Making Bacon....

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Making Bacon....

Postby turnerm » Sat Jan 14, 2017 11:50 pm

I have just finished making about 10 Lbs of `Streaky Bacon`` From Pork belly...

I have a couple of simple questions....

#1...I dry cured for a week using the proper amount of Prague #1 with salt and various spice....Then rinsed and wrapped in cheese cloth and hung for another week in my outside shop (approx. 5C) . I then smoke for about 3 hours with apple chips to an internal temp of 150 F and cooled uncovered in the fridge for another 24 hours. Then cryo-vaced (vacuum sealed) the slab bacon with rind still on....My question is: How long can I expect to keep it in the fridge (4-5 C) without freezing (which I would rather not do) for no particular reason....I suspect my frozen bacon will not have as good a texture as the un-frozen....I"m not sure this makes any sense...

#2....Is there a right or wrong way (direction) to slice streaky (belly bacon)...My original slab of belly was probably 10" wide by 18" long.....I have cut my 18" slab into 3 smaller slabs, so they are now 10" x 6"..
My inclination is to slice into rashers along the 10" side...However, I would rather slice on the 6" side, as it is much easier to handle...Does it make any difference as to tender or chewabilty (if there is such a word???)

I look forward to your replies..

Mike
British Columbia, Canada...
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Re: Making Bacon....

Postby NCPaul » Sun Jan 15, 2017 1:08 am

1. Bacon freezes great, I don't detect any texture problems.

2. It's your bacon, cut it any way you like. :D

You might consider cold smoking at some point.
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Re: Making Bacon....

Postby onewheeler » Sun Jan 15, 2017 11:53 am

Bacon freezes fine, although I much prefer to freeze it in a block rather than pre-sliced to avoid moisture loss. I also like to leave it to defrost unwrapped for a day or two to remove the moisture which always seems to appear. (That's for proper cold-smoked bacon UK style).

Martin/
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Re: Making Bacon....

Postby bacon.uk » Fri Jan 20, 2017 5:00 pm

I have never noticed any change to the texture after freezing. Same applies to the direction of cut. You might expect some change in texture depending on the direction of cut but I have never noticed any difference when I do this.
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Re: Making Bacon....

Postby wheels » Fri Jan 20, 2017 5:44 pm

The 'norm' would be to slice it top to bottom from the perspective of how it was on the animal (or bottom to top!). This is purely because that's the way it fits on the slicer when doing a whole belly, I assume.

Phil
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Re: Making Bacon....

Postby gsevelle » Thu Mar 30, 2017 10:51 pm

Congratulations on making your first "Streaky Bacon," over the last couple of months I've been doing some research on the differences between what we call Bacon and what the Brits call Bacon. I now have all three styles in the frig. Canadian, Streaky, and rasher styles. I must admit that I'm becoming quite found of the rasher style of bacon as it has more muscle to fat than streaky and more flavor than Canadian.

As far as storage goes once I smoke my bacon I vacuum pack it either in hunks or sliced. I use a home vacuum sealer and can keep bacon for over a year, although it never last that long.

Enjoy.
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