Black Forest Maple Bacon

[TasunkaWitko]

Good morning!

First off, your bacon looks great, with very nice colour!

Regarding the amount of smoke: in my experience, after a few days of dry-aging, and then refrigeration (either vacuum-sealed, zip-locked or wrapped in plastic), the smoke flavor does penetrate and work its way through the bacon. Right now, it is almost surely "on the surface" and probably does seem rather intense. My strong guess is that, over time, this will mellow out quite a bit.

Having said that, this method for making bacon is designed to produce something that is more old-school and rustic than the bacon found in modern supermarkets; the dry cure, cold smoke and dry-aging all work together to enhance and intensify flavours, so it is inherently different from what you might be used to. In the end, after giving it some time to mellow out, it is still too intense for your taste, try reducing the smoking time by a couple of hours with the next batch. See how that goes, and adjust again from there, if necessary, until it reaches a level that you like.

Hope this helps!

Ron

 

[wyowolf]

Good morning!

First off, your bacon looks great, with very nice colour!

Regarding the amount of smoke: in my experience, after a few days of dry-aging, and then refrigeration (either vacuum-sealed, zip-locked or wrapped in plastic), the smoke flavor does penetrate and work its way through the bacon. Right now, it is almost surely "on the surface" and probably does seem rather intense. My strong guess is that, over time, this will mellow out quite a bit.

Having said that, this method for making bacon is designed to produce something that is more old-school and rustic than the bacon found in modern supermarkets; the dry cure, cold smoke and dry-aging all work together to enhance and intensify flavours, so it is inherently different from what you might be used to. In the end, after giving it some time to mellow out, it is still too intense for your taste, try reducing the smoking time by a couple of hours with the next batch. See how that goes, and adjust again from there, if necessary, until it reaches a level that you like.

Hope this helps!

Ron

I wrapped in loosely in cling wrap and stuck in fridge til i could figure out what to do with it.... should i have left it outside for a few days to age a bit? I also thought of taking a damp clean towel and "washing" the outside of it...then ageing it... thoughts?

 

[TasunkaWitko]

If it were me, I would not "wash" it with a damp cloth. You're trying to remove moisture, so this would be counter-productive to that goal. Also, in my experience, doing so will not remove any smoke flavor anyway; what I would do is give the smoke time to penetrate - it will!

I'd say that you should be fine if you took it out of the cling wrap and let it dry age a few days - maybe 3 or 4, to start. The dry-aging is a pretty subjective thing. I dry-aged mine until it looked and felt "right," which is pretty hard to describe. The bacon will be denser and more "solid" than bacon from the store, as there is less moisture. If it feels spongy or very soft, then I'd recommend continuing the dry-aging. On the other hand, if you over-do it, then you end up with bacon jerky - which might taste good, but is not what you're going for. I am sure that there are humidity charts etc. that have this down to a science; but my opinion is that they've been making bacon for a long time without such intricate concepts. Experience is the best teacher, here, as far as I am concerned.

Once it gets to a point that looks "right" to you, wrap it back it and put it in your refrigerator for a week or two - try to forget about it, then sample it.

You may have already found this out, but when it comes to cooking the bacon, you are best off either at low heat (on the stovetop) or in the oven.

 

[wyowolf]

If it were me, I would not "wash" it with a damp cloth. You're trying to remove moisture, so this would be counter-productive to that goal. Also, in my experience, doing so will not remove any smoke flavor anyway; what I would do is give the smoke time to penetrate - it will!

I'd say that you should be fine if you took it out of the cling wrap and let it dry age a few days - maybe 3 or 4, to start. The dry-aging is a pretty subjective thing. I dry-aged mine until it looked and felt "right," which is pretty hard to describe. The bacon will be denser and more "solid" than bacon from the store, as there is less moisture. If it feels spongy or very soft, then I'd recommend continuing the dry-aging. On the other hand, if you over-do it, then you end up with bacon jerky - which might taste good, but is not what you're going for. I am sure that there are humidity charts etc. that have this down to a science; but my opinion is that they've been making bacon for a long time without such intricate concepts. Experience is the best teacher, here, as far as I am concerned.

Once it gets to a point that looks "right" to you, wrap it back it and put it in your refrigerator for a week or two - try to forget about it, then sample it.

You may have already found this out, but when it comes to cooking the bacon, you are best off either at low heat (on the stovetop) or in the oven.

Took it out and put it on wire rack on the counter, its def firmed up, will probably put it back in fridge and wait a few days and see, maybe this weekend will try it again.. sure hope that intense smoke goes away... thanks for the info.

 

[wyowolf]

If it were me, I would not "wash" it with a damp cloth. You're trying to remove moisture, so this would be counter-productive to that goal. Also, in my experience, doing so will not remove any smoke flavor anyway; what I would do is give the smoke time to penetrate - it will!

I'd say that you should be fine if you took it out of the cling wrap and let it dry age a few days - maybe 3 or 4, to start. The dry-aging is a pretty subjective thing. I dry-aged mine until it looked and felt "right," which is pretty hard to describe. The bacon will be denser and more "solid" than bacon from the store, as there is less moisture. If it feels spongy or very soft, then I'd recommend continuing the dry-aging. On the other hand, if you over-do it, then you end up with bacon jerky - which might taste good, but is not what you're going for. I am sure that there are humidity charts etc. that have this down to a science; but my opinion is that they've been making bacon for a long time without such intricate concepts. Experience is the best teacher, here, as far as I am concerned.

Once it gets to a point that looks "right" to you, wrap it back it and put it in your refrigerator for a week or two - try to forget about it, then sample it.

You may have already found this out, but when it comes to cooking the bacon, you are best off either at low heat (on the stovetop) or in the oven.

Just wanted to update, let it sit on counter for few days then week or so in fridge, sliced it up last night and was MUCH better... still a bit on salty side, but the overpowering smoke flavor has come WAY down... I still cant taste the maple sugar AT ALL and I used a good bit more than what you suggested but still came out pretty good! thank you!