www.sausagemaking.org

I've tried a few searches, but with no joy, so maybe the collective wisdom here can offer some advice. I've tried a home cure for streaky bacon based on a River Cottage recipe and it was disappointing despite the promise of it producing the best bacon you will have tasted!

I followed the recipe and instructions to the letter apart from one exception - using table salt rather than non iodised salt. Could this explain why my bacon was so poor? All recipes I see specify non iodised salt, so what is the problem with iodised and could this explain where I have gone wrong?

Tom

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The recipes from River Cottage have given us a lot of new members. Get some cure # 1, it's more important than the salt. Using salt, sugar, and cure # 1 in the right amounts is what will give you what you want. Cold smoking will keep you from buying at the shop, ever.

Yes, I can explain it. It would not matter what salt you used if you made bacon according to the RC recipe. It would, no doubt be too salty? They closed their forum (for among other reasons) because of discontent among their followers as to the quality of their recipes.

There are many recipes on here for bacon; most of them will make a good product.

The tutorial will guide you through the process:

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Please be aware that it's quite a low salt bacon that you can add to. Flavourings are to your own imagination.

Any problems - just post back here.

Welcome to the forum.

Phil

Thanks for the replies and the link. The River Cottage recipe was my second attempt at bacon. My first was a Lakeland kit I received as a Christmas present. This contained everything apart from the sugar (and meat) and produced a surprisingly good bacon, much better than I was expecting. We ate half green and half cold smoked and the smoked was possibly the best I've ever eaten. The smoking comment is so true! We've been cold smoking fish for a few years using a Smokai smoker on the end of an old barbecue. The barbie is handy as it also lets us hot smoke mackerel which is a real delight!

I have already started a small retrial of the RC recipe but using pure sea salt, less of the mix, and for a shorter time as the first one was indeed too salty and also too dry to the point of being tough. I'll report back on this if it is any better but the cure #1 sounds like the way to go.

Off now to pick up the meat for my second batch of Not Lincolnshire sausages... The delights of retirement!

Thanks again, Tom