Vacuum Tumbler Bacon Experiment #1 - Final

[tjohnson]

Very interesting !

I wonder could the weight gain be due to the injection? and then the loss be the meat draining off the excess brine/injection

Yes, That's probably the case

Also, since I did not rinse the meat immediately after being removed fro the tumbler, I believe some of the weight was the thickened brine and protein that was still on the outside of the meat.  I'm not sure what amount was actually rinsed off, but this probably contributed to some of the weight gain/loss.

There was very little brine in the bottom of the container, when I removed it from the fridge for smoking.  Some moisture may have evaporated in the fridge.

 

[tjohnson]

I updated my original post to include the smoke and my final conclusion if the Vacuum Tumbled BBB was a success or not.

There were a few successes and a few failures.  That's why I called an "Experiment"

The final cured & smoked bacon smelled wonderful and the slabs looked great.  Once sliced, the pieces looked nicely cured.

I fried the vacuum tumbler cured pieces, and also fried some pieces of BBB from my last batch, that were dry cured for 8 days in the fridge.  I noticed the color was more pink, like ham than my previous batches of BBB.

Taste & Texture were more "Ham Like" than the other BBB

So, looks like I made some awesome Ham!

I'll try my vacuum tumbler experiment again, and try to intensify the color and flavor.  Not sure if this can be done or not, but what the heck, pork butt is cheap enough to experiment with!

Any comments or tips are welcome!!

Todd

 

[big casino]

Nifty experiment thanks for sharing, I've never tried BBB I'm gonna have to have a "go" at it one of these days

 

[bmudd14474]

Looks great Tood. Thanks for sharing this with us. You got me thinking,

 

[donr]

Excellent experimenting Todd.  

Does the vacuum tumbler keep a constant vacuum level of does it "Pulsate"?  The reason I ask, is that my new vacuum sealer has a Marinate mode for a special canister.  This apparently pulls a vacuum for some amount of time then releases the vacuum.  It repeats this a number of times.  I wish they made a bigger canister though.  I may have to work on that.

I would think once the liquid is inside the meat, it would need time to evenly distribute.  I know it would look funny as all get out, but have you thought of using food coloring in the mix to check for dispersion?

Have you compared the color with any brine cured BBB?  Since I am still brining my first BBB I do not know how either looks.

Don

 

[tjohnson]

Excellent experimenting Todd.  

Does the vacuum tumbler keep a constant vacuum level of does it "Pulsate"?  The reason I ask, is that my new vacuum sealer has a Marinate mode for a special canister.  This apparently pulls a vacuum for some amount of time then releases the vacuum.  It repeats this a number of times.  I wish they made a bigger canister though.  I may have to work on that.

I would think once the liquid is inside the meat, it would need time to evenly distribute.  I know it would look funny as all get out, but have you thought of using food coloring in the mix to check for dispersion?

Have you compared the color with any brine cured BBB?  Since I am still brining my first BBB I do not know how either looks.

Don

The unit pulls a constant vacuum, just like commercial units

I think the theory behind a Pulsating vacuum is that it open the cells and relaxed them, then the cycle repeats itself.  I'm not sure if this is better for marinating or not.

The brine definitely is drawn into the meat, and the proteins are exchanged.  As the proteins collect in the bin, the brine thickens.

I just performed my 2nd test run and this time used a larger amount of brine.

Started with 16 oz., and had about 4 oz. in the bin after 2 hours

 

[humdinger]

Nice pics. I like how you found two almost identical slices to compare side by side from the different curing methods. That was pretty slick.

 

[tjohnson]

It really is an experiment

Last thing I want to do is get someone sick, over doing something stupid!!

It was dumb luck, that I had a similar piece.....

TJ

 

[chefrob]

todd, thx for sharing this with us. 2 thoughts on color, texure and flavor differences. commercial injection needles have many holes and spray in different directions (so i've read) and the distribution of cure/flavorings can penetrate into more of the meat and this might be an important step that allows them to use the vacuum chambers in the first place. another thought on the texture might be the individual muscle(s) that you were comparing in the first place. if you were to compare the exact same muscles then that might be a more apples to apples senario.................just thinkin'.

 

[MatthewO]

I’m courteous if you have continued in your experiment and have any other results or advise?