Success

[Jonty]

Just had a really good tasting session, I thought I'd try some of Franco's bacon cure and had really impressive results. I did two batches, one using the cure only, the other was combined with brown sugar and some black treacle (an idea poached from Aris). What can I say that's not already beeen said by other member of the forum, I'll definately not be buying any bacon from now on.

The icing on the cake was that my dried sausages (salami & chorizo) were both also ready for sampling. So after the bacon, the second course was a fantastic salami which realy retained the subtle flavours of the seasoning ingredients. And a chorizo which tasted great with a really nice, gentle heat which didn't disguise the flavour of the sausage. The chorizo was spiced with cayene rather than paprika - I wasn't sure if it would work initially, but after tasting it, I'd recomend anyone to give it a go.

Cheers

[aris]

Sounds good - what recipe & technique did you use for the Chorizo?

By the way - when dealing with black treacle, I found that using a tablespoon of treacle, with a teaspoon of boiling water mixed in helps loosen the treacle enough that it spreads very easily on the bacon. Next time around I may try even more water, and paint the treacle on with a brush. I have found that if you put too much treacle or sugar on the bacon, then it tends to burn alot during cooking. I suspect there is an equilibrium to be found between the amout of sugar or treacle to use so you get the colour and flavour, but not the burn.

[Jonty]

Aris,

Thanks for the advice on the treacle. The recipe & method is in the following link. The chorizo really is worth a try.

http://forum.sausagemaking.org/viewtopic.php?t=443

Cheers