Smokeless Bacon (or smoked, your choice)

Post Reply
User avatar
windwalkingwolf
Poultry Guru - pullet level
Posts: 3567
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2015 1:31 pm
Answers: 3
Location: Frankville, Ontario
x 4899

Smokeless Bacon (or smoked, your choice)

Post by windwalkingwolf » Wed Feb 28, 2018 7:45 pm

I found an easy recipe online I wanted to try, since I had several slabs of pork belly just sitting in my freezer, calling my name, begging me to try making bacon. I modified the original recipe to my own wishes... the original called for 2 and 1/2 lb. pork belly (1 kg) and what I thought was an obscene amount of white sugar and molasses (1/2 c white sugar and a tablespoon of blackstrap) which I thought was silly and an unnecessary step, since brown sugar is just white sugar with molasses added to it. I just used about 1/3 cup brown sugar instead, to a 5 lb. (app. 2 kg.) slab, and was right to do so as the end result is distinctively sweet. Not overpowering, but just on that edge to my taste. Like salted caramel-y goodness. If you prefer a more savoury bacon, you could go even less sugar or add a hair more salt, and it will still be delicious. Probably :idunno: Maple syrup instead of sugar would work as well, the darker the syrup, the better, if you like a pronounced maple flavour. But I suspect it would affect the curing process. If you plan to use the bacon right away when done, or freeze until use, a perfect cure isn't necessary, but the texture of the meat will be different than the bacon you're used to.
I don't have a smoker and I didn't want to babysit a BBQ., so I wanted to try liquid smoke (hickory in my case, and it has to be the real stuff, not artificial). The original recipe called for smoke to be basted on the meat right before it went into the oven, but I felt this wasn't enough and so added it to the brine. Turns out I was right again, the hickory flavour is amazing, delicious, and not overpowering.
Another 'modification'; original recipe calls for the meat to be placed in a plastic bag with the brine ingredients, for seven days, turned and rubbed daily. I didn't have a ziploc bag to fit, so I shoehorned the slab in the biggest glass cake pan I own, covered it in tinfoil, put it in the fridge, and promptly forgot about it. A lot. I turned every 2-3 days, and it sat in the fridge for 10 days before I had an afternoon free to get it "cooked". roflmbo
Also, the recipe called for kosher, pickling, or other non-iodized salt (sodium chloride) and "curing salt" (sodium nitrate). The first I didn't have, and wasn't making a special trip to get, so I just used table salt. The second is the stuff that makes bacon (and other processed meats) look pink. I didn't care for the extra nitrites, nor did I care if my bacon is still pink after cooking it, so I substituted regular old table salt for both, and it worked a charm. It is SO delicious, quite literally the best bacon I've ever tasted. And I've eaten a lot of bacon ;)
As a final note, uncured pork belly can be hard to find, since butchers hoard it all for bacon. If you can't find uncured pork belly, any slab or chop cut with a decent layer of fat on it will work. Side pork is great. You need a bit of fat marbling, though, so don't use something like trimmed loin. If you do, you'll end up with something more like ham, and you'll have to add oil to the pan to fry it. More work for less reward :D
On to the BACON!


Ingredients

■ 3-5 pounds pork belly
■ 1/3 cup brown sugar
■ 4 tablespoons salt
■ 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or more, to taste
■ 4 tablespoons of genuine liquid smoke in the flavour of your choice, plus a bit to sprinkle on the meat before roasting

Instructions

Rinse the thawed belly and thoroughly pat it dry. Or, be lazy like me and don't. Whatever :) Trim off any thin edges so that the piece is one long rectangle. Or at least so that the chunk will fit in the container of your choice. (You can save these excess pieces of belly for making sausage or lard.)
In a small bowl, mix the sugar, salt, smoke, and pepper together and rub it evenly into the meat (like a relaxing, porcine spa treatment). Place the meat inside an oversize seal-able plastic bag. Or do what I did, and put half the brine mixture evenly over the bottom of a pan, stuff the meat in, put the other half of the mixture on top of the meat and go at it like a deep-tissue massage. Cover the pan, or close the bag, and lay it in the refrigerator for 7-10 days, massaging the liquids that will collect through the bag (salt and sugar will draw moisture from the meat. This is fine, and necessary. No liquid out, no cure.) and turning it daily. Or whatever :roll:
After 7 days, inspect your bacon. It should be firm to the touch all over, like touching a cooked steak — a sign that it has been cured. If the
flesh still feels spongy and soft in spots, massage the meat again with an additional 2 tablespoons salt and check it again after
1 or 2 days.
Once the bacon is fully cured, discard the juice. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Give the meat a sniff, and sprinkle with more liquid smoke if you think it needs it. It's hard to overdo this step, in my opinion. Place the belly, fat side up, in a roasting pan or on a cookie sheet and roast for 2 1/2 hours-3 hours, until the interior temperature of the meat reaches 150 degrees F.
Cool, and if you want to cut or slice your enormous chunk of bacon, place in the freezer for a bit to firm it up. Refrigerate for up to ten days, or freeze indefinitely, or fry it up and enjoy right away!!! If you think this looks like a LOT of bacon, once you taste it, you may find you are wrong. It's incredibly more-ish.
4

User avatar
Killerbunny
Poultry Guru - total zen level
Posts: 7869
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2015 12:04 pm
Answers: 4
Location: Brockville
x 10155

Re: Smokeless Bacon (or smoked, your choice)

Post by Killerbunny » Tue Apr 03, 2018 12:06 pm

The cure is in!!!!!! Using a lovely piece of slab I got from WWW.
1
:iheartpto:
Beltsville Small White turkeys.
Mutt chickens for eggs
RIP Stephen the BSW Tom and my coffee companion.
RIP Lucky the Very Brave Splash Wyandotte rooster.
RIP little Muppet the rescue cat.
:turkey:

:bat:

User avatar
windwalkingwolf
Poultry Guru - pullet level
Posts: 3567
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2015 1:31 pm
Answers: 3
Location: Frankville, Ontario
x 4899

Re: Smokeless Bacon (or smoked, your choice)

Post by windwalkingwolf » Tue Apr 03, 2018 2:32 pm

Yay, I hope it turns out delicious for you!
1

User avatar
Killerbunny
Poultry Guru - total zen level
Posts: 7869
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2015 12:04 pm
Answers: 4
Location: Brockville
x 10155

Re: Smokeless Bacon (or smoked, your choice)

Post by Killerbunny » Mon Apr 09, 2018 2:07 pm

:top points
Well I am a bit nervous with anything involving smoke but this was so easy! Not overpowering but just right. I think I may do a turkey breast with this smoke too!
1
:iheartpto:
Beltsville Small White turkeys.
Mutt chickens for eggs
RIP Stephen the BSW Tom and my coffee companion.
RIP Lucky the Very Brave Splash Wyandotte rooster.
RIP little Muppet the rescue cat.
:turkey:

:bat:

User avatar
windwalkingwolf
Poultry Guru - pullet level
Posts: 3567
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2015 1:31 pm
Answers: 3
Location: Frankville, Ontario
x 4899

Re: Smokeless Bacon (or smoked, your choice)

Post by windwalkingwolf » Mon Apr 09, 2018 2:38 pm

I bet it will be delicious! I splashed some in the pan when cooking some chicken pieces, and that was yummy too! I bet soaking them in a mild brine would make it even better. Maybe not for a whole week though lol
1

User avatar
Killerbunny
Poultry Guru - total zen level
Posts: 7869
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2015 12:04 pm
Answers: 4
Location: Brockville
x 10155

Re: Smokeless Bacon (or smoked, your choice)

Post by Killerbunny » Mon Apr 09, 2018 2:46 pm

Oh no! I have a piece from a year old Jake that would be nice.
1
:iheartpto:
Beltsville Small White turkeys.
Mutt chickens for eggs
RIP Stephen the BSW Tom and my coffee companion.
RIP Lucky the Very Brave Splash Wyandotte rooster.
RIP little Muppet the rescue cat.
:turkey:

:bat:

User avatar
Killerbunny
Poultry Guru - total zen level
Posts: 7869
Joined: Sat Dec 12, 2015 12:04 pm
Answers: 4
Location: Brockville
x 10155

Re: Smokeless Bacon (or smoked, your choice)

Post by Killerbunny » Fri Apr 20, 2018 12:17 pm

Update. Made some pea and ham soup with the smoked offcuts. OMG spectacular, easy and needed no other seasoning.
1
:iheartpto:
Beltsville Small White turkeys.
Mutt chickens for eggs
RIP Stephen the BSW Tom and my coffee companion.
RIP Lucky the Very Brave Splash Wyandotte rooster.
RIP little Muppet the rescue cat.
:turkey:

:bat:

User avatar
Dunmohen
Newly Hatched Chick
Posts: 24
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2018 5:36 am
Location: Elgin, Ontario
x 51

Re: Smokeless Bacon (or smoked, your choice)

Post by Dunmohen » Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:15 pm

My husband is a crazed meat-curer (sp?) His specialty is pea-meal bacon. I'll pass your test results on to him. I love bacon.
2
:cowboy:

Post Reply

Return to “Favourite Recipes”