Bacon Tastes Like Ham

QDude

I did my first bacon using the maple recipe in the Charcuterie book.  It came out OK but tastes like ham.  Has anyone else had this happen?  Maybe I screwed up something.

Little Steven

Which recipe did you use? There is one with four ingredients and another with the same four plus juniper berries, thyme, garlic and bay leaf. I did the shorter one a couple of weeks ago and the one with more ingredients today. The one with salt, curing salt, maple syrup and sugar came out great.

QDude

I did the same one you did.  It tastes like sweet ham.  And there is hardly any fat that comes out when it is fried.  Weird.

Little Steven

You definitely don't get as much fat. I didn't notice a hammy taste at all. How long did you cure?

Cookinbob

Did you cold smoke it or hot smoke it?  My cold smoked bacon tastes like bacon, not sure what you get when you hot smoke.  I did the recipe with thyme, garlic, ground bay leaves, and used black pepper instead of Juniper Berries.

stantrb

Use sodium nitrate?

QDude

I cured it for 7 days and cold smoked it for about 8 hours.  I used the pink curing salt.

Little Steven

Not to mean to be insulting but you did use belly right? You can make bacon with loin and shoulder.

QDude

Yes it was the belly.  Removing the skin was not fun.

Little Steven

Did you remove it before the cure? That might be the problem.

QDude

No, not till after it was cold smoked.

U_tarded

Odd...maybe it was the pig. Hot smoking just changes the texture it makes it more firm.

Little Steven

Wish there was an expert here. I'm out of ideas. If only the stikemeister was still here

stantrb

I'm thinking either not enough cure/lb or not enough time in the cure. Did you smoke straight from the cure or did you let it rest in the fridge a day?

I've done this lots of times. Never had one taste like ham.

Conneggticut_Yankee

Doing a little searching on line I see people having the same issue with too lean a slab, too thickly sliced or eating the end cuts vs the inner cuts. How much of the fat did you trim off, with the skin or otherwise? Maybe post a picture? Just some ideas. I've always hot smoked at 200 till 150. I've used the same charcuterie recipe as well as others. It's always been amazing.

Little Steven

stantrb said:

I'm thinking either not enough cure/lb or not enough time in the cure. Did you smoke straight from the cure or did you let it rest in the fridge a day? I've done this lots of times. Never had one taste like ham.

Wouldn't a hammy taste come from too much pink salt. Don't know.....just asking.

stantrb

Don't know; never had a batch taste hammy. I use something like 1TBS/lb and cure for 10-12 days. I also don't use pink salt though, I use tender quick.

If it's too lean, you'll get a product that tastes like Canadian bacon.

stantrb

@Yankee: I hot smoke mine too, and I don't usually trim a lot of fat.

laserdoc85

Really best to pull that skin off before you cure and smoke it. That way you  cure all sides. The skin seals that one side. I take it off so the cure and the smoke gets all of it not just 3 sides 

I always cold smoke mine

QDude

My wife thinks it tastes like Canadian bacon.

I did rest it for a day after the cure in the fridge before I cold smoked it.

stantrb

If it's salty enough and smoky enough and tastes like Canadian bacon, then I'm guessing you trimmed too much fat from the lean. Next time, pick a fatter belly, slice the skin before you cure, do everything else the same. Bacon really is all about that cured fat rendering and cooking the lean.  Cured fatback in Italy (lardo) tastes a lot like bacon without having any lean to it. 

2 things to consider:  1, Cook some of yours with extra bacon fat and see if it tastes more like bacon.  2, at worst, you've made a GREAT pizza topping.