Posted: 3/12/2010 5:08:29 PM EDT
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Homemade bacon? Recipe? |
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I wish. This is just store-bought (Fletchers brand). We usually do things in bulk if possible. Today was bacon day. We like to split the packages, vacuum seal, and freeze. (they fit in the pan better, and we don't have to worry about larger packages spoiling) |
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Quoted: I saw your canned beef posting a while back and duplicated it with my new pressure canner. That stuff is AWESOME  Glad to hear that. It is very good eating isn't it?  Last nights dinner, using some home canned beef |
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Quoted: I wish. This is just store-bought (Fletchers brand). We usually do things in bulk if possible. Today was bacon day. We like to split the packages, vacuum seal, and freeze. (they fit in the pan better, and we don't have to worry about larger packages spoiling)  Stolen from subguns..... Posted By: <big>Jason Hinkle, Bacon guy.</big> <E-mail removed> Date: 12/26/08 16:36 Ok, first things first- I stole this from the Food Network show 'Good Eats.' If all else fails, go to foodnetwork.com, go to the Good Eats page, and search for a recipe for whatever you're making because EVERY recipe on that show is fucking good. The brine itself is just your basic basic brine for the most part, it's about the same brine as what I use for smoked salmon, and in fact I'm going to go ahead and try this brine for smoked salmon. I didn't see this episode, which I wish I did, because 'salt' as an ingreadient is like saying 'use some meat' in a recipe. I used one half cup Morton Tender Quick salt as well as one half cup Kosher salt. Some other recipes I've seen recommend the use of Pink salt- whatever, the Tender Quick has the nitrates and nitrites in it which is what you're going to need. And when cooking anything ALWAYS USE KOSHER SALT ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS. The reasons are legion, mainly because it's consistent. The cut of meat- SKIN ON, pork belly. Some butchers call it pork loin belly or some dumb shit like that- tell them you're making bacon and you need pork belly and they'll get the right shit for you. You want it from the bottom of the belly since that's where the fat is, and fat, for lack of a better word, is good. Fat is right. Fat works. Fat clarifies, cuts through and captures, the essence of porky goodness. Again- SKIN ON. Since the skin is on, an easy way to know that the cut is from the lower part of the belly is to look for a titty on the skin. If there's a titty still on it, you're in the right area. As for cost- look man, you just can not put a price on this sort of shit. It's bacon. Is it as cheap as the $1 a pound shit at the end of the aisle? Fuck no, but then again a bottle of Glen Livet isn't as cheap as a fucking 40 of St. Ides either, is it. Get your fucking priorties straight, man. 1 cup sugar (1/2 cup Morton Tender Quick, 1/2 cup Kosher salt) 1 cup salt 8 ounces molasses 1/2 gallon (2 quarts) water 1/2 gallon (2 quarts) apple cider 2 tablespoons course ground black pepper 1 (5 pound) piece raw pork belly from the loin-end In a large non-reactive pot, bring half the water, 1 cup of sugar, salt, and 8 ounces molasses to a boil. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Pour into a large container with the remaining water, and the apple cider. Place in the refrigerator and cool to 40 degrees F. Or just turn the heat down in the garage to 40. Just remember to keep it in a NONreactive bowl, meaning no metal. A 5 gallon bucket works tits. Press the black pepper into the pork belly. This is actually really easy- set your pepper grinder to really really coarse, sprinkle it on the nonskin side, and press it in with the palms of your hands. If you get black pepper pressed into the palms of your hands and not into the bacon, you need to do more manual labor, Nancy. Once the brine has cooled place the peppered pork belly into the mixture until completely submerged. Refrigerate for three days. I did this in a 5 gallon bucket. I did 2 cuts. I kept them submerged by filling a large bowl with some brine, and used that to weight the meat down. I also overhauled the cuts once a day. Overhauling means you GENTLY pull the meat out and flip it over. After three days have passed, remove the pork from the brine and pat dry with paper towels. I went ahead and rinsed it off- I would recommend just patting it dry, though, as my pellicle wasn't very evident. Lay on a rack over a sheet pan and place in front of a fan for 1 hour to form a pellicle. It's a hell of a lot easier and cleaner to just hang the shit and use a box fan. Smoke with the skin on top. I use a cold smoke- that just means the meat never gets over about 130 degrees or so. You can do this many ways, the easiest of which is to move to Alaska. If you choose not to move to Alaska, you can do a cold smoke by just having an indirect fire so all that the bacon gets is the smoke. If you don't know what a cold smoke is, it's no big deal- you just don't want to cook the fuck out of it right now, so just as long as you keep the heat under 150 or so you'll be cool. As for how long to smoke- that's entirely up to you, as you are now the Master of your own bacon domain. I smoked the shit out of it for 16 hours but like I said, it was relatively fucking cold. If you're smoking it at 140-150 I'd smoke it a few hours and that's it. Buy a cheapass electric hotplate, a small skillet, and use Luhr-Jensen sawdust in whatever flavor you prefer. I used hickory this time, next batch I do I'm using apple sawdust. I use a Brinkman barrel stove but rather than have the hot plate sitting on the bottom rack, I dug a hole in the ground about a foot deep and put the fire down there. When OAT is about 20-25, the grill where the meat sits is about 70-80. Yeah I know what you're thinking right now about having a hunk of pig sitting at 70-80 degrees for a day or so but remember- since it's been brining for a few days, it's already salt-cured and will not go rancid. You're still going to cook it fully later on anyways. So chill. Also, chill the meat in the freezer for 1 hour to stiffen for easy slicing into strips of bacon. This is when you need to remove the skin to feed the dogs. Slice into whatever thickness you desire since you now have mastered the art of making your own bacon and as a result now control your own destiny. I'm totally gay with the vacuum sealer, so I tossed most of my loot into bags with about 6 slices in each bag. Want bacon? Pull out a bag and toss it in the pan. DONE. ENJOY BEING THE MASTER OF YOUR OWN BACONY DESTINY. |
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Quoted: It's a Foodsaver. I have one to and love it. I use it in the same way ODT dose, splitting up larger packages. They work very well in protecting food from freezer burn ect. Beyond food you can use it for all sorts of things. Absolutely correct. And we've moved in to using it for other things too. We added a second FoodSaver unit for when we want to do higher volumes. (two people will overheat one unit, causing delays as it needs to cool down) The canisters are also handy. We store our barley and popcorn in them. (they came free with the FoodSaver units) The second unit came with an adapter that seals mason jars (removes the air and seals them without any heat). We have explored with that some and are going to be using it a lot more later this year. Very handy for freezing leftover soups and what not. Over time, the jars will be much cheaper than bags for dry goods. (jars last forever, bags are disposable) Marinating meats within minutes with the vacuum canisters is also a handy feature. Hard to believe it works as well as it does. (I covered most of this in detail in the canning thread IIRC) Vacuumpalooza! (huge pic, if you copy the address to a new browser window for viewing)  |
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Quoted: You said in another thread that you had lost about 50 #s . How is that possible with all the goodness? Somebody here coined the phrase, (Grumpy or Berzerker, IIRC), "The don't eat so god damned much diet". That's it. Works great. I haven't lost any more weight since the first of the year, but I have maintained. I'm going to reduce my intake again and lose some more here pretty soon. Once this whole bacon craze blows over.  |
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Your labels are tiny and hard to read. 
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Quoted:
I made my own Canadian Bacon this year. I knew you speak frenchy.... Quoted:
Is this one of those bragging thread.. You were "makin' bacon"
Makin' bacon? 
Quoted:
Quoted:
You said in another thread that you had lost about 50 #s . How is that possible with all the goodness? Somebody here coined the phrase, (Grumpy or Berzerker, IIRC), "The don't eat so god damned much diet". That's it. Works great. I haven't lost any more weight since the first of the year, but I have maintained. I'm going to reduce my intake again and lose some more here pretty soon. Once this whole bacon craze blows over.
That would be B77's "Don't eat so goddamn much diet". The credit is all his. |
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Originally Posted By BusySquirrel: Your labels are tiny and hard to read.  Quoted: That would be B77's "Don't eat so goddamn much diet". The credit is all his.  |
