1st Time Bacon

[Lance Yeoh]

I've just ordered Bacon Dry Cure and it's on the way travelling half the way around the globe. Getting real excited on making my 1st dry cured bacon. I intend to make streaky bacon using pork belly. Any advise and tips would come in real handy. I've read Paul's tutorial and Step by step guide from this site. Sound simply but is there any extra tips that would help?

Shipping the cure half-way round the world cost me a bomb in terms of my currency, I really hope it's gonna be worth it.

[porker]

Hi Lance,

I've had lots of disasters until I found this Group, then I followed Pauls tutorial and made the best bacon ever, I now sell some to friends and family, they all prefer the sweet version.

Best Regards,

[welsh wizard]

Hi Lance

Experiment - try adding some brown sugar and or black pepper to the cure and hickory smoke powder is excellent if you dont have a smoker and you like smoked bacon.

It really is very simple to make and delicious to eat.........

Cheers WW

[hoggie]

hi lance, it will be the best buy you ever made, and the best bacon you ever tasted. make sure you have a good set of scales. best of luck. cheers john.

[Smokin in Korea]

Could somebody steer me in the right direction for Pauls step by step instructions please.
Lance, I know what you mean about the cost of getting the necessary cures and equipment into our part of the world as it has just cost me an arm and a leg to get all my ingredients and Bradley smoker into Korea.
I am currently working in here but will be heading home to Australia (Via Singapore) for a well earned break around the middle of September, I would be more than happy to get you some basic cures and other gear you need whilst I am home and can drop them off in Singapore if that helps at all.
I will definitely be loading up when I am home.
Drop me an email if it is of interest.

[Lance Yeoh]

Hi W. Wizard,
Thanks for the tips, will probably try that, any recipe for that? As in how many grams of brown sugar per kg of meat?

Smokin in Korea,
Thanks for the offer, I'll think about it and will mail you if I need anything. I've found a smoker here but it's more suitable for smoking salmon, and other meats and I can't hang sausages in it. I'm thinking if there's any way to modify them actually.
as for Paul's tutorial click this link.
http://www.btinternet.com/~happydudevir ... bacon.html

[Smokin in Korea]

Thanks for the link Lance, Let me know if I can help in anyway.

[jenny_haddow]

You'll never buy bacon again Lance once you taste home cured. I've just set off a piece of belly pork and used WW's tip and added some brown sugar. Looking forward to trying that out.

Jen

[vinner]

Jen, if you can get your hands on some maple sugar, it works a treat with bacon (especially if smoking it with maple wood or apple wood).

[Lance Yeoh]

Hi Jenny,
May I ask how much brown sugar per kg of belly you added? I'm still waiting for my cure to arrive, so I'll poke around for a few options first. Will probably try 2 types of bacon on the first try.

[jenny_haddow]

Hi Lance,

I added a tablespoon of dark brown sugar. I've no idea if this is the correct amount, it looked right if you get my drift. I did a kilo of belly pork by the way. I checked it this morning, it's vac packed in the fridge, and it is a lovely colour. I'm hoping to achieve something close to a local bacon I can get here, called Norfolk black smoked bacon. It's one of the best bacons I've bought, but it comes at a price. However, I don't buy bacon anymore!

Vinner, I did consider using maple syrup, which I have, but thought it would be difficult to administer a liquid. Now you mention maple sugar I will look out for it.


Cheers

Jen

[dougal]

I think Americans are renowned for having a rather sweet tooth!

For UK tastes, whatever weight of salt you are using, add about a quarter of that weight of sugar to just take off the harshness of the salt. Beyond that you'll start to sweeten the bacon. Its a matter of taste as to how sweet you want it - but I doubt most Brits would like it once the sugar exceeded the salt!

Beware that sugary bacon burns more easily on frying...

[vinner]

You are right we like it a td sweeter over here.... my rule of thumb is the sugar should be about 75% of the weight of the salt.

[jenny_haddow]

This will be interesting because I really don't like salty food. However, I can remember being given bacon by American friends which was sweeter than ours, and well burnt round the edges, and quite delicious, a good balance.
I'll keep you posted, it will be ready at the weekend.

[welsh wizard]

Hi Lance

I add about a tablespoon of Brown sugar and half a teaspoon of black pepper per kg of meat. I tried more sugar but it was far too sweet.