- Sep 23, 2017
- 11
- 10
Hello everyone. I am very excited to find this forum. I have been smoking bacon for years and I found this forum while trying to find a good way to slice my bacon thinly. Those big thick slices mean we finish the bacon too quickly!
I am from England and have lived in Tokyo for decades. I came to bacon making as I was unable to eat the disgusting stuff they called bacon available in supermarkets here. (that's also the reason I became a baker -- couldn't eat the soft spongy stuff they called English Bread)
I almost exclusively smoke streaky bacon. That's the English name -- bacon from pork belly. I have developed my own method over the years, which is basically a dry rub consisting of roughly a level tablespoon of salt to each 400g of meat, a little less than half the quantity of sugar and these days sometimes the appropriate amount of prague powder. I used to add different types of dried herbs , juniper berries etc, but I don't find a significant difference in taste. I apply the rub, wrap the meat and leave in the fridge for a week. Then I unwrap it, and let it dry for a day or so before smoking on a tall stove top smoker for about 40 mins for the smoky flavour. I have to smoke at night, as I live on the ground floor of an apartment building, and don't want to risk complaints about smoky laundry!
In England we also eat something we call back bacon. I don't know the North American name -- it is made from pork loin. I would love to find a good way to make this, as my experiments have come out rather dry.
I also want to move on to small hams.. One of the challenges here is that it is impossible to get meat on the bone, or meat with the skin still on. I am always looking for good recipes for small pieces of meat.
It is wonderful to read posts from people who share the same interests. Here in Tokyo I smoke alone, as it were! In fact smoking food has become quite popular in recent years here and great equipment is now available in cooking stores, so there are obviously people interested! There are also a huge number of books in Japanese on smoking.
Current mission -- a bacon slicer which is not too expensive, not massive, and is easy to use. I had a hand driven foldable one, but it didn't do the job very well.
Thanks for letting me join!
Amy May
I am from England and have lived in Tokyo for decades. I came to bacon making as I was unable to eat the disgusting stuff they called bacon available in supermarkets here. (that's also the reason I became a baker -- couldn't eat the soft spongy stuff they called English Bread)
I almost exclusively smoke streaky bacon. That's the English name -- bacon from pork belly. I have developed my own method over the years, which is basically a dry rub consisting of roughly a level tablespoon of salt to each 400g of meat, a little less than half the quantity of sugar and these days sometimes the appropriate amount of prague powder. I used to add different types of dried herbs , juniper berries etc, but I don't find a significant difference in taste. I apply the rub, wrap the meat and leave in the fridge for a week. Then I unwrap it, and let it dry for a day or so before smoking on a tall stove top smoker for about 40 mins for the smoky flavour. I have to smoke at night, as I live on the ground floor of an apartment building, and don't want to risk complaints about smoky laundry!
In England we also eat something we call back bacon. I don't know the North American name -- it is made from pork loin. I would love to find a good way to make this, as my experiments have come out rather dry.
I also want to move on to small hams.. One of the challenges here is that it is impossible to get meat on the bone, or meat with the skin still on. I am always looking for good recipes for small pieces of meat.
It is wonderful to read posts from people who share the same interests. Here in Tokyo I smoke alone, as it were! In fact smoking food has become quite popular in recent years here and great equipment is now available in cooking stores, so there are obviously people interested! There are also a huge number of books in Japanese on smoking.
Current mission -- a bacon slicer which is not too expensive, not massive, and is easy to use. I had a hand driven foldable one, but it didn't do the job very well.
Thanks for letting me join!
Amy May
