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    Who makes their own bacon?

    I know its probably just a fad thing, but there is a lot of buzz going around about the cancer causing effects of nitrates in cured meat like bacon, ham, and lots of different raw smoked sausages like we all love. I was doing some reading today about making your own bacon the old fassion way without using pink salt or tender quick. It seemed that it would be very simple but just take some time and fridge space for a week or so. Do you folks have any experience making a more natural bacon? From what i could tell you combine salt, sugar and molasses as the cure and omit the pink salt.


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    #2
    I know some people that do it and I believe they cold smoke theirs with hickory.

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      #3
      I make my own bacon . I use the pink cure . It’s only like a teaspoon per 5 lbs.

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        #4
        I never have but I would like to

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          #5
          I’haven’t bought bacon in years. It’s extremely simple. Salt, sugar, flavor if you want it, time in the fridge, smoke to temp, slice. Simple. Not going to say it’s anything mind blowing, just tastes like normal bacon unless you have some flavor in it you prefer. Its slightly cheaper than buying bacon (yes I’ve priced it all the way out) and I enjoy making it.

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            #6
            Originally posted by Hunteraudit View Post
            I’haven’t bought bacon in years. It’s extremely simple. Salt, sugar, flavor if you want it, time in the fridge, smoke to temp, slice. Simple. Not going to say it’s anything mind blowing, just tastes like normal bacon unless you have some flavor in it you prefer. Its slightly cheaper than buying bacon (yes I’ve priced it all the way out) and I enjoy making it.
            So you smoke it till it's done or almost done at 165? As mentioned above, I have read you can cold smoke it and then it will cook on the stove after it's sliced. Does cooking it during the smoking process have something to do with you not using the pink cure?

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              #7
              Brown sugar and kosher salt, that’s it
              Pork belly’s are $2.99 at HEB, makes the best bacon

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                #8
                Bacon

                This was our first attempt last week. Sat 11 days in the fridge with the cure/seasoning and smoked with pecan to 150F IT. Very happy with the flavor!
                Attached Files

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                  #9
                  Yeah I bring it up to temp in the smoker to improve the shelf life. I actually cold smoke it for about 4 hours or so and then hot smoke for another 2 hours, I like lots of smoke on my bacon for the flavor. Keep the temp low and don’t render the fat, stopping right at 165. Even if a little of the fat starts rendering, it’s not a big deal. Obviously when you fry it up on the stove, it’ll be cooked. You don’t have to hot smoke or use pink salt. The kosher salt and time in the fridge is what cures it. Just be sanitary about it, fry it all the way through and you’ll be fine. I don’t have anything against pink salt, helps with the color and botulism. I think nitrates are unjustly getting a bad rap.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by Leemo View Post
                    Brown sugar and kosher salt, that’s it
                    Pork belly’s are $2.99 at HEB, makes the best bacon
                    I can’t ever find em at my H-E-B here in San Antonio, gotta go to Costco for em.

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by Hunteraudit View Post
                      I can’t ever find em at my H-E-B here in San Antonio, gotta go to Costco for em.


                      Heb here will order them for me. I normally get mine from a Mexican meat market or a brooks hire brothers


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                        #12
                        I found that costco has pork belly for 2.99lb. I just bought one 10lb slab to start out with. I cut the slab in half and made two batches of cure consisting of 1/2 cup of kosher salt, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, and a good helping of course pepper. Coated the meat all around real well and stuffed each slab into a 2 gallon bag. From what I have seen there is no defined time period for cure time. Most people leave it in the fridge for about a week where they flip it over once a day to let the cure work in best. The best i can tell is when the meat stops expelling its liquids firms up its ready to come out and get ready for the smoker. Here are some pics of the process I took, its been pretty easy so far. I also ordered a couple meat hangers off amazon I can use to hang these in my cold smoker. Yall wish me luck.

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                          #13
                          Originally posted by dpg481 View Post
                          I found that costco has pork belly for 2.99lb. I just bought one 10lb slab to start out with. I cut the slab in half and made two batches of cure consisting of 1/2 cup of kosher salt, 1/2 cup of brown sugar, and a good helping of course pepper. Coated the meat all around real well and stuffed each slab into a 2 gallon bag. From what I have seen there is no defined time period for cure time. Most people leave it in the fridge for about a week where they flip it over once a day to let the cure work in best. The best i can tell is when the meat stops expelling its liquids firms up its ready to come out and get ready for the smoker. Here are some pics of the process I took, its been pretty easy so far. I also ordered a couple meat hangers off amazon I can use to hang these in my cold smoker. Yall wish me luck.

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                          Tagged for the finished product

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                            #14
                            I use pink salt in a wet cure. I have 2 curing right now to go on the smoker on Thursday.

                            For those in the Austin area, H-mart always stocks pork belly (and sells pork fat by the pound for adding into sausage)

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by dpg481 View Post
                              I know its probably just a fad thing, but there is a lot of buzz going around about the cancer causing effects of nitrates in cured meat like bacon, ham, and lots of different raw smoked sausages like we all love. I was doing some reading today about making your own bacon the old fassion way without using pink salt or tender quick. It seemed that it would be very simple but just take some time and fridge space for a week or so. Do you folks have any experience making a more natural bacon? From what i could tell you combine salt, sugar and molasses as the cure and omit the pink salt.


                              Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk
                              I made my first this winter. I did use pink cure. I would like to do it without but you need to be prepared to have it sit for twice as long. The Pink cure speeds up the curing process. So yes you can do it without pink cure but be prepared to babysit it for more than a month.

                              As for those that smoke it up to 165 not sure why you cook it then freeze it and then fry it but to each his own. How does that make it better? I only cold smoke mine just like I do my fresh sausage, dried sausage and summer sausage.

                              Anyway I used a dry cure it is very easy to get it over salty, gotta cure it for a few days take out rinse it and sample a piece.

                              Good luck there are lots of different ways to cure it btw the way.

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