salty.

edit - take it out of the cure before putting in the fridge - what sticks is enough.

Canugghead · January 2015

@nolaegghead ... I've been dry curing bacon using the manufacterer's dosage recommendation. After the cure always need to rinse, soak and change water for hours to make sure it's not too salty, it's a PITA!

Would like to try the dip and press method but have couple of questions:

1) loin could be 2x the thickness of belly but same top and bottom surface areas, will it still work? won't I be under curing?

2) do you dry the belly with paper towel first, I'm thinking if it's wet it could stick with more cure?

nolaegghead · January 2015

@Canugghead - I haven't done Canadian bacon with the dip method, but if you have a thick slab, you can get it wet to pick up more cure and/or sprinkle extra cure on it before bagging it. I just estimate - how much salt would I need if I were to grind it up into sausage - get enough on it to make it salty enough to be palatable and go with it.

Canugghead · January 2015

@nolaegghead - Thanks I hear you. Ready Cure recommended dosage is super heavy, probably quadruple of what I would put in if I were making uncured sausages. I bet the manufacturers have to cover themselves from liability - could get sued for undercured meat but not for over salting I guess.

bcsnave · January 2015

I buy 5# of Nueskes Applewood smoked for $12 ..

can't ever go wrong with Nueskes

nolaegghead · January 2015

@Canugghead - The salt level is all you should care about. Get that right and the nitrite will be sufficient to keep the botulism at bay and give you the pink meat and bacon flavor. The more salt, the longer the shelf life - commercial bacon is salty - the retailers like long shelf life. You don't need all that extra salt, however. You can freeze it if you're not going to cook it in more than a few weeks.

hondabbq · January 2015

nolaegghead said: You can freeze it if you're not going to cook it in more than a few weeks.

That is the conundrum I am currently in. I have about 30 lbs of belly waiting to be made but its get cold up here in Canuckistan. I prefer to cold smoke my bacon, and I don't know if it will be appropriate to smoke in minus temperatures. Im thinking ambient air will possibly freeze the bacon and the AMNPS wont be enough to keep those temps at bay.

My question is..........Can I do my full cure and freeze the belly and pull it out when the temps become warmer? ie -10C and not -25C

hondabbq · January 2015

@nolaegghead‌ any advice on the above post?

minniemoh · January 2015

@hondabbq - I've seen a post somewhere that someone used a 100W incandescent light bulb dropped down in the lid of the egg to help keep the temp around 50-60 degrees for a cold smoke in really cold weather. You could always try that if you have to. Just a thought...

nolaegghead · January 2015

hondabbq said:

@nolaegghead‌ any advice on the above post?

You can freeze it and smoke it later. You're not going to be able to tell the difference after you fry up that bacon.

Home-made Bacon...I'm not impressed

Comments

Categories