First Attempt at Bacon

smokin monkey · Nov 6, 2015

It's just a dry cure without the Nitrate. The meat will not have the Pink/Red finish.

I attended a Curing Course, as did Wade and this was the way the showed how to make Bacon.

wade · Nov 6, 2015

If in doubt pop it in the freezer. You can thaw it out later when you have the cure.

morrit · Nov 6, 2015

Popped it into freezer as ordered more prague powder... frustrating as I ordered juniper berried and a spice mill and gastronorm trays and rare breed pork. Only thing is its a LOT of pork. Now... The chef in me is screaming 'nooo! !!' as I contemplate this... Once it is cured and baconfide... shall I freeze it again to defrost as and when... or is it a case of once defrosted never refreeze? Chemically the composition is changing but I presume the nitrite will destroy any bacteria made in the process making it safe to freeze once it's done... This is all conjecture mind so Wade...Once again....what would you do? Bearing in mind this is for personal and not commercial.

By the way... rumour has it juniper berries will be in short supply next year making gin prices go through the roof so stock up now... on berries not gin... well you could stock up on gin too if you wanted.

wade · Nov 7, 2015

Morrit said:
Once it is cured and baconfide... shall I freeze it again to defrost as and when... or is it a case of once defrosted never refreeze?

Once you have further processed the bacon by curing and smoking it will then be perfectly safe to re-freeze. Once turned into bacon the freeze once rule will then apply again.

morrit · Nov 7, 2015

Just what I wanted to hear. That's a MASSIVE relief. Thanks very much. So as they say... 3rd time lucky maybe? Just waiting on prague powder now...

osprey2 · Nov 7, 2015

I know he is on here and I hope he don't mind me posting this again, it works for me.

http://www.localfoodheroes.co.uk/calculator/dry_cure_bacon/

Ask Phil, he is a wealth of knowledge.

morrit · Nov 9, 2015

Prague powder #1 arrived today. Popped it into the cupboard and what did I find? Guess what... no go on guess.... correct.
Well I have a spare bag of prague powder if anyone wants it?

Pork is out the freezer defrosting so FINALLY I can start making bacon tomorrow...!

smokin monkey · Nov 10, 2015

Should of got the wife to look first time!

morrit · Nov 10, 2015

She did... allegedly!!! Lol

morrit · Nov 10, 2015

Started!!! Weighing up the nitrite and salt n sugar on those little digital scales must be what drug dealers go through every day! But...

20151110_170647.jpg

morrit
Nov 10, 2015

Call me El Baconado

20151110_175112.jpg

morrit
Nov 10, 2015

All ready for the fridge. One with juniper, one with bay leaves and one with a pre mix that I bought. Will keep you posted!

Cut one piece of meat and it weighed in at 999grams... how frustrating!

smokin monkey · Nov 10, 2015

Your up and running now, about 12-14 days to cure then smoke time!

morrit · Nov 10, 2015

When I weighed it all out I was thinking 'there isn't enough cure here surely!' But I was wrong. I'm used to curing fish!

smokewood · Nov 11, 2015

A little goes a long way. Looking forward to the results. What flavours are you going to smoke them with?

morrit · Nov 12, 2015

Going to keep one green as the wife doesn't like smoked flavour. Then probably one with apple and the other with maple... can't wait!

smokewood · Nov 12, 2015

Apple is fantastic, and a favourite, I smoke mine for about 24 hours which is just the right amount of smoke for Mrs Smokewood. Personally I prefer a bit more smoke. I have not got round to trying Maple yet. maybe the next one will be with Maple but the freezer is kind of full at the moment.

morrit · Nov 13, 2015

I only have a cold smoker maze thingy. Does about 8 to 10 hours of smoke per round. Will start it in the morning then again before bed. Counting down the days...

smokin monkey · Nov 14, 2015

Waiting is the hardest part!

smokewood · Nov 16, 2015

Smokin Monkey said:
Waiting is the hardest part!

It certainly is. If you want a really good bit of advice, get another couple of pork loins started because by the time you give away a slice here and and a couple of slices there you won't have much left for yourself. I found this wait even harder than waiting for the first bacon to cure because I knew how good it was.

morrit · Nov 19, 2015

Disaster... One of my sealed bags hadn't sealed properly. It's leaked a lot of the cure liquid out. Have resealed it but it's lost some of the brine... nevermind.... I hope!

wade · Nov 19, 2015

This should not be a major problem but just remember that it is likely to have less residual cure than you initially calculated. Try to keep it cool if/when you smoke it and then slice and freeze relatively quickly when ready rather than storing chilled in the fridge.

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