I got a confession to make about bacon...

[audreyh1]

Had my bacon for breakfast. It crisped up nicely, and rendered plenty of fat for frying the eggs. Just delicious!

BTW - above - my bacon was smoked for about 2.5 hrs. It’s just that the photo I posted was taken after 1 hr of smoke. I wasn’t trying to give a recipe with those photos.

 

[P.S.]

Wow, how did I miss this invaluable thread. Love me some bacon...

 

[tmm99]

Wow, how did I miss this invaluable thread. Love me some bacon...

Me too!

 

[Lawrencewendall]

Bacon.

 

[Winemaker]

Homemade bacon

Alright! This homemade bacon is f* amazing!!!

Just delicious. We now have 4 pounds of sliced bacon in the freezer, plus a couple of packages of cubed bacon. Some more sliced bacon in the fridge for immediate consumption. We ate a pile of bacon for lunch, haha.

1. Dry cure
2. Pork belly after curing for 7 days - rinsed very well, soaked for 2 hours, then dried overnight in fridge.
3. After about 1 hour of applewood smoke.
4. Sliced into bacon!

Welcome to the Make Bacon at Home Club!

 

[skyking1]

Bacon wrapped meatloaf.
bacon wrapped anything.

 

[Koolau]

Bacon wrapped meatloaf.
bacon wrapped anything.

Bacon wrapped bacon!

 

[flintnational]

20 lbs. of homemade Pancetta (Rolled unsmoked bacon with an Italian accent).

 

[Koolau]

20 lbs. of homemade Pancetta (Rolled unsmoked bacon with an Italian accent).

So light it floats in mid air.

 

[flintnational]

So light it floats in mid air.

My bacon making skills exceed my photo editing skills.

 

[MichaelB]

My bacon making skills exceed my photo editing skills.

Your bacon making skills are good enough. From any angle or perspective that pancetta looks tasty.

 

[audreyh1]

20 lbs. of homemade Pancetta (Rolled unsmoked bacon with an Italian accent).

These have to air dry in controlled temp conditions, right?

P.S. I think I have the same EuroCave as you.

 

[MuirWannabe]

I just thought I liked bacon. And I really do. But y’all are in a league of your own. 60+ posts on the preeminent pork product. Well done.

 

[audreyh1]

We haven’t even talked about Canadian bacon!

 

[flintnational]

These have to air dry in controlled temp conditions, right?

P.S. I think I have the same EuroCave as you.

You are correct. I have an old refrigerator altered to control humidity and temp. Michael Ruhlman in his book, Charcuterie, has a great recipe for pancetta cured at room temps for about two weeks (no curing chamber needed). I have made both. I use his recipe, substituting nitrate for nitrite for the extended cure, but put it in the curing chamber for about 1 month. The pancetta spice mix includes juniper berries and bay leaves.

Last year Costco had a pretty good sale on the Arte Vino (made by Euro Cave) wine cabinets. We bought two. I told my wife I finally have what every woman wants, 400 bottles of wine.

 

[audreyh1]

I just got that charcuterie book, and I read the pancetta recipe, but don’t have and area that will work for hanging.

 

[flintnational]

I just got that charcuterie book, and I read the pancetta recipe, but don’t have and area that will work for hanging.

His recipe doubles the nitrite since it is a longer cure. I have made it with the normal nitrite dose and just cured it in the fridge for 7 days similar to other bacon recipes. The different spice blend is a nice change.

 

[Winemaker]

^^ Yes!, Charcuterie, great book! Tofu won't be to blame if I ever had the "Big One"!

 

[RetiredAtThirty-eight]

^^ Yes!, Charcuterie, great book! Tofu won't be to blame if I ever had the "Big One"!

The homemade pastrami I created after reading that book was shockingly delicious! It made me realize I didn't even know what pastrami was until after I had made some.

 

[OldShooter]

20 lbs. of homemade Pancetta (Rolled unsmoked bacon with an Italian accent).

I have thought about making pancetta but the bellies I get are pretty thick -- look to be hard to roll. Do you trim all or part of a fat layer?

 

[flintnational]

I have thought about making pancetta but the bellies I get are pretty thick -- look to be hard to roll. Do you trim all or part of a fat layer?

I get mine at Costco. I can generally find thinner bellies. I have not trimmed them. Unless you can trim the fat evenly, I would probably not try it. They need to be rolled tightly to keep out air. Uneven trimming might give you air pockets. Mine tend to be thin on one end and thicker on the other. They seem to roll well. I generally look for bellies around 10 lbs and cut them in half for two rolls.

 

[OldShooter]

I get mine at Costco. I can generally find thinner bellies. I have not trimmed them. Unless you can trim the fat evenly, I would probably not try it. They need to be rolled tightly to keep out air. Uneven trimming might give you air pockets. Mine tend to be thin on one end and thicker on the other. They seem to roll well. I generally look for bellies around 10 lbs and cut them in half for two rolls.

Thanks. I couldn't see how it would be possible to trim the long way. At Costco I am usually looking for heavy bellies on the theory that my work is the same and I get more bacon. I will look for thin.

 

[flintnational]

The earlier picture was the pancetta after it had cured for 7 days and was then rolled. The picture below is after it has cured in the curing chamber for about 6 weeks.

 

[audreyh1]

The homemade pastrami I created after reading that book was shockingly delicious! It made me realize I didn't even know what pastrami was until after I had made some.

I have been wondering about pastrami.

 

[audreyh1]

The earlier picture was the pancetta after it had cured for 7 days and was then rolled. The picture below is after it has cured in the curing chamber for about 6 weeks.

Interesting. Looks nice and tight. So how are you going to use all that pancetta?