Curing salt

[Graham Austin]

Hello , can anyone recommend me any good books to buy on sausage , ham and bacon making please ??

[wheels]

For me, the major book is "Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages" by Stanley and Adam Marianski

This will give you all the technical information you need.

Phil

[Graham Austin]

Hello Phil , my bacon has been submerged in brine since the 5th of November , in the excel calc software u sent me it says it has to be cured for 17 days , ( Meat weight 1700g ) , is that ok ??

[wheels]

Yes, do it as directed on the RH side of the cure calculator.

Phil

[Graham Austin]

Hello Phil , tomorrow will complete 17 days so just to be sure all I do is rinse the meat , pat it dry and place it back in the fridge for a week for equalisation ( flavour development ? ) ???

[Graham Austin]

Hello , well just fried my first bacon and actually its really ok , not a wow but ok I guess for the first attempt , its a bit salty and lacking in flavour , herbs etc ... can anyone recommend me a good basic recipe for equ brine curing bacon ..with middle of the road quantities of salt , pepper , herbs , maybe honey , I will not be smoking the bacon ... thanks

[NCPaul]

For belly/streaky this one:

http://www.localfoodheroes.co.uk/?e=804

For loin/back bacon this one:

http://www.localfoodheroes.co.uk/?e=561

[wheels]

You may be lucky and find an eq brine cure for bacon that suits all your requirements at the first attempt, but it's unlikely. I would work on amending the one that you used to suit your needs.

For example, you think it was too salty - no problem, the salt can be reduced. (Funnily, I receive equal numbers of feedback saying that 2½% is not salty enough as I do that it's too salty!). Want more herbs? Add them. Want black bacon? Change the sugar to molasses and water to dark beer. Maple Bacon? ...you get the idea.

However, Please let us check that any change to salt or cure #1 still results in a safe brine.

That said, like NCPaul - I would use a dry cure - 99.99% of quality bacon is made this way.

Phil

[NCPaul]

Here's a nice combination cure you can try. It works very well with pork loin. I'm doing one right now to take to my brother's house for Christmas ( don't tell him, it's a surprise).


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