Making bacon / curing meat.
Discussion
Jer_1974 said:
Problem is not spending a fortune on a Bacon hobby. Bit of belly pork some herbs, sugar and spices. God knows how I am going to cut mine without spending £150 + on a bacon slicer. It's getting more expensive than brewing my beer hobby. 
I split the price of a slicer with a friend who also decided to start curing at the same time. We keep it at her house and I use it every couple of months or so as required.sas62 said:
Jer_1974 said:
Problem is not spending a fortune on a Bacon hobby. Bit of belly pork some herbs, sugar and spices. God knows how I am going to cut mine without spending £150 + on a bacon slicer. It's getting more expensive than brewing my beer hobby.
I split the price of a slicer with a friend who also decided to start curing at the same time. We keep it at her house and I use it every couple of months or so as required.
ambuletz said:
That looks really really good. Was it worthit in the end? how does it taste to regular shop bought bacon? what are your thoughts on the whole thing.
It tastes really nice, not too salty with a hint of sweetness and was very easy and cheap to do. The whole process took a week from start to finish. Next time I will take the skin off before curing as it went rock hard and would like to smoke it and add some extra ingredients to the cure.Started this yesterday with a 3kg (just under) belly - doesnt appear to be a lot of cure - most other recipies seem to call for much more salt.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/recipes/1...
I suppose time will tell.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/recipes/1...
I suppose time will tell.
Jer_1974 said:
sas62 said:
Here is the sliced output from my last curing. Back bacon, streaky bacon and lardons. The current one will just be back bacon.
Looks great and still pink without nitrates. Jambo85 said:
I will still look pink when raw with or without nitrates/nitrites, it is when you cook it that you notice the difference.
Get some photos up.Jambo85 said:
I will still look pink when raw with or without nitrates/nitrites, it is when you cook it that you notice the difference.
Mine also did not look as pink as shop bought bacon. I have also asked Santa for a cold smoker for Christmas: https://www.macsbbq.com/cold-smokersJust finished my first cure. I thought I would try it using basic stuff before going all in. The butcher didn't have any loin with a fat cap so I bought it largely without rind. I will order it specially next time so that I get bacon with rind.
The cure I made was half salt, half soft brown sugar, a few bay leaves, and some crushed peppercorns. Curing container was a glass baking dish with cling film on top. Applied cure, drained it each day, and reapplied the cure for a total of 5 days. I think next time I will try 4 days as for this weight of meat it was a little too much I think. I dried it for 3 days in the fridge just wrapped in grease proof paper.
Honestly, I am pretty impressed at how easy it was and I will definitely be doing it again. The bacon tastes delicious and loses no water when cooked. I got about 40 proper slices and a packet of weird slices when the big piece got a bit thin to slice properly from a 1.2kg piece of meat. I have just got hold of some pink salt so I will give it a go with that and look at the difference. There is apparently next to no risk of botulism if you are curing in a fridge, so other than aesthetics, I am not sure of the use of pink salt when doing it at home.
First night the cure was applied. In the morning there was a s
t load of water in it. Just tip this out and re-apply the cure.
After curing but before drying.
Sliced and packed.
The cure I made was half salt, half soft brown sugar, a few bay leaves, and some crushed peppercorns. Curing container was a glass baking dish with cling film on top. Applied cure, drained it each day, and reapplied the cure for a total of 5 days. I think next time I will try 4 days as for this weight of meat it was a little too much I think. I dried it for 3 days in the fridge just wrapped in grease proof paper.
Honestly, I am pretty impressed at how easy it was and I will definitely be doing it again. The bacon tastes delicious and loses no water when cooked. I got about 40 proper slices and a packet of weird slices when the big piece got a bit thin to slice properly from a 1.2kg piece of meat. I have just got hold of some pink salt so I will give it a go with that and look at the difference. There is apparently next to no risk of botulism if you are curing in a fridge, so other than aesthetics, I am not sure of the use of pink salt when doing it at home.
First night the cure was applied. In the morning there was a s
t load of water in it. Just tip this out and re-apply the cure. After curing but before drying.
Sliced and packed.
sas62 said:
Curing finished and now hanging. Washed and a quick wipe down with malt vinegar cloth. Nothing to do now for 4 weeks or so then will slice before it gets too firm.
Left hanging for longer than usual - 4 weeks. Had to clean odd spot of white 'bloom' - washed with vinegar then water. Now sliced and ready.
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