Garlic and Black Pepper Cured Bacon

[PhuketFarang]

Just finished up curing a garlic/pepper bacon.  Sliced and fried it up.  Even tho'  could use a real meat slicer to make the cuts thinner and more uniform, it still tasted great.  Here are before and after frying pics.  Delish!

 

 

[zorro1]

Just licked the screen

Sent from my Redmi Note 3 using Tapatalk

[anotheruser]

Details of how you did it or how we can process this information would be useful. Put it in the food porn thread and share how it is made. 

[tutsiwarrior]

On 2/24/2017 at 0:39 AM, anotheruser said:

Details of how you did it or how we can process this information would be useful. Put it in the food porn thread and share how it is made. 

 

yeah...I agree...there's plenty of pork belly around at the local market as well as garlic and peppercorns...what makes yer bacon special? please elaborate, food porn thread?...

 

sure does look good...

 

 

[PhuketFarang]

On ‎2‎/‎26‎/‎2017 at 2:27 AM, tutsiwarrior said:

 

yeah...I agree...there's plenty of pork belly around at the local market as well as garlic and peppercorns...what makes yer bacon special? please elaborate, food porn thread?...

 

sure does look good...

 

 

Seasoning pork belly just gives you seasoned pork.  You need to have Pink Curing Salt included to make it bacon.

[puchooay]

On 27/02/2017 at 8:59 AM, PhuketFarang said:

Seasoning pork belly just gives you seasoned pork.  You need to have Pink Curing Salt included to make it bacon.

Or you can create using regular salt and nitrates. It's all quite simple. 

[PhuketFarang]

1 hour ago, puchooay said:

Or you can create using regular salt and nitrates. It's all quite simple. 

I agree... most everything is simple.  If you know how.  For example, you don't use nitrates like you wrote.  That won't work.

[puchooay]

1 hour ago, PhuketFarang said:

I agree... most everything is simple.  If you know how.  For example, you don't use nitrates like you wrote.  That won't work.

Yes, it does work. NaNO3 or KNO3 work equally well. 

[PhuketFarang]

2 hours ago, puchooay said:

Yes, it does work. NaNO3 or KNO3 work equally well. 

Maybe if you want to make HAM, not Bacon.  You need NaNO2.

[youreavinalaff]

I cure my own bacon too. I use KNO3.

 

As the pork cures and the bacteria starts to try and infiltrate the O3 changes to O2. That is the nitrite.

 

If you look at the ingredients of the pink curing salt that you use you will see that 4 percent is in actual fact O3.

[PhuketFarang]

22 minutes ago, youreavinalaff said:

I cure my own bacon too. I use KNO3.

 

As the pork cures and the bacteria starts to try and infiltrate the O3 changes to O2. That is the nitrite.

 

If you look at the ingredients of the pink curing salt that you use you will see that 4 percent is in actual fact O3.

You're talking about Pink Curing Salt #2, which is for longer curing meats such as Ham, salami, etc..  Pink Curing Salt #1 doesn't contain nitrate, only nitrite.  This is for cures for things like pastrami, bacon, etc.  Here's a good comparison explanation.  And as mentioned in the article, they are NOT interchangeable. 

http://curedmeats.blogspot.com/2009/04/critical-ingredient-cure-1-and-2.html

[PhuketFarang]

33 minutes ago, youreavinalaff said:

I cure my own bacon too. I use KNO3.

 

As the pork cures and the bacteria starts to try and infiltrate the O3 changes to O2. That is the nitrite.

 

If you look at the ingredients of the pink curing salt that you use you will see that 4 percent is in actual fact O3.

And if you don't believe me, check out just about every bacon cure you can find, including:
https://www.amazon.com/Curing-Salt-Instacure-Prague-Powder/dp/B00BBIOJ1G

https://www.americanspice.com/prague-powder-no-1-pink-curing-salt/

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Meat-Smoking-Pink-Curing-Salt-1-Insta-cure-1-Lb-Cures-400-LBS-/250473892100

https://www.thespicehouse.com/curing-salt

http://www.melbournefooddepot.com/buy/pink-salt-cure-1-powder-100g/PS0012

http://www.alliedkenco.com/cure-1-400oz-25lb.aspx

https://www.anthonysgoods.com/products/anthonys-premium-pink-curing-salt-1-2lb-batch-tested-gluten-free?variant=4472039427

 

And on and on...  not a single one with nitrate.  I guess you could use nitrate but it would be your own type of "bacon" and not what many would call bacon. 
I also guess you can use #2 but the nitrite that's already in the cure will cure the bacon before the nitrate starts kicking in.  So it's basically an inert ingredient.

[youreavinalaff]

1 hour ago, PhuketFarang said:

And if you don't believe me, check out just about every bacon cure you can find, including:
https://www.amazon.com/Curing-Salt-Instacure-Prague-Powder/dp/B00BBIOJ1G

https://www.americanspice.com/prague-powder-no-1-pink-curing-salt/

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Meat-Smoking-Pink-Curing-Salt-1-Insta-cure-1-Lb-Cures-400-LBS-/250473892100

https://www.thespicehouse.com/curing-salt

http://www.melbournefooddepot.com/buy/pink-salt-cure-1-powder-100g/PS0012

http://www.alliedkenco.com/cure-1-400oz-25lb.aspx

https://www.anthonysgoods.com/products/anthonys-premium-pink-curing-salt-1-2lb-batch-tested-gluten-free?variant=4472039427

 

And on and on...  not a single one with nitrate.  I guess you could use nitrate but it would be your own type of "bacon" and not what many would call bacon. 
I also guess you can use #2 but the nitrite that's already in the cure will cure the bacon before the nitrate starts kicking in.  So it's basically an inert ingredient.

I've been doing it this way for years and never any complaints. We'll have to agree to disagree.

[PhuketFarang]

11 hours ago, youreavinalaff said:

I've been doing it this way for years and never any complaints. We'll have to agree to disagree.

Now we can debate the use of yeast in sourdough? :)

[tutsiwarrior]

ahhhh...a bacon sandwich on sourdough...

 

vicarious pleasures...

 

 

[Tilacme]

I cure bacon without using sodium nitrate.   Cure is by salt and sugar and the results are excellent.  Sure you don't get that red coloured meat and, there is a chance it will go bad, but it hasn't happened yet.  Sodium nitrate no way.

[vogie]

14 minutes ago, Tilacme said:

I cure bacon without using sodium nitrate.   Cure is by salt and sugar and the results are excellent.  Sure you don't get that red coloured meat and, there is a chance it will go bad, but it hasn't happened yet.  Sodium nitrate no way.

I tried that method before I started using curing salt, it just tasted like salted pork.

[Tilacme]

1 minute ago, vogie said:

I tried that method before I started using curing salt, it just tasted like salted pork.

Thought I would be talking to myself here.

 

Do you mean the deep pack salt method or 5% salt in a curing bag.  Certainly the deep pack is uber salty.

 

Where I live I cant source pink salt so have no comparisons.

[vogie]

I had trouble getting the curing salt, but found it on ebay, works very well. I believe it is 5%. I do hams with it too.

[Tilacme]

49 minutes ago, vogie said:

I had trouble getting the curing salt, but found it on ebay, works very well. I believe it is 5%. I do hams with it too.

Sounds like you are well ahead of me.  I am prosecco and, it sounds like you have nailed prosciutto.  Really difficult curing meat in a hot country, how do you get over that.  I rely 100% on the fridge.

[vogie]

24 minutes ago, Tilacme said:

Sounds like you are well ahead of me.  I am prosecco and, it sounds like you have nailed prosciutto.  Really difficult curing meat in a hot country, how do you get over that.  I rely 100% on the fridge.

Yes I have an upright fridge which I solely use for the process, usually put the meat in a large food/freezer plastic bag and place in a 3 gallon bucket, then let it do its thing for 5 or 6 days. Don't do large joints of meat, my hams are about 2 or 3kgs, makes great ham sandwiches in homemade bread rolls of course.

[Tilacme]

16 minutes ago, vogie said:

Yes I have an upright fridge which I solely use for the process, usually put the meat in a large food/freezer plastic bag and place in a 3 gallon bucket, then let it do its thing for 5 or 6 days. Don't do large joints of meat, my hams are about 2 or 3kgs, makes great ham sandwiches in homemade bread rolls of course.

2 or 3 kgs is still pretty big, I buy 2 kgs of belly pork and remove the skin which might lose a third and then cut it in half so I have 2 pieces around 600g.

 

I have rigged up a smoker and can buy jasmin wood chips which works fine. I like unsmoked also but a bit more risky.

 

And I do bake my own rolls also.

[PhuketFarang]

On ‎8‎/‎20‎/‎2017 at 2:53 PM, Tilacme said:

Thought I would be talking to myself here.

 

Do you mean the deep pack salt method or 5% salt in a curing bag.  Certainly the deep pack is uber salty.

 

Where I live I cant source pink salt so have no comparisons.

You can get curing salt (both 1 and 2) here with free delivery.
https://thaiartisanfoods.com/shop/pink-curing-salt-number-1/

 

 

[Tilacme]

On ‎12‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 4:56 PM, PhuketFarang said:

You can get curing salt (both 1 and 2) here with free delivery.
https://thaiartisanfoods.com/shop/pink-curing-salt-number-1/

 

 

Thank you