I just pulled 4 wild boar bellies from the fridge today which had been dry curing for 13 days (my first attempt at curing) with a simple cure using maple syrup and swedish nitrite salt (I used enough nitrite salt to be at 130ppm with the nitrites).
I flipped the bags daily. There was no liquid in the zip locks when I pulled them (but there was a little after about 4-5 days so my guess is this was re-absorbed) but the bellies were firm when bent.
I put the bellies in my Bradley smoker with 3 hours worth of maple pucks and cooked at 210f until internal temps of the bellies was 160f - this took about 6 hours (it is -2C outside so the smoker is a little slower).
I immediately noticed a somewhat sour (yeasty) smell when I took them out of the smoker - I figured maybe I had used too much smoke. Cut a couple of slices and fried it up and it tasted sour as well, so I have thrown the entire batch away.
This is my first time making bacon (and my first time working with wild boar bellies - although I have done quite a lot of smoking with wild boar shoulders with no issues) - so I was wondering what I did wrong?
My first thought is maybe I cured for too long and the maple syrup fermented. The bellies were only about 1/3rd the thickness of farmed pig bellies - so I am thinking maybe I cured for too long - maybe they were ready after 5-6 days and me leaving them in for 13 days spoiled them and fermented the sugars.
So I was wondering if anyone has tried to make wild boar bacon before and what level of success you have had - how would you recommend I change my process?
I really try to source wild game as much as possible rather than buying farmed meat and being in Sweden it is relatively easy to source (albeit expensive) and have had great success with my moose/deer jerky and wild boar pulled shoulder, but this bacon was an expensive failure ($35 USD per kg and I just threw away 4kg) - I was hoping it would end up being something a bit special over regular bacon. I think for my next bacon attempt I will have to use pig belly to refine the process first...
Thanks in advance for any suggestions/help.
I flipped the bags daily. There was no liquid in the zip locks when I pulled them (but there was a little after about 4-5 days so my guess is this was re-absorbed) but the bellies were firm when bent.
I put the bellies in my Bradley smoker with 3 hours worth of maple pucks and cooked at 210f until internal temps of the bellies was 160f - this took about 6 hours (it is -2C outside so the smoker is a little slower).
I immediately noticed a somewhat sour (yeasty) smell when I took them out of the smoker - I figured maybe I had used too much smoke. Cut a couple of slices and fried it up and it tasted sour as well, so I have thrown the entire batch away.
This is my first time making bacon (and my first time working with wild boar bellies - although I have done quite a lot of smoking with wild boar shoulders with no issues) - so I was wondering what I did wrong?
My first thought is maybe I cured for too long and the maple syrup fermented. The bellies were only about 1/3rd the thickness of farmed pig bellies - so I am thinking maybe I cured for too long - maybe they were ready after 5-6 days and me leaving them in for 13 days spoiled them and fermented the sugars.
So I was wondering if anyone has tried to make wild boar bacon before and what level of success you have had - how would you recommend I change my process?
I really try to source wild game as much as possible rather than buying farmed meat and being in Sweden it is relatively easy to source (albeit expensive) and have had great success with my moose/deer jerky and wild boar pulled shoulder, but this bacon was an expensive failure ($35 USD per kg and I just threw away 4kg) - I was hoping it would end up being something a bit special over regular bacon. I think for my next bacon attempt I will have to use pig belly to refine the process first...
Thanks in advance for any suggestions/help.
