My Bacon

[aris]

Here is some bacon I started curing on Monday. I used the standard Franco/Lucas traditional cure at 30g/kg - then rubbed in some molasses sugar and black treacle. I let it cure for 72 hours in a large closed tupperware turning it over every 24 hours (you could use a ziploc bag). After that, I washed it well under cold running water, and dried it with paper towels. For the next 2 days, I left it in the fridge uncovered to dry out. Here is the result.

This is the underside of the belly
<img src="http://img50.exs.cx/img50/9536/bacon13zp.jpg">

Here are some slices of bacon. There is always an odd shaped bits at the end which don't make nice even slices. These get chopped up into lardons which are great for use in soups etc.

<img src="http://img146.exs.cx/img146/4710/bacon23pd.jpg">

[Oddley]

Looks good aris. Looks a nice lean belly too. Does the sweetness from the sugars go right through the bacon?

[aris]

No, it doesn't taste sweet at all. You do taste the treacle though - but not sweet as such. The sugar counteracts the saltiness, and gives that nice dard red mellow colour.

This bit of bacon was actually quite fatty on the one end. It's dead hard to find fatty meat these days.

[Parson Snows]

Aris wrote

This bit of bacon was actually quite fatty on the one end. It's dead hard to find fatty meat these days.

As I mentioned before this didn't happen overnight more like over the last 30 years (I can certainly dig out the facts if required) It does/can make it difficult to obtain the correct cuts of meat or certainly follow older recipes where the meat would have been fattier.

kind regards

Parson Snows

[Oddley]

How much treacle and molasses do you use per pound of meat?

[aris]

I don't really measure it. I'd say about a heaped tablespoon of treacle for the whole bit of meat which was about 1.3kg. For the sugar, I just sprinkle and rub it in until it looks right.

With the treacle, you really have to work it into the meat. You need the warmth from your hands to melt it slightly so it sticks.

[Parson Snows]

Aris wrote

It's dead hard to find fatty meat these days.

Meat processing: Improving quality (2002)
Edited by Joseph Kerry, John Kerry and David Ledward
Published by Woodhead Publishing Limited ISBN 1 85573 583 0

Due largely to consumer preference for low-fat food products, the red meat industry began in the early 1980s to modify production systems to produce less fat in meat. The fat content of the carcass has decreased in Britain by over 30% for pork, making many pork cuts comparable with chicken, 15% for beef, and 10% for lamb, with further reductions anticipated for beef and lamb over the next 5�10 years (Higgs, 2000). These achievements are due to selective breeding and feeding practices designed to increase the carcass lean to fat ratio; official carcass classification systems designed to favour leaner production; and modern butchery techniques (seaming out whole muscles, and trimming away all intermuscular fat). These changes are shown schematically in Fig. 7.1.



Now you can see why

kind regards

Parson Snows

[aris]

Yup - perhaps I need to find a local farmer and buy a carcass off him from a rare/traditional breed which has more fat. To be honest though, I wouldn't know where to start.

[Fatman]

Aris

Great looking bacon, a lovely rich colour well done.

Fatman

[aris]

Thanks. Had a fry-up this morning and I must say, it is the best batch yet!

[TobyB]

Yup - perhaps I need to find a local farmer and buy a carcass off him from a rare/traditional breed which has more fat. To be honest though, I wouldn't know where to start.

try starting here: http://www.guildofqbutchers.co.uk/find.html

This allows you to find your nearest Q butcher. Not necessarily guaranteed quality but it's a good start. Most decent butchers can, if you give them time, find you pork of your choice. If they don't ordinarily stock rare breed pork you may have to buy at least a half pig though.

[Twoscoops]

Wow, that's great looking bacon. Just a couple of questions; did you drain the moisture everyday, and is the Franco/Lucas traditional cure the same as the 'guinea pigs wanted for bacon cure' bacon cure? I received a package of this but no instructions.
Cheers,
T.

[aris]

Hi,

Yes I used Franco's cure which I believe is made by Lucas. The instructions on that one is 30g of cure per 1kg of meat. You might have got something different - so i'd double check with Franco.

As for the liquid - no I did not drain anything, but I did turn the meat every 24 hours so the bottom side of the bacon would have been be sitting in any liquid that may have drained off.

[Twoscoops]

Thank you.

[Twoscoops]

Aris, thanks for the inspiration, I have half a belly currently curing and will rinse it tonight. I take it you didn't feel the need to soak it to get rid of excess salt? I'm also going to hang it in the garage for a few days to dry it a wee bit.