The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Pigs => Topic started by: ppd on November 07, 2012, 08:28:06 pm
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Hi :wave:
Now for some reason I never thought that it would work, or that it would taste rubbish, but have realised that making bacon is not so difficult and is about the best thing that I have ever tasted :excited: Was def shying away from doing it but so glad I tried and just want to try more. My mother in law is going to give me some books for Christmas and I would now like to get some on curing so I would appreciate any ideas on what to ask for ???
Hopefully have attatched a photo of 'the bacon'!
Thanks
Pauline
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A couple of our members swear by 'Cured' by Lindy Wildsmith - I can only get the details right 'cos I've borrowed it for the instructions on making parma ham. One friend made pancetta from their last lot of meat from us using this book and it was absolutely amazing - if the rest of the recipes are as good as that one then it is definitely worth getting!
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Thank you Benkt
Would love to try air dried ham etc too, so will have a look online for it. It was amazing eating our pork but curing it as well has really got me inspired ;D Mind you I can't believe how quickly a couple and a seven year old can chomp through a pig :o
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We just made some bacon from our piggies. How did you cure yours?.
We did the River Cottage method of dry curing with a mixture of salt, brown sugar and various flavourings (juniper, peppercorns, bay) etc.
We only curred it for 4 days and it is really lovely but abit on the too salty side.
We also tried wet curing for 7 days but that has turned out just as salty.
I guess you can make bacon without curing it at all?? Would be interested in how everyone else prepares their bacon.
Steph x
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"Charcuterie" by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn is pretty much the bible of all things bacon, salami etc. Amazon sells it.
Enjoy!
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Steph hi :wave:
I used a ready mixed dry cure from Weschenfelder (think that's the right spelling) and cured for 5 days and yes a bit too salty so soaked in very cold water for a couple of hours and that did help lots, but after drying it did get a bit more salty. I would always taste a bit first after curing and before drying. I am as we speak being sent a recipe for a dry cure mix with juniper berries, fennell seeds and pink salt (had never even heard of pink salt) so will try that out next time. :excited:
Thanks Eve I will look out for that one on amazon too. I can't wait to try some more :excited: :excited: :excited:
Pauline
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"Charcuterie" by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn is pretty much the bible of all things bacon, salami etc. Amazon (http://www.amazon.co.uk/?tag=theaccidsmall-21) sells it.
Enjoy!
I second the vote for this one :thumbsup: It's written by a couple of chefs who are real passionate foodies (and you can tell by the way it's written - guarenteed to have you getting hungry as you open it ;)) and covers way more than just bacon - it's got LOADS of stuff in it.
Another good one is the Manual of a traditional bacon curer (should be on Amazon too, it looks like a butchers apron) it's slightly more technical but have a wealth of receipes and ideas.
And Tongmaster do a couple of good, ready mixed dry cures too. We especially like their organic sweet cure :yum:
Keep us posted :excited:
Karen :wave:
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Another supplier of cure's
http://www.homecuring.co.uk/index.php (http://www.homecuring.co.uk/index.php)
Can recommend the smoked bacon and ham cure. Am just about to order the traditional cure and borrow a smoker to have a play :excited: so don't be surprised to see a few new topics from me if I can't find the answers through the search function ;D
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I have a big bag of Supracure, which I got from www.hotsmoked.co.uk (http://www.hotsmoked.co.uk), but I'm sure you can get it elsewhere. Uf you want it, I have a recipe somewhere which tells you all about how to use it etc.
If you wanted smokey bacon, I would recommend www.hotsmoked.co.uk (http://www.hotsmoked.co.uk) I have got the Pro Q Smoker, and it's great! Made some lovely smokey bacon! And you can also use it on anything else, hot smoking and cold smoking.