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

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Home-smoked bacon, step-by-step - 2009
Home-smoked bacon, step-by-step - 2009
The finished bacon, one still sewn into the linen cloth
Servings:Servings: 50 - Yields 2.2 kg bacon from 4.6 kg at the start
Calories per serving:560
Ready in:90 days
Prep. time:5 hours plus curing period
Cook time:None
Difficulty:Difficult
Recipe author:Chef
First published:21st December 2012
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.

2009

Ingredients

Printable 🖨 shopping 🛒 list & 👩‍🍳 method for this recipe

  • 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

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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#bacon #cure #marinade #brownsugar #szechuanpeppercorns #homesmokedbacon #vinegar #curing #smoker #sterilised #maltvinegar
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