Makin' bacon!

[caseydog]

I'm crying over here.

Beef is stupid expensive right now in Texas, chicken is better, but still not cheap, but pork is cheap. I've stopped buying steaks and have replaced them with pork chops. I like pork chops. If cooked properly, they make a perfectly acceptable replacement for a steak. I'm planning to sous vide and sear one for dinner tonight (sous vide cooking and lean pork were made for each other).

CD

 

[grumpyoldman]

pictonguy@ this is one belly cut in 1/2 one weighting 1300 grams and the other 1400 grams

 

[pictonguy]

pictonguy@ this is one belly cut in 1/2 one weighting 1300 grams and the other 1400 grams

Ok, that makes more sense but still low for both salt and curing. The sugar doesn't really do anything for the curing process and is mostly for balance, sweetness and for the Maillard reaction when it's cooked or smoked, which is quite high in both.

The problem with not enough salt is it doesn't get fully absorbed all the way through the belly so you end up with a sweet tasting pork belly instead of something that resembles bacon in texture or taste. Extra days left to cure will help but if there just isn't enough salt to begin with then it doesn't matter.

I think the 1400g belly is probably the one that will resemble bacon more but pretty sweet with that amount of sugar, the 1300g I suspect will not fully cure and end up resembling a sweet tasting pork belly with little resemblance to bacon, but that's just an educated guess on my part and I could be wrong. Hope it all works out for you.

 

[grumpyoldman]

pictonguy@,
i didn't have "kosher salt " and i read somewhere that i could use table salt without iodide but to only use 1/2 the amount. this thing got very confusing because every site i read gave different amounts of cure, salt , you name it .the amounts were all over the place , so what i just did was to copy and paste the amounts you just gave me into a text doc. on my computer. then printed it and put that on my refrigerator
oh and to help it get all the way through i used a meat tenderizer on the pork bellies ( the kind that has the little needles )

 

[pictonguy]

pictonguy@,
i didn't have "kosher salt " and i read somewhere that i could use table salt without iodide but to only use 1/2 the amount. this thing got very confusing because every site i read gave different amounts of cure, salt , you name it .the amounts were all over the place , so what i just did was to copy and paste the amounts you just gave me into a text doc. on my computer. then printed it and put that on my refrigerator
oh and to help it get all the way through i used a meat tenderizer on the pork bellies ( the kind that has the little needles )

Ok, yeah you can use table salt, salt is salt and you went by weight so the granular difference is not a factor at all. Unfortunately the mechanical needling won't make a difference when there's just not enough salt. Hopefully it all works out, and it's all a learning experience anyway. it'll still be eatable and you can refine it better the next time. They are going to taste pretty sweet, just so you know.

You can recure now by washing off what's there and doing it again, just thought I'd mention that. Make sure you dry the belly completely before proceeding.

 

[grumpyoldman]

pictonguy@ ok i have done as you suggested , i took them out , rinsed them in cold water and started over and used your amounts . how many days do you say to leave them ?

 

[pictonguy]

pictonguy@ ok i have done as you suggested , i took them out , rinsed them in cold water and started over and used your amounts . how many days do you say to leave them ?

How thick are they? And is the skin on or did you remove it.

 

[pictonguy]

Ok, so if the skin is removed and it's 2" or under around 10 days give or take and if you left the skin on add 2 or 3 days.

 

[grumpyoldman]

i measured the thickness at 1 1/2 inches ......no skin when she bought it

 

[pictonguy]

i measured the thickness at 1 1/2 inches ......no skin when she bought it

Ok, so I think at least 7 days and it wouldn't hurt if it was 9 or 10. Flip once a day. My pork belly is generally about the same thickness and that's the time frame I use and it works out well. I'm glad you rethought the cure. Cheers.

 

[In A Pickle]

A bacon aside -
The bacon I cooked yesterday I did in a ninja one pot (like an instant pot) on air fryer mode.
I use the pot a lot in Spain because it’s hot here, even with it being a wintery February and the current storms it’s still been 18c 65f.
It’s a fast easy way to do it and great for keeping the heat in - so no unbearably hot kitchen, when it’s not peeing down you just put the whole pot outside.

Thing is I really like the bacon it produces because it’s cooked draped over the rack inside and that gives gorgeous curled bacon.
At first I was a bit “Oh no what is this freaky looking bacon? Bacon should be flatish” but then I ate it and I’m a convert.
I’m aware air is an important factor in texture and flavour but never thought about it applying to bacon.

Excess fat drips off in the pot and the folds and curls create air pockets so if for example you’re having a bacon sarnie the butter or sauce will cling a pool in the crevices giving pleasant variations in texture and flavour with each mouthful.
The fat crisps without over cooking meat which is nice. Although I should mention results can vary depending on the type of bacon and you can over do it.

Yesterdays bacon

Anyway thought some folk might enjoy this no mess method.
Stick it in the pot dangling from the racks in air fryer mode and walk away for 8 mins (8 mins is depending on the thickness of your bacon and the appliance you're using).
Happy days

Edit - this is Oscar Mayer streaky bacon which I’m pretty sure you get in the US?
Not sure if it’s the same cut there though?

 

[taxlady]

I was curious because I'm Canadian and we are one of the top exporters of pork and export around 70% of our production. It appears that Canadian pork represents less than 1% of NZ total importation of pork products. From Canadian gov't data bacon doesn't even show up and is just part of the processed pork products in the general sense, mostly ham products. It appears around 60% of your imported pork comes from the UE, which makes sense, they are the worlds largest producer and you gets around another 25% from the US and then another 15-20% from other countries like Brazil and your neighbor Australia. But yeah, I'm with you on getting meat products from a local butcher from local suppliers, that's what I do as well.

The UE? Did you mean the EU? Were you thinking in French? (Union européenne)

 

[In A Pickle]

The UE? Did you mean the EU? Were you thinking in French? (Union européenne)

I thought blimey the United Emirates produces more bacon than Europe?

 

[pictonguy]

I thought blimey the United Emirates produces more bacon than Europe?

Yeah, the EU, my dab,

 

[taxlady]

I thought blimey the United Emirates produces more bacon than Europe?

That one flew through my brain too.

 

[dragnlaw]

I must be dyslexic as I read it as the EU. It really was only way it made sense. Don't think my brain would have accepted pork out of the UE like that.

 

[pictonguy]

I must be dyslexic as I read it as the EU. It really was only way it made sense. Don't think my brain would have accepted pork out of the UE like that.

It appears my responsed "dyslexic comical inference" was missed as well.

 

[In A Pickle]

Well UE is really only an airline I have used, the wealthy Arabian place is actually UAE.
I even had to stop and look it up when my brain suddenly stumbled on a ‘cannot compute’ message because somewhere in the deep recesses of a shallow brain I knew I was thinking about immaculately dressed air stewards

See @pictonguy you got a lot to answer for today

 

[grumpyoldman]

quick question for pictonguy@ the wife bought 2 pork bellies and for easy handling i cut the 1st one in 1/2 and put the 2nd one in the freezer whole until i see how the 1st one turns out , so my question is this, was it ok the freeze the 2nd one ?

 

[pictonguy]

quick question for pictonguy@ the wife bought 2 pork bellies and for easy handling i cut the 1st one in 1/2 and put the 2nd one in the freezer whole until i see how the 1st one turns out , so my question is this, was it ok the freeze the 2nd one ?

If it wasn't previously frozen and hopefully you vac packed it.

I would have removed all the air out of your bacon cures because it works so much better for curing.