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Homemade bacon


rimfire4969
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After some inspiration from some very wise PW members I started curing my own bacon a while ago. I have been meaning to put on here a simple description with photos of how I do it. So here goes. Please excuse my dodgy photos.

 

First I got a full length belly of pork from my very good local butcher and he boned it out for me.

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I skinned it myself, not the best job but good enough and made some fantastic pork scratchings.

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I measured out the curing mixture and mixed with some caster sugar a percentage of the weight of the belly. This is rubbed well into the meat all over and making sure to get it in any nooks and crannies.

I then wrap the the belly tightly in clingfilm.

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I then place the belly in the fridge curing it for roughly a day for every half inch thickness plus a couple of days. This belly was roughly two inches think so it was curred for 6 days, turning the belly over everyday and removing any liquid that has come out of it.

 

After the curing time I cut open the clingfilm and rinse the belly well under cold water removing any of the cure that's left.

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I then dry the belly as much as I can then put it back in the fridge for roughly 24 hours on a rack to dry it out.

 

A whole belly is too big for my slicer so I cut it into two. I then roll the belly tightly up and wrap in climgfilm, this makes it much easier for slicing, also to help slicing I put the rolled up belly in the freezer for a short while to harden it up a bit, this make slicing easier.

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I slice mine fairly thick peeling back the clingfilm as I go and from this one belly got about 110 rashers of streaky dry cured bacon.

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I know my bacon will never look as good as shop bought but it taste the best ever and no horrible white liquid coming our of it when you cook it.

I would recommend the Supercure mixture from www.weschenfelder.co.uk

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Looks fantastic, was thinking of getting a pig or two so will try this first to see how we get on, cheers

You must get some pigs, there is nothing better than meat from you own pigs. Only reason I got my pork from a good butcher is none of my pigs are ready for slaughter at the moment and I needed a load of bacon for a boys long weekend away starting Friday.

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keep it simple with biltong

lean beef silverside cut in strips with the grain

lightly cover with rock salt leave for an hour

scrape salt off

brush with vinegar

lightly dust with pepper and coriander and hang to dry

may not be the traditional way but it's how i do it at the shop and it sell's well

 

colin

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keep it simple with biltong

lean beef silverside cut in strips with the grain

lightly cover with rock salt leave for an hour

scrape salt off

brush with vinegar

lightly dust with pepper and coriander and hang to dry

may not be the traditional way but it's how i do it at the shop and it sell's well

 

colin

You sir are great, thank you. Got a feeling my wife is going to hate you. More meat hanging from here and there.

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keep it simple with biltong

lean beef silverside cut in strips with the grain

lightly cover with rock salt leave for an hour

scrape salt off

brush with vinegar

lightly dust with pepper and coriander and hang to dry

may not be the traditional way but it's how i do it at the shop and it sell's well

 

colin

 

Sounds good mate, can we sample a bit of that next year?

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Cheers Colin. Maybe dry curing might be the answer. We wouldn't get through enough in 2 weeks to make it worthwhile. It looks like a great hobby for a foodie though.

I do a batch then barter with some, give some away and freeze what I don't need in the next couple of weeks for later date. If you are going away and staying with friends its a great thing to get up and cook everyone a bacon sarnie with your own bacon.

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