Making your own bacon?

[Gerry1time]

Years ago my mate from Zimbabwe made biltong in a cardboard box with a light on at the bottom to warm it . Worked really well and tasted really nice, I think it needs a bit of warmth.

Yeah, exactly that. You *can* cure it in a cool fridge, and you often get a better flavour profile from a slower cure, but am thinking a box with a bulb and fan might be the way to go in future. I've got some duck breasts turning up next week that will need this space...

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Well I got some likes for that last post, so I'll post some more.

Here's a bresaola I took out of a seven day wine and spice marinade in the fridge earlier. Bresaola is the first thing I made about 15 years ago, using the Hugh F-W recipe, but looking back I was never happy with the food safety angle of that recipe, so I've always wanted to try it again properly. This time there's cure #1 in there too, and it's being dried in controlled conditions, rather than in a box hanging in a tree over winter like I did last time.

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I also wanted to help avoid 'case hardening' on it, where the outside dries hard, meaning the inside can never dry, so I've stuffed it inside an ox bung, or in scientific terms, a cow's cecum. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to the smell of them. It's...just disturbing.

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Here it is hanging in the curing fridge. It needs to lose about 40% of its weight, so I suspect it will be ready in March or April or so.

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The biltong is coming along ok too. Am thinking I might just do it in a warm drying box next time though, is taking a fair while, and starting to bloom with white mould, which, whilst no bad thing, isn't something I especially look for in my biltong tbh.

I'm enjoying reading it even if it's very unlikely I'll actually get round to doing this myself!

 

[Gerry1time]

I'm enjoying reading it even if it's very unlikely I'll actually get round to doing this myself!

Awesome I used to think I never would too...

 

[spitfire]

I'm enjoying reading it even if it's very unlikely I'll actually get round to doing this myself!

Same here!

 

[UnderOpenSky]

It's a mix of time, money and space in the house for me really. I've not done any more bacon as nice as it was, I think I really need to get a meat slicer to make it worth while. And then a cold smoker...

 

[spitfire]

I actually bought some cure last week with the intention of making bacon but haven't had a chance yet.

I have, however, set up a business making cured/brined/air dried/smoked salmon.

www.can-d.co.uk

 

[spitfire]

It's a mix of time, money and space in the house for me really. I've not done any more bacon as nice as it was, I think I really need to get a meat slicer to make it worth while. And then a cold smoker...

I would get the cold smoker first. Then you can smoke all the other nice things, boiled eggs (shell off), nuts, sun dried tomatoes, olive oil (can be tricky), butter and of course...cheese. Smoke all the cheeses.

 

[klang]

I would get the cold smoker first.

any recommendations for somebody who's never done it before and just wants to try?

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Good luck spitfire that does sound awesome. I will get round to it at some point!

littleseb when I was doing the research everyone seemed to suggest these as the budget option.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ProQ-Cold-...ocphy=9046451&hvtargid=pla-561934741328&psc=1

 

[spitfire]

any recommendations for somebody who's never done it before and just wants to try?

One of these: https://www.smokedust.co.uk/shop/proq-cold-smoke-generator/

And get a chef's blow torch to light it. Don't bother using the tealights.

 

[spitfire]

An earlier post I did with more info for littleseb

I use one of these for the dust:
https://www.smokedust.co.uk/product/proq-cold-smoke-generator/

One of these to light it: Grunwerg Culinary 15cm Black Chefs Cooks Blow Torch Cooking Baking Home Kitchen | eBay

And a cheap vac packer to keep it in when you're done. andrew James is grand: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_11_12?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=andrew+james+vacuum+sealer&sprefix=andrew+james,aps,137&crid=21VQ50XRS5892

This to smoke in: https://www.smokedust.co.uk/product/proq-eco-smoker/
of course you can make your own out of a cardboard box, as you can see it is easy. But with this you know it will work first time and after curing bacon for some weeks you don't want to be experimenting. Practice with cheese. *Supermarket own brand* extra mature cheddar on offer works a treat.

And this is a selection of dust:
Smoking Wood Dust Archives - Smokedust.co.uk

My favourite is Whiskey barrels, I think it is tastier than normal oak but I normally do cheese and salmon. Try maple and bacon, mmmmmmmm.

I did a course here: Meat Curing & Charcuterie Gift Certificate - at Coldsmoking HQ - Smokedust.co.uk

Takes 1 day and is very informative, well worth the money.

Coldsmoking: Learn how to Smoke Food.

A good facebook group here if you do Facebook.CountryWoodSmoke - UK BBQ - CWS

His webby: CountryWoodSmoke UK BBQ - British BBQ- All the best of UK BBQ, Cooking outdoors whatever the weather.

Smoking bacon (or salmon) is not massively difficult but needs to be approached carefully and with a little bit of training. Salmon is actually easier than bacon.
Good overview of bacon here, (although you can ignore the hot smoking bit): How to Make Bacon - Homemade and Smoked

Turan T Turan is one of the countries leading expert on cold smoking, he runs the cold smoking website above and also Smokedust. He also has a couple of good books available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=turan+t+turan

How to cure Bacon

Sorry for the Amazon links other retailers are available.

Any other questions let me know. I am not a bacon expert but have cold smoked most other things.

 

[klang]

Good luck spitfire that does sound awesome. I will get round to it at some point!

littleseb when I was doing the research everyone seemed to suggest these as the budget option.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ProQ-Cold-...ocphy=9046451&hvtargid=pla-561934741328&psc=1

One of these: https://www.smokedust.co.uk/shop/proq-cold-smoke-generator/

And get a chef's blow torch to light it. Don't bother using the tealights.

thank you!
I'm fully intending to make the most of my garden next year, so there's a good chance I will give it a go

 

[klang]

An earlier post I did with more info for littleseb

I remember reading your post at the time. Thanks

 

[spitfire]

thank you!
I'm fully intending to make the most of my garden next year, so there's a good chance I will give it a go

No worries, look forward to seeing the results.

 

[fishfinger]

This is slightly off-topic, but when I was a kid my mum used to cut off the bacon rind and fry it separately. Being only little I tried saying ‘bacon rind’ but could only manage ‘bintys rye’. This then became family jargon and we all called it that for years. It was much later at school, when I was about 15, I was talking to other school kids about ‘bintys rye’ and they all started giving me funny looks. I felt a right plonker!

We used to call it "bacon tails".

 

[Gerry1time]

So a bit of an update on things. The biltong I ended up hanging for far too long, so it's on the mummified side of dry. Still edible, and tasty enough, just need slicing more thinly than a wet biltong would. Have vac sealed both types now to see if a few weeks sealed in vacuum will help equalise the moisture throughout them a bit.

Here's the traditional biltong spice type. Definitely tastes like biltong. Not photographed is a small piece of venison loin I did with traditional biltong spice. Nothing to write home about really, wouldn't bother with venison for biltong again.



Here's the chinese five spice, rice vinegar and brown sugar type. Not sure I'm as much of a fan of it really. Tastes a bit too sweet and a bit too like an oddly dry chinese meal. Perhaps some time spent equalising will help. To be honest I think I'm just going to invest in a biltong drying box and do it that way. It's not worth waiting a month for something you can make in a few days otherwise.



Having tried the biltong, I'm moving on to a range of duck and goose ideas. Some are still curing and have yet to be hung, but at the back left there is a rosemary, pepper, fennel seed and garlic duck breast, and in front of it is a juniper, pepper and thyme. Right at the front are two duck legs that have been cured in bay leaves, nutmeg and pepper to make duck leg ham. The recipe was meant to be with goose legs, but I wasn't going to buy a whole goose this year, so I tried it with duck. Then I bought a whole goose anyway, whose legs will now be heading the same way. Hanging back right is my bresaola, which has now lost 26% of its weight, am going to take it to 40% weight loss before taking it out. The black strip in the top middle is some venison loin bresaola which should be ready in the next couple of weeks I reckon.



So there we are. Got some more goose and duck breasts to start hanging in a week or so, then we'll see if I can get anywhere close to the air dried duck breast I once bought years ago at a very rural local produce market in the Pyrenees, which was astonishingly good. Probably not, but it's one of my inspirations for this whole air dried meat fridge thing for sure.

 

[equationgirl]

What about duck bacon Gerry1time ?

 

[Gerry1time]

What about duck bacon Gerry1time ?

Hah. You’ve just reminded me. Duck bacon. That’s what those duck breasts were in the freezer for over the summer. I may have just forgotten and scoffed them. Oops. Must give that a go then, will go google recipe again now...