Home-smoked bacon, step-by-step - 2009

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Drying cage - minus bacon

Bacon being salted under weights

You can almost smell the smoke

I have been smoking and curing bacon for years now and am trying to make better notes so that I can replicate the recipe for a very successful batch of home smoked bacon.

Although I always refer to this as bacon, it is completely cured and perfectly safe to eat raw. I use it a an equivalent for Parma ham or Prosciutto. It is rarely cooked.

Ingredients

2009

• 4.6 kg (rindless) back vacuum packed pork loin - £31.00 November 2009 - K.C. Mason (Organic Butchers)
• 644 g Wright's Sweet dry cure + smoke
• Cure ratio: 137 g per kilo of pork

2012

• 5.4 kg (rindless) back vacuum packed pork loin - £57.00 November 2012 - K.C. Mason (Organic Butchers)
• 739 g Wright's Sweet dry cure + smoke
• Cure ratio: 137 g per kilo of pork

For the marinade

• 1 tablespoon peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon Szechuan peppercorns
• 1 kg molasses sugar (any brown sugar would be fine)
• 1 cup Japanese white vinegar (white wine vinegar would be close)
• 1 cup malt vinegar

Method

1. Cut the back joint in half for ease of handling
2. Wash with cold water and pat dry
3. Rub a little of the cure over all of the bacon (bear in mind that the cure will be used over a two week period, so don't use it all on the first day!)
4. Place in a sterilised container and press under weights so plenty of liquid is removed
5. Every few days, turn the bacon and add a little more of the cure. After about 2 weeks all of the cure should be used and no more liquid should be draining.
6. ** As a guide, 500 ml of liquid was drained from the bacon over a 2 week period.
7. Wash the joints and rinse under cold running water for 2 hours.
8. Mix the marinade ingredients with about 4 litres of boiling water and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Allow to go cold.
9. Cover the bacon with this liquid and top up with cold water so the bacon is completely covered.
10. Leave for 2 weeks in a cold place
11. If you have the luxury of a smoker, smoke the joints. I like to do this over a 2 day period, smoking for a few hours on the first day, switch the smoker off and leave the bacon in overnight and smoke again the next day.
12. Wrap the bacon in cheesecloth ensuring there are no entry points for bugs to enter.
13. # I find the best way to get a good hygienic cover is to roughly sew the bacon in the cloth. This way I only need one layer, which help airflow and therefore drying.
14. I soak the wrapped bacon in cider vinegar or similar and place in a small 'cage' to keep the birds off
15. Hang outside in a dry place [20th December 2009] until the weather starts to warm-up.
16. Brought indoors [19th March 2010], final yield, 2.238 kg

Pictured step-by-step

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  5.4 kg of rindless pork loin - vacuum packed

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  First salting - layered

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  First salting, angled for easy drainage

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  Plastic lid used to separate pressing weights

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  1 week on showing 2 day's dessication & weights (bagged up hammers!)

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  After 2 weeks salting

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  Use displacement to work out how much liquid you'll need

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  Remove the bacon and measure the remaining liquid

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  Ingredients for the next step: Cold water to cover, 2 tbs coriander seeds, 2 tbs fennel seeds, 1 kg brown sugar

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  bring to the boil, stir, then allow to go cold (6 hours)

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  Rinse under cold running water for 2 hours

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  Cover with sugar water and spices and leave in a cool place for one week

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  After 1 week in the molasses and spices

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  Into the smoker for 2 days (smoke with 4 briquettes, leave bacon in smoker, switch it off, repeat the following day)

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  The bacon is now smoked

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  Sewn into the muslin - it doesn't need to be neat!

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  Air-drying - see you again in March!