Home Cured Bacon
Discussion
I now make mine with lamb, so not necessarily bacon in the true sense, although I have made using pork.
My secret ingredient is pine cone syrup which I use in the cure, along with juniper and smoked see salt, followed by air drying. Pine cone syrup is incredibly easy to make, and now is the perfect time of year. It's good in cocktails too.
Boned out lamb breast with the above makes a lovely cured and very flavourful piece of meat. I often use it thinly sliced wrapped around a venison fillet.
My secret ingredient is pine cone syrup which I use in the cure, along with juniper and smoked see salt, followed by air drying. Pine cone syrup is incredibly easy to make, and now is the perfect time of year. It's good in cocktails too.
Boned out lamb breast with the above makes a lovely cured and very flavourful piece of meat. I often use it thinly sliced wrapped around a venison fillet.
I have done it before, using curing mix I bought, but you could make your own mix easily enough.
- For 1kg pork loin, rub 70g of curing mix into it all over.
- Place the meat in a well sealed ziploc bag and place it in the bottom of the fridge
- Every day or so, turn the bag over and massage the curing mix into it again (there will be a lot of liquid in the bag, too)
- After 7 days, get the meat out of the bag and rinse it well with cold water then dry it with kitchen towel
- Wrap the meat in muslin cloth and then hang it from the bottom shelf in the fridge to dry out for a couple of days
- Slice it up and off you go!
Thanks
PorkInsider said:
I have done it before, using curing mix I bought, but you could make your own mix easily enough.
- For 1kg pork loin, rub 70g of curing mix into it all over.
- Place the meat in a well sealed ziploc bag and place it in the bottom of the fridge
- Every day or so, turn the bag over and massage the curing mix into it again (there will be a lot of liquid in the bag, too)
- After 7 days, get the meat out of the bag and rinse it well with cold water then dry it with kitchen towel
- Wrap the meat in muslin cloth and then hang it from the bottom shelf in the fridge to dry out for a couple of days
- Slice it up and off you go!
AlvinSultana said:
Yep. Home cured bacon is brilliant.
I have 2 versions. Treacle cured in a ziplock bag, or dry cured in salt and brown sugar.
I will dig out the recipes.
The treacle cure is taken from this excellent video. (he proceeds to smoke the bacon after the cure which I have never done)I have 2 versions. Treacle cured in a ziplock bag, or dry cured in salt and brown sugar.
I will dig out the recipes.
Edited by AlvinSultana on Thursday 23 May 21:41
https://youtu.be/Ha_DSdkuFw4?si=T0pNXRs1WD61hQZi&a...
The dry cure which is a very reliable recipe is taken from the River Cottage Curing and Smoking Handbook. I think there are vids of the process on youtube, but it is basically 50/50 salt and sugar mix with a handful of crushed peppercorn bay leaf and juniper berries mixed in.
You need enough mix to cover the meat you are curing and to add extra each day for 5 days. I mix 1 Kg at a time.
Each day pour off the excess water and add some more mix turning the meat over.
After 5 days wash off the mix and hang in the fridge for another 5 days.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/River-Cottage-Curing-Smok...
The book is worth buying. We regularly use the recipes when we kill a beast.
Edited by AlvinSultana on Friday 24th May 17:03
Silvanus said:
I now make mine with lamb, so not necessarily bacon in the true sense, although I have made using pork.
My secret ingredient is pine cone syrup which I use in the cure, along with juniper and smoked see salt, followed by air drying. Pine cone syrup is incredibly easy to make, and now is the perfect time of year. It's good in cocktails too.
Boned out lamb breast with the above makes a lovely cured and very flavourful piece of meat. I often use it thinly sliced wrapped around a venison fillet.
I've eaten lamb 'ham' in New Zealand, and it's delicious. I don't know why we don't make this here.My secret ingredient is pine cone syrup which I use in the cure, along with juniper and smoked see salt, followed by air drying. Pine cone syrup is incredibly easy to make, and now is the perfect time of year. It's good in cocktails too.
Boned out lamb breast with the above makes a lovely cured and very flavourful piece of meat. I often use it thinly sliced wrapped around a venison fillet.
Pine cone syrup sounds interesting. Please do tell.
Mobile Chicane said:
Silvanus said:
I now make mine with lamb, so not necessarily bacon in the true sense, although I have made using pork.
My secret ingredient is pine cone syrup which I use in the cure, along with juniper and smoked see salt, followed by air drying. Pine cone syrup is incredibly easy to make, and now is the perfect time of year. It's good in cocktails too.
Boned out lamb breast with the above makes a lovely cured and very flavourful piece of meat. I often use it thinly sliced wrapped around a venison fillet.
I've eaten lamb 'ham' in New Zealand, and it's delicious. I don't know why we don't make this here.My secret ingredient is pine cone syrup which I use in the cure, along with juniper and smoked see salt, followed by air drying. Pine cone syrup is incredibly easy to make, and now is the perfect time of year. It's good in cocktails too.
Boned out lamb breast with the above makes a lovely cured and very flavourful piece of meat. I often use it thinly sliced wrapped around a venison fillet.
Pine cone syrup sounds interesting. Please do tell.
Agree with the post above regarding the river cottage / hfw books. Along with the St John books they are the best celebrity books I think.
Mobile Chicane said:
Silvanus said:
I now make mine with lamb, so not necessarily bacon in the true sense, although I have made using pork.
My secret ingredient is pine cone syrup which I use in the cure, along with juniper and smoked see salt, followed by air drying. Pine cone syrup is incredibly easy to make, and now is the perfect time of year. It's good in cocktails too.
Boned out lamb breast with the above makes a lovely cured and very flavourful piece of meat. I often use it thinly sliced wrapped around a venison fillet.
I've eaten lamb 'ham' in New Zealand, and it's delicious. I don't know why we don't make this here.My secret ingredient is pine cone syrup which I use in the cure, along with juniper and smoked see salt, followed by air drying. Pine cone syrup is incredibly easy to make, and now is the perfect time of year. It's good in cocktails too.
Boned out lamb breast with the above makes a lovely cured and very flavourful piece of meat. I often use it thinly sliced wrapped around a venison fillet.
Pine cone syrup sounds interesting. Please do tell.
Firstly harvest some green pine cones. I like Scots pine, but have also made it with fresh spruce cones and larch works well. They have to be picked before they turn woody. Now is a great time.
Give the cones a quick plunge in boiling water then let them dry off before packing into a big kilner jar. Cover the cones with sugar and give it a shake to fill all the gaps. Any sugar can be used from white to dark. The difference cones and sugars create different flavour combos.
Leave the jar on a sunny windowsill and the sugar will draw out the moisture from the cones, a tiny amount of water might be needed to get things going.
Once the cones and sugar have creating a syrupy liquid (could take a good few days) put the jar somewhere cool for a few weeks. If a sugar mould forms just skim it off. When ready bottle and store in the fridge. It can be reduced in a pan to thicken up and concentrate the flavours, and also sterilises it.
I've tried loads of sugar and cone combos and have also added young spruce and pine tips. It's incredibly easy to make and it adds an interesting flavour to things.
vaud said:
Mobile Chicane said:
I've eaten lamb 'ham' in New Zealand, and it's delicious. I don't know why we don't make this here.
We do but it is very rare. Online probably the easiest.Gassing Station | Food, Drink & Restaurants | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff