Hi all,
After reading Shauns post on black bacon here http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=110 it reminded me of a recipe I did on a Curing course in West Wales, the recipe was basically Lucas Easicure Trad. and Treacle. I did a quick google and found a recipe in an old edition of a Dalziel news letter.
I had all the stuff in the cupboard so just put a 1.5kg piece of belly away in the cure to see what it's like...gotta love fennel with pork
Here's the method direct from the newsletter...in my recipe though I substituted the nutmeg for ground mace as I think it would be more savory. (I know its the outer casing of the nutmeg so pretty much the same thing)
Black Treacle Dry Cure
Curing Salt Mix %
Easicure Traditional Dry Cure - 50%
Fine Salt - 25.5%
Demerera Sugar - 20%
Ground Nutmeg - 1.5%
Ground Black Pepper - 1.5%
Ground Fennel - 1.5%
Blend all ingredients and apply to pork at 6% of the meat weight, rubbing well into all surfaces
Place the meat in a vacuum pouch to cure for 2 days per 1/2" plus 2 days
Add black treacle immediately after the cure, again at 6% of the original meat weight
Vacuum seal the bag and leave for further curing (it doesn't state how long at this point but I think 3 days should do the job)
I'll let you know how it turns out, if anyone has already tried this recipe let me know...
Cheers,
Dave