Black bacon

Air dried cured meat and salami recipes

Black bacon

Postby Shaun » Fri Oct 01, 2004 3:31 pm

Has anyone come across a recipe for black bacon, using beer and black treacle in the curing process?

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Postby aris » Fri Oct 01, 2004 4:17 pm

No, but it certainly sounds interesting! I assume this would be a brine cure instead of a dry one? My guess would be to use beer & treacle instead of water in the brine.
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Postby mike » Mon Jan 03, 2005 2:38 pm

This is something I wanted to make as well, so I did some research/googling and found two black bacon recipes:

The first one, an old american country recipe, mixed molasses into a dry cure to produce a 'friable' mixture and then buried the pork in it. Yes, it was that detailed....

The second (can't remember where I found this one), suggested coating the pork in treacle and then sprinkling your dry cure and black pepper over it.

I ended up with something close to the second one. I rubbed some dry cure in to a piece of belly as normal and then attempted to coat it in treacle. This proved to be more difficult than I expected since the water had already started to leach from the pork. A couple of minutes of swearing and getting stuck in with the fingers produced a coating of a salty treacle stuff. Sprinkled it with a bit of ground black pepper and cured as for normal bacon.

Had some for breakfast this morning: a beautiful dark brown colour with a black rind, a lovely sweet taste with just a hint of pepper and treacle after-taste (you have to 'look' for it though). Yum.

Sorry I can't be more specific on the quantities. I just put a teaspoon(ish) of treacle on a small (about 1lb) piece of belly, but quite a lot of it ended up on me so I have no idea how much treacle, or even cure, ended up on the bacon.

Give it a go - it is wonderfully messy to make (at least the way I did it) and tastes pretty good too ;-)

Cheers
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Postby aris » Mon Jan 03, 2005 3:56 pm

This is exactly what I do. Put dry cure on belly, then rub in black treacle. You really do need to work it into the meat. As your hands warm up the creacle, it seems to spread more easily, and stick to the meat.

I use about a tablespoon for a 1-5-2.0kg piece of belly.

At the end of the curing process, I wash the belly in cold running water, pat dry, then leave uncovered in the fridge for a day or two.
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treacle

Postby Franco » Mon Jan 03, 2005 3:59 pm

Is there a noticeable difference between with or without the treacle? I've added maple syrup to the cure and couldn't taste any difference.

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Postby aris » Mon Jan 03, 2005 4:05 pm

I've tried maple syrup too - made no difference. The treacle does make a difference. Be sure to work it into the meat very well.
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Postby mike » Mon Jan 03, 2005 4:07 pm

Yes - you can taste the treacle, it's not over-powering tho'
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Postby aris » Mon Jan 03, 2005 4:31 pm

Yes - the flavour is just right - and it gives that nice dark colour too.
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Postby Greyham » Tue Jun 07, 2011 12:06 pm

I make a black treacle and mollasses bacon quite regularly using mostly the spare rib, but equally as good with steaky and back.
The best way to achive is to very gently warm the treacle and mollasess or mollasses sugar through adding rest of cure ingredients. Put on surgical gloves and spread thoroughly onto meat. Place in a loose bag and refridgerate. Turn every day for allotted time.
Works a treat.
Be sure to wash and dry off, then net and mature for one month in fridge...makes huge difference to flavor.
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Re: Black bacon

Postby Dingo » Sun Mar 03, 2013 6:11 pm

Howdy all...so I've been making maple & bourbon bacon for a while now & wanted to try something different. I came across this "black bacon" and decided to give it a go;

Here's the story so far....
I took two pieces of belly and rubbed the dry cure from the FAQ section;

Image

Rubbed the molasses in good and proper;

Image

Sprinkled some black pepper over them;

Image

Packed them in bags and put in fridge for 5 days;

Image

At this point I'm not sure which way to finish them. I could;

(a) Rinse and hot smoke

(b) Rinse and cold smoke

(c) Rinse and age in the curing cabinet

Any suggestions?
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Re: Black bacon

Postby NCPaul » Sun Mar 03, 2013 6:43 pm

(b). :D
Fashionably late will be stylishly hungry.
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Re: Black bacon

Postby quietwatersfarm » Sun Mar 03, 2013 7:03 pm

amen
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Re: Black bacon

Postby BriCan » Sun Mar 03, 2013 7:25 pm

NCPaul wrote:(b). :D


x 3 :lol: :lol: :lol:
But what do I know
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Re: Black bacon

Postby SteveW » Sun Mar 03, 2013 7:52 pm

B for me as well please..... Buuuut if I had a curing cabinet I'd be tempted to cut one belly in half try C just for the hell of it.
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Re: Black bacon

Postby BriCan » Sun Mar 03, 2013 8:02 pm

SteveW wrote: Buuuut if I had a curing cabinet I'd be tempted to cut one belly in half try C just for the hell of it.


You do not need a curing cabinet, so long as you have a 'cool' (45F ish) place to hang and a 'gentle' breeze (not absolute necessary) then you are fine
But what do I know
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