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A continuation of Part 1: http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=128345
So, my bad, I forgot about this.
Anyway, your bacon should've been in the fridge for a week. It should be slightly harder than when it was first put in there. Take your bacon out, and again, rinse it, dry it with paper towels. Then put it on a rack and dry it uncovered in the fridge for a while.
Supposedly, this develops the pellicle, a tacky surface that makes it easier for smoke flavoring to stick to it. I don't know, I'm not a food scientist, I just follow the directions. The rack is so air can go underneath and dry it and you won't have a soggy bottom. (hoho)
When you're done, you want to pre-cook your bacon by smoking it. There are many different ways of doing it, some people can even do it on their stovetop or in the oven, some people have their own smoker. I use my charcoal grill since it's the only way I know how. I first start off by buying some wood chips and soaking them for half an hour. The flavor tastes depending on the wood chips, but I can't distinguish between flavor that well. I've used applewood and hickory.
When you smoke something on a charcoal grill, you want low temperatures. If you smoke bacon at too high temperatures, the meat will become a bit tough and resemble ham more than bacon. I would say, go for 180F-220F. If you're unexperienced, use a thermometer. Heck, even if you are experienced, a thermometer is still useful.
I used half of a chimney-starter's-worth of charcoal. Since it's night time it looks pretty crazy but during the day time it should just look slightly ashen. Dump the woodchips on the pile of charcoal and move it all to one side, then cover and adjust the vents until you reach the desired temperature. Add the bacon to the side opposite of the coals... remember, we are just smoking it for flavor, NOT cooking it. Cover and leave for 2 hours.
When it's done, smell it. You should smell the smoke flavor to make sure it's done right. It should look very similar to when you first put it in, if it looks pretty red , it's overdone. Still tasty, but in a different way.
Cut off the skin and slice into the desired thickness. I like mine fairly thick, so I usually slice 1/4 inch slices. If you have trouble because of all the fat, feel free to refrigerate or even slightly freeze the bacon.
The way I cook my bacon is on low-medium heat in a cast iron skillet. I'd preheat it for a bit, then I'd put in the bacon. I flip it constantly--it's not a burger, where constant flipping causes it to dry out, and the constant flipping helps keep one side from burning.
You'll notice one thing as you cook it: the bacon doesn't shrink! Unlike the supermarket versions where they inject water into it to increase the weight and sell more, our freshly cured bacon will only lose the fat and nothing more.
When you're done, place it on a plate with a paper towel on it to absorb the grease. There are other methods to do this, and I know Alton Brown uses cooking racks and wicks it with newspaper. Whatever floats your boat.
Enjoy your wonderful homemade bacon. Make a BLT, wrap your filet mignon with it, eat with egg and rice, whatever you want. =)
(If you are unable to smoke the bacon, you can pre-cook it in an oven for 2 hours on 200F instead...)
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Wow this is super interesting. And actually making bacon was one of the last things I thought this blog would be about.
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Calgary25980 Posts
Is it worthwhile? How much of a taste improvement do you get out of this?
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Your bacon-making methods are awesome. I enjoy my bacon (crispy) wrapped around huge scallops the scallops absorb the bacon flavor and the contrast between the crispy bacon and soft scallop makes an awesome protein source for fresh pasta dish.
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MMMMMMMM BACON, SO HUNGRY
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Looks good. Gonna link this to some non-vegetarian friends :D
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On June 18 2010 01:48 Chill wrote:
Is it worthwhile? How much of a taste improvement do you get out of this?
I think it's worthwhile, depending on the circumstances. If you always want bacon NOW then no, since it takes a week or so. But since there's very little actual work involved (honestly. wash+dry, put it in cure, put it in fridge and flip over, wash+dry, smoke, slice, cook), and if you're good at planning things ahead of time then it's definitely worth trying.
It tastes worlds better then store-bought bacon. It's a bit hard to describe, I'd say that it tastes more "concentrated." You also have the ability to modify it... add in different spices to the cure, use a different sweetener, smoke with different wood chips and all of those could change the flavor a lot.
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THANK YOU KAINZERO! Time to start over and get some BACON!
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I have a few questions for you just because I'm very interested in cooking myself.
1. How did you come up with this whole method or where did you learn this from?
2. Did you ever try any other parts or experimented with different meats?
Thanks
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BRB, MAKING BACON.
Honestly, it is one of the best tutorial I have read. I Didn't know it was that easy to make bacon.
Hopefully I'll have some wicked bacon to my in a ceasar salad in 2 weeks!
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On June 18 2010 02:12 vlaric wrote:
THANK YOU KAINZERO! Time to start over and get some BACON!
My bad for the late timing of this post. I feel like I should buy you another pork belly. =)
On June 18 2010 02:15 ThePurist wrote:
I have a few questions for you just because I'm very interested in cooking myself.
1. How did you come up with this whole method or where did you learn this from?
2. Did you ever try any other parts or experimented with different meats?
Thanks
I didn't come up with this method. It'd be awesome if I did. No, I got it from the cookbook "Charcuterie" by Michael Ruhlman. The steps are in there, however, I feel like the blog helps to know the "whys" and the "what-to-avoid" parts that I learned from experience. I've seen a lot of other blogs where the bacon is overcooked and from experience, I can tell you that it tastes hammy. =)
The only other thing I made from the book was duck prosciutto. That was much easier since it didn't require any smoking or even the pink salt. Actually, I also made the breakfast sausage but that didn't require any real curing at all. If you're interested in it you should think about picking up a copy.
I have this bad habit where I buy lots of cookbooks just to read them for fun and sometimes not make anything from it...
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Are you a chef or is this jsut something you picked up? Or maybe a butcher?
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Awesome! I'm trying this :D
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Very interesting, I look forward to your future blogs man! 5/5
I would post a few of my dishes (the ones I made) but straight up I'm too lazy. I make pasta dishes predominantly and try to combo them with different meats and unconventional ingredients.
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If you say "beer can" with a british accent, it will sound like "Bacon" in a south african accent.
You can't unhear what has been heard.
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holy crap that looks so tasty. If I had the money I'd definitely give this a go. so strapped for cash at the moment =[
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oh that looks good, but so much effort to make =(
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No wonder there's so many fat americans..
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On June 18 2010 03:25 ZeKk wrote:
No wonder there's so many fat americans..
Enjoying and taking pride in cooking =/= Fat people
It's just the fast-food industry man =(
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ps. most of the shrinkage of bacon is because of the fat rendering out and the muscle contracting as you heat it, not because of water (brine actually, injected to cure the meat, not to increase volume).
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On June 18 2010 03:25 ZeKk wrote:
No wonder there's so many fat americans..
This statement is so wrong on so many levels.
1 - I don't know any other Americans that make their own bacon.
2 - Many other countries eat pork belly
3 - Pork belly and bacon are not unhealthy foods.
On June 18 2010 07:10 TimmyMac wrote:
ps. most of the shrinkage of bacon is because of the fat rendering out and the muscle contracting as you heat it, not because of water (brine actually, injected to cure the meat, not to increase volume).
With homemade bacon, yes there is some shrinkage because of the fat rendering out.
However, there is a lot more shrinkage in commercial bacon, because of the water injected to increase weight. You can google it for proof that they inject water in commercial bacon.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://photos.joseph-salmingo.com/albums/food/making-bacon/img_3192.jpg)
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