Totally given up on bacon
Discussion
MrOnTheRopes said:
For supermarket stuff I've found the Jolly Hog smoked back to be okay (no residue), but if I'm feeling extra posh I order online from Cheshire Smokehouse. Their produce is fantastic.
https://www.cheshiresmokehouse.co.uk/smokehouse-on...
I've just this lunchtime picked up a pack of unsmoked back (rind on https://www.cheshiresmokehouse.co.uk/smokehouse-on...
) and the sweet black back bacon.Gorgeous stuff
IanCormac said:
227bhp said:
It's supply and demand which brings the price differential, what % of the population eat chicken compared to drinking a pint at a pub? If everyone went to the pub for a beer every night (as was more popular years ago) it would go down in price.
Some things are easy to give up on, for me bacon is one. I did stop putting butter/marge whatever, on my sandwiches once (in a vain attempt at eating slightly healthier) and haven't looked back, it was easy.
Stopping having a drink on an evening? No chance!
I put lots of flavour on my cooking as I don't think my tastebuds are very sensitive and I do like very flavoursome food. I couldn't tell one chicken from another once it's been doused in garlic, herbs and roasted.
I do wonder how many could (in a blind test) I bet a lot couldn't.
Sorry mate but you're talking crap. My missus is a brilliant cook and cooks using the local butchers chickens, which are excellent. On the occasions they have ran out and we've had to use supermarket chicken, there's a big difference. The best best thing to do would be firstly get yourself a good butcher and get proper meat from them and secondly get a better wife who will cook them properly. Some things are easy to give up on, for me bacon is one. I did stop putting butter/marge whatever, on my sandwiches once (in a vain attempt at eating slightly healthier) and haven't looked back, it was easy.
Stopping having a drink on an evening? No chance!
I put lots of flavour on my cooking as I don't think my tastebuds are very sensitive and I do like very flavoursome food. I couldn't tell one chicken from another once it's been doused in garlic, herbs and roasted.
I do wonder how many could (in a blind test) I bet a lot couldn't.
Edited by 227bhp on Tuesday 30th August 10:45
Job done.
So you know what my own tastebuds are telling me and that I have a wife? What an idiot, very good
A recent TV series called 'Eat well for less' proved multiple times that much of the general public cannot tell one food or drink from another when they didn't know exactly what it was they were actually eating or drinking.
There is one thing you cannot argue with and tell someone they are right or wrong, that thing is taste.
Edited by 227bhp on Thursday 1st September 17:10
227bhp said:
A recent TV series called 'Eat well for less' proved multiple times that much of the general public cannot tell one food or drink from another when they didn't know exactly what it was they were actually eating or drinking.
There is one thing you cannot argue with and tell someone they are right or wrong, that thing is taste.
I went to a live show by the Hairy Bikers some time back, they got some people out of the audience, blindfolded them, and fed them various stuff. They couldn't tell the difference between different meats (can't remember which but different animals not different cuts).There is one thing you cannot argue with and tell someone they are right or wrong, that thing is taste.
On the other hand when comparing a similar sized chicken from the supermarket or my local butcher the butchers one seems to result in twice as many portions (assume water in the supermarket ones means they shrink).
My bacon of choice - Local to me, but still available by mail order, and bloody delicious
http://www.edwardsofconwy.co.uk/shop//bacon/Thick-...
http://www.edwardsofconwy.co.uk/shop//bacon/Thick-...
https://www.cureandsimple.com/ these guys do mail order bacon if you can't be bothered to shop around.
Although I get my bacon from a local butchers (Phil Bowditch, Little Marlow) which is definitely not wet cured, and smoked on site. Well worth the extra expense as it goes a long way and is great quality.
I get a kilo pack of smoked streaky at christmas time and it gets used for everything!
Although I get my bacon from a local butchers (Phil Bowditch, Little Marlow) which is definitely not wet cured, and smoked on site. Well worth the extra expense as it goes a long way and is great quality.
I get a kilo pack of smoked streaky at christmas time and it gets used for everything!
I used to be weary of people who were snobs about supermarket meat and "only bought from the butcher". I now only buy from the butcher and actually, stuff like bacon is miles better with no water in it, and cheaper per kg than the stuff in a packet from the supermarket. Don't suffer, just get it from the butcher.
WelshChris said:
My bacon of choice - Local to me, but still available by mail order, and bloody delicious
http://www.edwardsofconwy.co.uk/shop//bacon/Thick-...
Not tried the bacon yet but I will. I do buy their sausages though (the ones they supply to the supermarkets).http://www.edwardsofconwy.co.uk/shop//bacon/Thick-...
Swervin_Mervin said:
MrOnTheRopes said:
For supermarket stuff I've found the Jolly Hog smoked back to be okay (no residue), but if I'm feeling extra posh I order online from Cheshire Smokehouse. Their produce is fantastic.
https://www.cheshiresmokehouse.co.uk/smokehouse-on...
I've just this lunchtime picked up a pack of unsmoked back (rind on https://www.cheshiresmokehouse.co.uk/smokehouse-on...
) and the sweet black back bacon.Gorgeous stuff
I know this isn't the lounge, but World's oldest woman, 116, eats bacon daily
Whoozit said:
So how difficult could it be to cure your own bacon from a joint? Or for that matter a gammon for boiling (yum yum).
Serious question - serious answers please.
Not very difficult. Needs a bit of time and care but it's fairly straightforward. My recommendation is a semi-wet cure. This doesn't leave the bacon wet and oozing when you cook it, but is a lot more consistent and easier to judge without getting massively over salted bacon than a completely dry cure.Serious question - serious answers please.
Cure calculator
http://www.tvr-cerbera.co.uk/files/Bacon_cure_calc...
Tanguero said:
My latest batch using the semi-wet cure method.
Take one pork loin
Bone it out and freeze the ribs for barbecuing when the weather improves!
Mix the cure as per the spreadsheet
Dissolve part of the dry cure mix in the given quantity of boiled water
Sterilise the box to put it in.
Stitch inject the wet part of the cure at 5cm spacing all over the meat making sure the cure gets right through
Rub the dry part of the cure into both sides of the meat
|http://thumbsnap.com/XXvfgorK[/url]
Seal up and refrigerate for 14 days turning the whole box over every day.
Take one pork loin
Bone it out and freeze the ribs for barbecuing when the weather improves!
Mix the cure as per the spreadsheet
Dissolve part of the dry cure mix in the given quantity of boiled water
Sterilise the box to put it in.
Stitch inject the wet part of the cure at 5cm spacing all over the meat making sure the cure gets right through
Rub the dry part of the cure into both sides of the meat
|http://thumbsnap.com/XXvfgorK[/url]Seal up and refrigerate for 14 days turning the whole box over every day.
Tanguero said:
And a fortnight later....
Take it out of the box and rinse the liquid off the surface and it should look (and smell!!!) something like bacon. No mould, no fur, no 'off' smells at all.
You can slice it at this stage for green bacon or...
Hang it in a warm dry place overnight to form a shiny slightly sticky salt 'pelicle'. Then fill the fire box of your smoker with chipped whisky cask staves (Bruichladdich - Port Charlotte 2001)
Fire up and cold smoke for 8 hours at 25 degrees
Then wrap well in clingfilm then foil and refrigerate for 2 - 4 days for the smoke to penetrate and mellow out, then unwrap and slice.
Ready for eating.
Any surplus gets wrapped in clingfilm and foil and goes in the freezer. The water content is low enough that it freezes perfectly without losing texture when it thaws.
It is a reasonably involved and lengthy process but attention to detail and patience pays rewards in the form of the best bacon that I have ever tasted anywhere, ever!
Take it out of the box and rinse the liquid off the surface and it should look (and smell!!!) something like bacon. No mould, no fur, no 'off' smells at all.
You can slice it at this stage for green bacon or...
Hang it in a warm dry place overnight to form a shiny slightly sticky salt 'pelicle'. Then fill the fire box of your smoker with chipped whisky cask staves (Bruichladdich - Port Charlotte 2001)
Fire up and cold smoke for 8 hours at 25 degrees
Then wrap well in clingfilm then foil and refrigerate for 2 - 4 days for the smoke to penetrate and mellow out, then unwrap and slice.
Ready for eating.
Any surplus gets wrapped in clingfilm and foil and goes in the freezer. The water content is low enough that it freezes perfectly without losing texture when it thaws.
It is a reasonably involved and lengthy process but attention to detail and patience pays rewards in the form of the best bacon that I have ever tasted anywhere, ever!
Murph7355 said:
Murph7355 said:
Sounds like some stuff I used to get from a local butcher who's closed down...ordered some to see
Tried it. Not quite the same as the bacon I had previously but very nice.Very expensive though IMO. Too much so.
Swervin_Mervin said:
Does seem pricey online. The stuff in the shop is generally cheaper than the main supermarkets.
£4.50 a packet (plus delivery) is very toppy. Is it the same price in the shop?Tesco (whisper it) do a thick cut Danish smoked bacon for £2.00 a pack that tastes good in a sandwich. My local farm shops are a little over that price but not far off.
The Cheshire Smokehouse stuff was good, but not that good
I had closer look last time I was in Tesco, the water injected variety is half the cost of the dry cured and marked as 89% pork (rest was additives including of course water). I got some dry cured; on cooking it the stuff that looks like egg white still appeared on top and the bacon didn't have much taste.
I don't have the time nor money to go hunting round the countryside looking for various different places just for bacon.
Back to sausages for me. True they have crap in them too, but they're tastier and much better value, done in the oven or grill gets a lot of fat out.
I don't have the time nor money to go hunting round the countryside looking for various different places just for bacon.
Back to sausages for me. True they have crap in them too, but they're tastier and much better value, done in the oven or grill gets a lot of fat out.
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