Any Bacon Makers Here?

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I'm sure you'll be fine other than the hit to the pocket book!! That's a rip off if you ask me. Sure hope they lubed it up prior to sticking it to you.
I paid $2.65 lb at Costco for my belly's.

It's fine to stack if they're in separate bags. If it's the same bag, be sure to overhaul it frequently and change positions of the pieces.

If you want bourbon, add it now. There seems to be a theme here lately about adding flavor at the end. Add. It. Now.

That is a lot to pay. Where was it? I think some stores are catching on that it's desirable now.
The Butcher's Market, which used to be called The Meat House. I called ahead, I knew the price but called others and either couldn't get them to understand what I wanted (uncured pork belly) or they said they didn't have it. I could have driven to the places I called, but by then I would have likely been so annoyed, I would have ended up back at the place I bought it.

They are pricey. In general they are pricey. It is kind of the best place we can get meat around here so long as you want a butcher involved. I've scaled back my purchases there because getting a decent cut of meat from a higher end grocery store butcher has proved to be a very similar taste experience.

As far as stacking, they're in separate bags. I'll likely stack them after all then so I can use a different pan to catch potential drippings. My concern about the bourbon was adding it now and washing off the cure. I'll add it tonight since I too am reading that the favor imparted is quite minimal for those who added it late.

I'm excited about this and I really hope it tastes good.
 
Heres a question... I started my cure on Wednesday last week (Jan 20). Was going to smoke this weekend, but ends up I'm going on a trip now to New Orleans. What should I do? Let it ride in the fridge curing while I'm gone ... can it OVER cure? Or should I take out and rinse/soak before I leave and toss in freezer until I get back?

I'm not sure I have the time to smoke it before I leave.

Pieces are maybe 2.5" thick x 24" wide by 13"

I have a smaller piece, same thickness but overall smaller. There are two even smaller bits that are about 13" x 3" x 3"
 
Heres a question... I started my cure on Wednesday last week. Was going to smoke this weekend, but ends up I'm going on a trip now to New Orleans. What should I do? Let it ride in the fridge curing while I'm gone ... can it OVER cure? Or should I take out and rinse/soak before I leave and toss in freezer until I get back?

I'm not sure I have the time to smoke it before I leave.

I would definitely not freeze it, but that is purely based on personal preference. Over at smokingmeatforums.com there is a thread where someone asked if you can over cure bacon and another answered no. They mentioned that you would want to rinse and do the salt test before you dry out the bacon for smoking first. Cut off a bit, fry it up and see if is too salty.

When do you anticipate coming back?

Here is the thread I saw about over-curing:
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/108279/how-do-you-know-when-youve-cured-the-bacon-long-enough
 
Not that much longer. We come back on the 2nd late, so I could take out the 3rd and let soak in water all day, fridge it over night, smoke the next evening --- so smoked on the 4th rather than 30th
 
For that price you could have bought bacon, not pork belly! I paid 3.39 I think per pound and thought that was too much (skin on).

There is no danger of over curing by time of contact as long as you are measuring the proper dose of salt, sugar and cure#1 per slab by weight using a calculator to ensure that the proper ppm of nitrate dose is delivered. The flavoring is not going to alter the curing process, so don't worry about that (per that Marianski book). Depending on your tastes and amount of salt level you chose, it would be a wise idea to do a fry test. You can soak in water bath for a few hours, and repeat as needed to get the salt level you like if it is too salty for your tastes. Then you can dry the slab before you smoke it. I set my slabs on a jelly roll pan with a wire rack below and built a house of cards out of the slabs and let them dry in fridge overnight.

TD

Edit- yeah I forget which it is:nitrate or nitrite in the cure #1, but that's what you want, the cure #1 for a short cure.
 
Sweet. I'll just let it ride and do the rinse/fry test/rinse method :)

Thanks everyone. Cant wait to try it!
 
Are you using nitrite or nitrate? There is a big application/usage difference. For bacon and short cure hams you should be using nitrite. Nitrate is used in long cures where it slowly converts to nitrite for curing.
 
Are you using nitrite or nitrate? There is a big application/usage difference. For bacon and short cure hams you should be using nitrite. Nitrate is used in long cures where it slowly converts to nitrite for curing.

I think I may have been misleading unintentionally. You are correct that one is for long cure and the other for short cure duration. I know that as cure #1 is for short cure and cure#2 is for long cure duration.

TD.
 
Are you using nitrite or nitrate? There is a big application/usage difference. For bacon and short cure hams you should be using nitrite. Nitrate is used in long cures where it slowly converts to nitrite for curing.

It is this stuff:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008X6KE0E/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

So nitrite not nitrate. My auto correct and memory went bonkers.

The price I paid was terrible, no doubt. I knew of it beforehand, but really wanted to do this. I found another place that is all organic and is $6.00 a pound. I'm going to check Sam's club and Costco opens near us soon. So there's that.
 
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It is this stuff:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008X6KE0E/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

So nitrite not nitrate. My auto correct and memory went bonkers.

The price I paid was terrible, no doubt. I knew of it beforehand, but really wanted to do this. I found another place that is all organic and is $6.00 a pound. I'm going to check Sam's club and Costco opens near us soon. So there's that.

The Prague #1 is fine for bacon. Don't waste your time with 'organic' cures. They are just dishonest pseudo hipster/ppie
progressive hype. Those cures rely on nitrite heavy greens, most commonly celery grown on a heavy nitrate soil. That yields an unpredictable nitrate content.
 
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The Prague #1 is fine for bacon. Don't waste your time with 'organic' cures. They are just dishonest pseudo hipster/ppie

progressive hype. Those cures rely on nitrite heavy greens, most commonly celery grown on a heavy nitrate soil. That yields an unpredictable nitrate content.


I think she's talking about organic pork belly.
 
I ended up using a curing calculator. I bought pork belly today from the butcher. According to everything I've read online, the pricing was definitely higher than expected at 7.99 a pound. I was determined to get it tonight so I bent over and paid.

Did a standard cure on both but thinking I'll throw some bourbon in one. I'm wondering if I did it right. The first belly I cut some of the thicker fat but not much. The other I left untouched. First one was 2041 grams so I used 5.09 g cure, 36 g salt and 20 g brown sugar. I use cure #1 with 6.25% nitrate.

Second one was smaller at 1769 grams and I used 4.42 g nitrate, 31 g salt, and 18 g sugar.

I rubbed it all and put it in zip loc bags. Questions:

Can I stack the two pork bellies while they cure?

Is it okay if some of the rub didn't make it on the belly? It just falls off after rubbing it in best I could.

Finally, how do I know if the cure didn't work. It was such a small amount of mix combined, I was pretty surprised.

Thanks.

I took off a little of that top right side.
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Throw your flavorings in now:rockin:
You'll know the cure worked because the meat will firm up, poke the meat now and learn how it feels (it is sensitive:p) when it's ready it will be quite a bit firmer, more like a cooked steak.

I need to make more bacon;)
 

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man... i wasnt hungry. now im starving. i seriously cant WAIT for my bacon. i put some honey and sriracha into a ramkin and mixed until it tasted good to me. spicy with a tinge of honey sweetness. microwaved to thin up, then poured into the bag and resealed. i poured in some pure maple syrup into another. i want to do black pepper on another. i LOVE the super peppery bacon, how would you guys recommend that?

once i rest for my pellicle, coat just one side THICK with some fresh ground peppercorns?
 
Excess cure will fall off. You can stack 2 bellies, no problem. I switch them around every 2 days. Properly cured bacon will also have the lean retain the red color over time, not turn brown. I can't tell you how long it will stay red exactly but for months.
 
There's a place in NH that I buy all my stuff from.
The Sausage Store: http://www.sausagesource.com/
Nice people, the prices seem reasonable.
I've purchased casings of all types (packed in salt) and my meat grinder.

I have yet to try bacon, but a butcher shop opened up in the next town over.
Guess I have to reread this thread cover to cover to catch up.
:)
 
Thanks for the link. Wish I had known they were there back when I used to get over that way more often.
 
did (canadian bacon ) today used morton tender quick and brown sugar its in the fridge now for the 24hr wait then slice and try :mug:

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All right. I left my pork bellies in bags from 1/25 until today. The regular belly, that is the one that just got the cure, sugar, etc rub did not stay very pink. It smelled slightly different than bacon, but I haven't smoked it yet. To do the salt test, I cut a slice, washed it off well, then fried it.

The second belly is the cure plus 1/2 cup bourbon. Nothing else. It is definitely bourbon and I think the smoke will compliment it well. I did the same salt test, that one was slightly more pink.

After frying, neither was very salty. In fact, it was seemingly less salty than regular bacon. One of the bellies is in a 13x9 dish covered soaking in water. I figure after about an hour I'll remove it and soak the other. I don't have enough large pans to soak two bellies at once.

I'll leave it in the fridge overnight.

I was hoping to smoke the meat on Thursday, I'd start it earlier in the day so that will mean less than 24 hours of time drying in the fridge, is that okay? Based on my schedule, I'd start it around 1 pm, unless I can get it started before 10 am.

Should I be worried that it is not overly salty? Should I be worried about the color? It is markedly firmer than when I started, but not rock solid or anything. Pictures only corrected the color to make it look more pink, so I skipped uploading them.

Taste wise, it was good. I loved the bourbon one quite a bit and I'm not a bourbon drinker really.
 
Recall I posted a way to make maple flavoring from fenugreek.

Here is a recipe from a friend on another forum I visit.

I've not tried it yet, but plan to use next time I do bacon to impart full maple flavor without adding too much sweetness from real maple syrup.

enjoy

Fenugreek Syrup
(All-Natural Maple Flavored Syrup)

Ingredients:

34 g (1.2 oz) Fenugreek seeds
2 1/3 cups Filtered or Distilled Water + Additional Water (see below)
3 cups sugar
1/3 cup Brown Sugar


Place the fenugreek seeds and water in a small sauce pan, bring just to a boil over medium heat (do NOT use high heat), reduce heat and simmer slowly for 15 - 20 minutes until the liquid has reduced a little more than half, and the seeds are plump, soft, and have released their flavor and color.

Strain through a fine mesh strainer, pressing the seeds gently with a spoon. Strain a second time to catch any flakes of seed in the liquid. Do not worry if the liquid looks cloudy; it will clear up when you make the syrup!

Pour the liquid into a measuring cup and add enough Filtered Water to bring the level up to 1 3/4 cups. Return the liquid to the sauce pan, add the sugar and slowly bring just to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. When it boils, immediately reduce to low and simmer for an additional minute or so, use a clean spoon to skim as much foam off as possible.

Pour the hot syrup into 2 clean pint size canning jars (or 1 quart size). DO NOT scrape the thick syrup from the sides of the pan, or it can cause the sugars to crystallize. Immediately cover the jars with lids while still hot, and allow to cool.

Yields approximately 2 pints (1 quart).

TD
 
The outside may not be red in color. Inside it will stay a raw meat color when properly cured. In fact, a sign of too strong or not well mixed cure will give green discoloration which may not be seen until rinsing. Those both look fine.
 
The outside may not be red in color. Inside it will stay a raw meat color when properly cured. In fact, a sign of too strong or not well mixed cure will give green discoloration which may not be seen until rinsing. Those both look fine.


Thanks! Smoking is done. I used pecan to smoke it. It took about 4 hours at 200F.

I'm waiting for it to cool but I'm going to try some before I wrap it and chill overnight.
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There is/was a guy on here who made some homemade bacon. I got to try it at a get-together last year.

INCREDIBLE!

Sorry for the delayed response, but here's my process if anyone is interested.

First, I start with the best pork belly I can buy. There's a meat plant about 2 miles from my house, so I call them periodically to see what they have or will be getting soon. I don't use the skin for cracklins or anything like that, so I'll ask for the belly with skin removed if there's no further charge. If they charge, I'll remove it myself.

  • First I rinse the belly gently in cold water and cut any hanging tissue off. I also cut any fat caps down to 1/4" to leave good marbled belly.
  • Cut the belly into thirds (usually, depending on size), or so they can fit into the bags I have for curing
  • Prepare a wet brine consisting of 4:1 distilled water to Morton's Tender Quick, ~4 TB course ground black pepper, ~2 cups dark brown sugar, ~3 cups pure maple syrup
  • Bring the brine to a boil, let cool
  • Put cool brine and pork belly in durable plastic bags (or hard plastic containers work too, as long as the belly is submerged)
  • Let the pork cure for 5 days per every inch thickness. For example, if your thickest section of belly is 1.5" thick, let cure for about 10 days. 2" thick, cure for 14 days, etc.
  • Rinse the cured belly, soak in cold tap water overnight
  • Prepare your smoker at 225F. I like to use either apple wood or mesquite (I know mesquite isn't typically used with pork, but I like it)
  • Hold the pork on the smoker at 225F with smoke until internal temperature is 165F.
  • Pull off the smoker, cut a piece or two off, eat, and let the rest cool. Once cool, put in vacuum bags and freeze what you won't use in the next couple weeks

This is pretty much exactly the recipe that I used to make the bacon I brought to @Yooper brew day a couple summers ago.
 
Going to soak mine tonight, toss in fridge tomorrow after a fry test, and smoke Sunday. Supposed to be cool (low of 40) down in South Florida so will be good to cold smoke it. Cannot wait.
 
Do you guys think if I fridge it tonight around 6pm it will have had enough time to smoke tomorrow AM?
 
I don't soak before smoking, just a good rinse then a good drying at room temp. If it is too salty after smoking, a 10 min. soak works before cooking, sometimes just another rinse is fine. Salty bacon stores better due to a less desirable mold habitat. I don't freeze bacon often, only for short term, a month or so and then only when I'm inundated with supply. Rarely. I also slice as needed.
 
I think mesquite works well with bacon. I mix it in with other woods, never used it alone. I have used it a lot with hickory, maple, apple blend. It seems to add a mellow depth of flavor. I don't use it much with pecan because they seem to both have a mellowness that doesn't really compliment each other yet not conflict either. Kind of a redundancy without any stand out gain.
 
Heres mine. Buddy brought me his foodsaver today, so going to freeze up the packs into smaller batches and label. I sniffed the maple and hte honey/sriracha ones but didnt pick up any flavor or aroma from what I added. Had some of the normal variety (sliced not bagged) this AM. Freaking awesome.

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I think mesquite works well with bacon. I mix it in with other woods, never used it alone. I have used it a lot with hickory, maple, apple blend. It seems to add a mellow depth of flavor. I don't use it much with pecan because they seem to both have a mellowness that doesn't really compliment each other yet not conflict either. Kind of a redundancy without any stand out gain.

Same here. I like the robustness of mesquite with bacon. Considering a slice of bacon has very little surface area containing smoke flavor, having something relatively pronounced melds it in with the overall flavor of the strip in my opinion. I've not tried mixing woods, which sounds like a good idea. Perhaps I'll mix apple and mesquite next time.
 
I did 3 parts hickory 1 part apple when I just smoked mine. Is nice

I just wish I got my flavoring more pronounced... was super excited about sriracha + honey. Maybe I just need a LOT more next time
 
So used recipe from front page. After it cured I did a test slice and fried it up. Was super super salty. Soaked for 5 hours. Smoked. Its still pretty salty.. I dont really mind, but my wife and people I've given it to said the flavor is great but just WAY too salty on the finish.

I vacuum sealed the bacon into batches to help keep fresh, but when I defrost a bag, am I able to soak them for another hour or two? Any issues with it since everythings been smoked now?
 
So used recipe from front page. After it cured I did a test slice and fried it up. Was super super salty. Soaked for 5 hours. Smoked. Its still pretty salty.. I dont really mind, but my wife and people I've given it to said the flavor is great but just WAY too salty on the finish.

I vacuum sealed the bacon into batches to help keep fresh, but when I defrost a bag, am I able to soak them for another hour or two? Any issues with it since everythings been smoked now?


Defrost in the pan with some water, boil for a bit and pour off the water, fry as normal.
 
Somewhat salty bacon works well instead of salt pork in recipes. It also works well on BLTs. That gives you an out with great enjoyment for that batch regardless.
 
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