I saw someone post up the other day asking about bacon recipes so i thought i would share a few of mine. If your interested in getting started in curing meat or making homemade smoked products bacon is good place to start. My recipe uses the EQ (equilibrium) curing method. The good thing about this method is don't have to worry about making any of your product to salty. The bacis idea is to use 2.5-3% salt by weight of the meat your curing. Of that 2.5-3% .25% will be cure #1 or #2 depending on what your curing. The main reason for using cure is for food safety, color retention and flavor. So here is how i make my bacon.
Step 1. Apply cure and spices to the pork belly. Put it in a big zip lock or vac seal bag and set in the fridge. If your using a vac bag make sure to leave plenty of room so the cure can evenly distribute. Over the next 2 weeks flip the bag every day. This will ensure the bacon gets evenly cured.
Step 2. After 2 weeks of it sitting in the fridge take it out of the bag and rinse it in cold water. Pat dry and apply another coat of seasoning minus the salt/cure then stick it back in the fridge for 48hrs. This will allow the bacon to form a pellicle which is essential in getting the smoke flavor to adhere to the meat.
Step 3. After 48hrs pull it out of the fridge and cold smoke it for 8-10hrs over a 3 or 4 day period. Some people perfer to smoke it longer but it really depends on taste and preference. For cold smoking i use the amaz-n-pellet tray. It works really well and gives you about 12hrs of smoke for a full tray.
Step 4. Slice and package it up.
Brown Sugar/Coffee Bacon
- 2.75% salt by weight of meat
-.25% Cure #1
- 2tbl spoons dark brown sugar
- 2tbl spoons dark roast coffee
- 1tbl spoon course ground blk pepper
Berbere Spiced Bacon
- 2.75% salt by weight of meat
- .25% Cure #1
- 3 tbl spoons berbere spice
Step 1. Apply cure and spices to the pork belly. Put it in a big zip lock or vac seal bag and set in the fridge. If your using a vac bag make sure to leave plenty of room so the cure can evenly distribute. Over the next 2 weeks flip the bag every day. This will ensure the bacon gets evenly cured.
Step 2. After 2 weeks of it sitting in the fridge take it out of the bag and rinse it in cold water. Pat dry and apply another coat of seasoning minus the salt/cure then stick it back in the fridge for 48hrs. This will allow the bacon to form a pellicle which is essential in getting the smoke flavor to adhere to the meat.
Step 3. After 48hrs pull it out of the fridge and cold smoke it for 8-10hrs over a 3 or 4 day period. Some people perfer to smoke it longer but it really depends on taste and preference. For cold smoking i use the amaz-n-pellet tray. It works really well and gives you about 12hrs of smoke for a full tray.
Step 4. Slice and package it up.
Brown Sugar/Coffee Bacon
- 2.75% salt by weight of meat
-.25% Cure #1
- 2tbl spoons dark brown sugar
- 2tbl spoons dark roast coffee
- 1tbl spoon course ground blk pepper
Berbere Spiced Bacon
- 2.75% salt by weight of meat
- .25% Cure #1
- 3 tbl spoons berbere spice
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