In preparation for the TAFKAP family annual pilgrimage to the FL Gulf Coast, I've cured a pork belly to make bacon. This belly was 13lbs, trimmed, skin-on, from Home Place Pastures in Como, MS. They raise Berkshire breed hogs for some of the best pork I've ever had. If you're interested, they offer monthly variety boxes of their meat, shipped to your door for about $120.
Also, I tried for the first time some Canadian bacon with the hopes of doing some crab benedicts one day during the week. It's just a pork tenderloin from Costco. Tasted it last night, and it came out very good.
The base cure is always the same. 2% salt, 1.5% brown sugar, and 0.25% pink curing salt (Sodium nitrite). The ratio is always the same, so each cure is calculated by weight for the meat I'm using....so a 10 lb. kitchen scale is your best friend. This belly ended up being about 6,000 grams, so the cure was about 120g Kosher salt, 90g brown sugar, and 15g of pink curing salt. Pink curing salt is almost impossible to find in stores anymore, so I order mine online from Butcher & Packer. The freight costs more than the product. I spent $20 to ship 2lbs to my door. That'll last me a good couple years.
There are lots of ways to flavor bacon, but I've never strayed from the same one that first got me started. Michael Ruhlman's book TWENTY has the recipe. It's 5 crunched up bay leaves, 5 cloves of garlic (I used 8 large ones) chopped up, as much fresh black pepper as you can grind (I usually get about 12 grams before my forearms give out), and about 2 grams of red pepper flakes.
The Canadian bacon was simple....just a sprinkling of garlic powder, tons of sage, rosemary, and thyme, and some black pepper. I'll have some pics tonight of the slice final products. Everything was hot-smoked using hickory, pecan, and maple wood.
Also, I tried for the first time some Canadian bacon with the hopes of doing some crab benedicts one day during the week. It's just a pork tenderloin from Costco. Tasted it last night, and it came out very good.
The base cure is always the same. 2% salt, 1.5% brown sugar, and 0.25% pink curing salt (Sodium nitrite). The ratio is always the same, so each cure is calculated by weight for the meat I'm using....so a 10 lb. kitchen scale is your best friend. This belly ended up being about 6,000 grams, so the cure was about 120g Kosher salt, 90g brown sugar, and 15g of pink curing salt. Pink curing salt is almost impossible to find in stores anymore, so I order mine online from Butcher & Packer. The freight costs more than the product. I spent $20 to ship 2lbs to my door. That'll last me a good couple years.
There are lots of ways to flavor bacon, but I've never strayed from the same one that first got me started. Michael Ruhlman's book TWENTY has the recipe. It's 5 crunched up bay leaves, 5 cloves of garlic (I used 8 large ones) chopped up, as much fresh black pepper as you can grind (I usually get about 12 grams before my forearms give out), and about 2 grams of red pepper flakes.
The Canadian bacon was simple....just a sprinkling of garlic powder, tons of sage, rosemary, and thyme, and some black pepper. I'll have some pics tonight of the slice final products. Everything was hot-smoked using hickory, pecan, and maple wood.
