makin bacon

Hi popum,

This is just my opinion, and there are those that disagree.

Most bacon and ham cures are pretty much the same. Some ham cures will have an ingredient or 2 in them that give them a sweeter taste.

To me what makes bacon is the fat. If you were to take a piece of bacon prior to frying and cut away all the fat you'd have a piece of cured and smoked pork. Which is basically ham.

In my opinion, the thicker the slice of bacon, the hammier the taste because most don't fry thick bacon as crispy as they fry the thin sliced variety.

At the same time, take a real ham and cut a real thin slice from it and burn it off in a skillet. Semi- burnt ham tastes kind of bacony.

What it all boils down to, is cured, smoked pork, no matter what part of the hog it is from, is gonna taste hammy.

It's the fat content, fat texture, slice thickness, and to what degree of doneness it's taken to that make bacon taste like bacon.

Just $.02 from my taste buds.

I gotta agree with the above post, and say that I like both bacon and ham. Both bacon and ham can be cured or not cured. Fresh side? Sow belly? Cured ham? Some terms might be countryfied and not technical.

I absolutely love good bacon, so I have pretty high standards with what I try to make or am willing to buy.

I use a dry cure on all my real bacon or things I am trying to make taste like bacon. I have not really been impressed with my attempts to make a satisfactory buckboard bacon (from butt or shoulder) it is not so much the taste but the texture and it doesn't hold together like bacon should.

Most of the time I use Morton's Sugar Cure for bacon as per the directions of 1/2 oz per pound of meat and only one application (about 3 percent by weight). Ham according to their directions is cured at 2 1/2 pounds of cure per hundred pounds of meat (2 1/2 percent) with at least 2 or 3 applications. This takes the cure to meat ratio to 5 - 7 1/2 percent. That additional cure makes it taste more hammy.

I also abandoned anything as a cure that uses Tender Quick because that really make pork taste like ham in a hurry.

With bacon you want to use either the Morton's products, Prague Powder, or similar curing salt, for both safety and for product looks.

I currently am curing some beef according to the bacon ratio. Some of it is the think portions of special trim I did not use on my last batch of jerky. The other is boneless short ribs. I plan on smoking both low and long, but I don't have to decide what that may be for a few weeks, since I just started both batches. I don't want to pre cook it, just smoke it.

Hey that actually sounds real good. Let us know how it goes, with pics if possible!

Don't know if the pic's will show BUT this is something I saw here awhile back. With the pic's it sure look's GREAT..



"I was talking to my local butcher about 5 weeks ago and we were talking about making some maple smoked bacon. I said I had made some other bacons and wanted to try again. So he went in his cooler and brought out 2 beautiful slabs of side meat all ready to be cured and smoked. 18 lbs total. I took them right home and washed and patted dry. Then applied my Tenderquick and LOTS of dark brown sugar. These slabs were 20"x14" each. I folded them in half and added more dark brown sugar inside. Then double wrapped in heavy butchers plastic wrap. Put each one in a plastic bag and sealed that inside another plastic bag. (I have had this leak before) Put both slabs in the fridge for 30 days, turning every day. At the end of 30 days I rinsed each slab and let them sit in ice water for 2 hrs. Then dried them off and let air dry for a couple hours in the 008.


I filled the wood tray with 4 oz of maple in 2 chunks and a small tray of maple chips. I had the thickest slab on the bottom and put my temp probe in that one. I also rubbed each slab with just a little pure maple syrup.Closed the door and turned the heat to 150* and sat back. It smelled great cooking. The temp probe never went above 146. I let it go for 6 hours and turned it off and opened the door. All 4 slabs looked a dark redish brown and smelled delicious. Here are 2 of them.

I sliced up 2 of the slabs before I remembered to take the pictures. So here is one of the 2 remaining slabs and 1 slab sliced up.

Here is one of just a plate of bacon.

I started with 18 lbs of meat and ended up with 14. The aroma of the frying maple bacon filled the house the whole day after breakfast. The taste was just what I was looking for. A stronger smoke flavor than storebought but a sweet bacon. The only change I would make is to cook the thinner slabs 5-5.5 hours. One slab was just a little dry but still fried up fine. Everyone I have given a package to wants more.

I followed the Morton reccomendations of 1TSP per lb, and used 3 TSP's per lb of dark brown sugar. But right before I folded up each slab I threw some more in the middle and I think there were 2-3 more TSP's of brown sugar."

O.K. I tracked it down !! The name of the post is "Made some Bacon" by Cadillac . It's in the Pork archives, third page 17th post down. If the pic's don't get your mouth watering you need to seek serious help !! lol

Wow! those pics look great. Thats what Im wanting. Now I dont know if I want to use the buckboard bacon spices or the tenderquick and brown sugar. Im gonna try and find some side meat like cadillac used. I dont really want to use a pork butt.

mcnkc What model smoker did you use Im going to try this.

'Cadillac' used a 008 Smokette, of course!

The more lean the pork you use, the more hammy it will be. If you use pork butt it is less hammy than a pork loin. If you use side meat like bacon is made from, I think you will get a product you will like. I have used the buckboard cure many times and am happy with the results. I have done sides, butts and loins. Side is like real bacon. I let mine cure in frig 20 days, not the few days the package recommends. I use the High Mountain Jerky site and products.

I finally found some side meat today at a Oriental store. They get it in every friday, so Im gonna pick up a couple slabs and give it a go. Is 1.59 a pound about right for the side meat? Damar,you let the Buckboard cure for 20 days? What kind of flavor does it have? I dont want it real sweet tasting. I like salty.

In my opinion, bacon is bacon. Butt is butt. Ham is ham. Shoulder is shoulder. If you want bacon, get a fresh side of pork(fresh bacon), cure it, smoke it and then adjust your results. Having done home butchering for decades, I lean toward efficiency. There are many many ways to do bacon. If you do not have a tumbler, forget the brine, stick with dry rub. If you do not have an extra fridge, forget the 30 day cure period.
I would recommend you try this. Get a pack of sugar cure dry rub from a good source( I use Excalibur). Rub it all over the bacon, seal it and store in the fridge for 4 or 5 days. Take it out and rinse it in cold water. Let dry and then smoke 6 to 7 hours at 145 with your preferred wood(I use hickory). When finished, rinse again and you are ready to slice and fry. Two notes of caution. First, if you hold the bacon too long in the fridge with too much salt, it will get strong sooner when frozen after smoking. Secondly, rinsing the bacon after smoking removes any smoke/tar acuumulation but if it is good and dry before you start, this should not be a problem. Also, leave the skin on if possible until after you smoke the side. It has no effect on the smoke and peels off very easlily after being smoked.
Good luck and enjoy the BLT's...

PS. Bacon soaks up the smoke pretty good and you can overdo it. Unlike butts, bacon is easy to oversmoke so start light on the wood.

Mine is not sweet, only smoky like. I wash and soak it in water for several hours after cure time is up. I have never had one turn out real salty but or sweet. I don't care for sweet either. If you use a sugar cure like mortons, I suspect it will be sweet, but I have never tried their sugar cure. I was scared it would be sweet.

I think Sugar Cure gives about the mixture of sweet and salt, if anything I would say it tends towards the salt, but that is also a function of the amount and time. You sure can't beat the price.

Most of my eating bacon now comes from Costco. They stock a dry cured bacon from Fletchers. It's good quality side, hardly shrinks and you can't buy the sides or the belly for much less. I have looked at other places, like Sam's and none of from Fletcher or anyone else is dry cured, water is always the first ingredient.

Well, I got 2 slabs of side meat. Im gonna try 1 slab with the tenderquick and the other when my Buckboard gets here. I really wanted to use mortons sugar cure instead of the tenderquick but I couldnt find it anywhere. ya think 20 days in the tenderquick is enough? Im gonna do it with some brown sugar too.

popum,

If you go www.mortonsalt.com it will tell you the ingredients of both products. The sugar cure is TQ with a blend of spices. I am also guessing the sugar ratio is a little higher, but for the record, their site doesn't say that.

What they do say, is that they use it on both ham and bacon.

The cut of meat is what makes bacon. And fresh side is the right choice for it. That's why your grocer or butcher doesn't cure and smoke a shoulder then slice it and try and pass it off as bacon.

Thanks Gueiser. I just packed the other slab in the buckboard rub. Im gonna compare the 2 and see which I like the best. Im wondering how many days to let it cure, The buckboard instructions say that thinner cuts like my side meat can cure in less time. So, 10 days? 20 days? thanks for all the help.

Hi guys. Just reading the above posts and felt like posting a followup. I still use this method (TQ&BS) to make my bacon. Just made another 20 lbs last week. After eating this for the last year, other bacon is so bland. We started on a 008 and still have it. But earlier this year I had to opportunity to buy a 050.. so I did. Never looked back since. I now hang my bacon slabs to smoke them using the CS Rib Hooks. Ive never lost a slab yet (using 2 hooks/slab) and can easily do 30 lbs of hangin bacon in a load. Im sure 40 lbs is doable too. The smell that waifs across town is absolutely magnificent. Vehicle traffic past my garage triples during peak "smoking" times. I may have some pics hanging around of the bacon hanging around. If so Ill get them posted.

As promised.. here are the pics!

bob

All I can smell driving through Iowa is money on the hoof, and no hills to contain it!

The thing that made the difference for me was getting a slicer. With the bacon sliced thin, then crisped up on the griddle (or microwave), the ham-like taste and texture changes. Best BLT's ever!

Cadillac -- Those pics look fantastic! Is that side meat or pork belly? I suddenly have a cravin for bacon

It is belly meat.. but we also call it side meat. Depends on which packer we get them from. These were 2 10 lb sides, but had to cut them in 1/2 to hang. I also bought an elec slicer off of Ebay.. a $200 deli style meat slicer for under $50. If you are going to make bacon, you have to have access to a slicer! And while some folks like thick bacon, we found we prefer it a bit thinner cause otherwise it doesnt get crisp easily and you have to overcook it. My ABT's are out of this world using this sweet smoky bacon too. Oh yeah and the bacon wrapped smoked sea scallops..... ummmmmmmm.

Bob

Bob
What ratio did you use? and how long did you cure it for?
I just did a loin usining Andi dry rub recipe for salmon. The second day of curing I used QT in the appropiate amount then cured for another 4 days. I soaked this in water for 2 hour then refrig dry for 1 day then smoked with apple at 150 degrees.
This turned out pretty salty. Edible but salty the guys all liked it , but the women didn't care for it much.

Cadillac, how long do you leave it in the cure before smoking? and do you pull the pig skin off after smoking or leave it on the bacon.

Ok lemme check my notes on this... I use 1 part TQ to 3 parts BS. Put the slabs back to back and put 2 slabs in a 2 gallon "zipper close" baggie. I only mix enough cure to fill 1 baggie at a time. I rub the mixture into each of the 2 slabs, put the 2 slabs in the 2 gallon baggie and put the rest of the cure mix in the bag as well. You can split the mix 1/2 on one side of the bag, 1/2 on the other. Remove as much air as possible and seal the bag. Put in a fridge.. my temp runs 34 constantly. You want it 34-38 I believe. (yes we LOVE cold beer!) The extra cure in the bag plus the moisture from the slabs will make a syrup much like maple syrup. I turn each bag over once a day for 2 weeks. I have had to leave them longer and cured for 3 weeks no problem. I rinse each slab off with cold water to rinse as much salt off as possible. The rest has been posted above. As for the pig skin... I believe it is already removed when I get the sides.

smokejack.. I based my salmon smoking recipe off of advise from Andi's posts and a site Tom has posted.. 3 guys smoking??? I dunno.. help me Tom! But I use 1 part sea salt to 2 parts brown sugar, rub lightly on the fillets and wrap in cellophane type wrap. Refridgerate for 4-6 hrs, rinse well, and smoke at 160* for 2-3 hrs weight dependant with a little apple, or peach, or grape vine. Remove it at 145-150 internal. Higher temp means dryer fish. Ya gotta do a few and test them to see.I took a 3 lb one to a friends last Sat nite and it was gone in 30 min. And there were only 20 guests hehe. It smoked in 2 hrs. And personally I cant stand to eat the stuff.. tastes too much like catfood smells like for me!

bob

Never mind Tom.. I found it. hehe

3 Men Fish Smoker

bob

Cadillac, the bacon looks wonderful! I believe I might start using a method and recipe similar to yours. Good job!

For some reason, the pic didn't show up last night.

Excuse my ignorance, what is BS?

Brown Sugar.

Im going to give bacon a try using cadillacs method. I really like the way his bacon looked and smelled as in the post found in the archive
"Made some bacon"

My question is did cadillac remove the skin before or after rubbing/smoking? I plan on removing the skin first, unless there is some reason not to. I just think the flavor would be better minus the skin. My butcher will have a slab of side meat for me on Wednesday! Man, I love trying new stuff in my smoker!

Thunderbyte - refer to my post 5 posts above yours for the skin question.

Good luck...

bob

Im getting anxious, Its been almost 2 weeks with my pork sides in the fridge. One I did with tenderquick and brown sugar, the other I did with the buckboard cure. Should I wait or go ahead and smoke em?

Personally, I would wait. It can only get better. If it does not cure enough, you will end up with some brown or gray spots in the finished product.

I have mine in the fridge in TQ and brown sugar per Cadillacs post. I was planning on letting them sit (except for flipping the bag once a day) for just over two weeks. I will see how this turns out. I have heard of some letting them sit for 4 weeks, some three and some two weeks. Even though there is cure on them, I still feel funny leaving them sit in there for 4 weeks. Wont they get funky?

Not at all. That is why ya use the TQ cure, to eliminate spoilage.

quote:

I followed the Morton reccomendations of 1TSP per lb, and used 3 TSP's per lb of dark brown sugar.

I just wanted to check something, should these have been tablespoons? I used teaspoons and it didnt seam like much mixture...

My side meat has been in the fridge for a week. If it is supposed to be tbsp (tablespoons) not tsp's should my pork still be good even though I only had a third of the cure needed? It doesnt smell spoiled. If yes, I will just add the additional TQ and BS.

What is the temp on the inside of your fridge? I keep mine at 34 and wouldnt have a problem adding TQ in that scenerio. I would also add a few days at the end of the extended 2 week period to be sure the TQ penetrated the meat.

bob

thunderbyte - In reading my original post, I have dropped from a 30 day cure to 14. Just wanted to clear that up.

Bob

Fridge is about 36-38 F. I put them in the fridge 1 week ago today, and plan on smoking a week from this Sunday, so that would give me about 4 days extra if curing for 2 weeks.

So is that correct then, tablespoons? If so I will add more TQ & BS tonight.