Home-smoked bacon, step-by-step - 2009
This recipe requires preparation in advance!
I have been smoking and curing bacon for years now and am trying to make better notes so that I can replicate the recipe for a very successful batch of home smoked bacon.
Although I always refer to this as bacon, it is completely cured and perfectly safe to eat raw. I use it a an equivalent for Parma ham or Prosciutto. It is rarely cooked.
2009
| Home-smoked bacon, step-by-step - 2009 | |
|---|---|
 |
| The finished bacon, one still sewn into the linen cloth | |
| Servings: | Servings: 50 - Yields 2.2 kg bacon from 4.6 kg at the start |
| Calories per serving: | 560 |
| Ready in: | 90 days |
| Prep. time: | 5 hours plus curing period |
| Cook time: | None |
| Difficulty: | 
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| Recipe author: | Chef |
| First published: | 21st December 2012 |
|
Best recipe reviewLoads of work... 5/5 ...but most definitely worth the effort. |
Ingredients
Printable 🖨 shopping 🛒 list & 👩🍳 method for this recipe
- 4.6 kg (rindless) back vacuum packed pork loin - £31.00 November 2009 - K.C. Mason (Organic Butchers)
- 644 g Wright's Sweet dry cure + smoke
- Cure ratio: 137 g per kilo of pork
2012
- 5.4 kg (rindless) back vacuum packed pork loin - £57.00 November 2012 - K.C. Mason (Organic Butchers)
- 739 g Wright's Sweet dry cure + smoke
- Cure ratio: 137 g per kilo of pork
For the marinade
- 1 tablespoon peppercorns
- 1 tablespoon Szechuan peppercorns
- 1 kg molasses sugar (any brown sugar would be fine)
- 1 cup Japanese white vinegar (white wine vinegar would be close)
- 1 cup malt vinegar
Method
- Cut the back joint in half for ease of handling
- Wash with cold water and pat dry
- Rub a little of the cure over all of the bacon (bear in mind that the cure will be used over a two week period, so don't use it all on the first day!)
- Place in a sterilised container and press under weights so plenty of liquid is removed
- Every few days, turn the bacon and add a little more of the cure. After about 2 weeks all of the cure should be used and no more liquid should be draining.
- ** As a guide, 500 ml of liquid was drained from the bacon over a 2 week period.
- Wash the joints and rinse under cold running water for 2 hours.
- Mix the marinade ingredients with about 4 litres of boiling water and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Allow to go cold.
- Cover the bacon with this liquid and top up with cold water so the bacon is completely covered.
- Leave for 2 weeks in a cold place
- If you have the luxury of a smoker, smoke the joints. I like to do this over a 2 day period, smoking for a few hours on the first day, switch the smoker off and leave the bacon in overnight and smoke again the next day.
- Wrap the bacon in cheesecloth ensuring there are no entry points for bugs to enter.
- # I find the best way to get a good hygienic cover is to roughly sew the bacon in the cloth. This way I only need one layer, which help airflow and therefore drying.
- I soak the wrapped bacon in cider vinegar or similar and place in a small 'cage' to keep the birds off
- Hang outside in a dry place [20th December 2009] until the weather starts to warm-up.
- Brought indoors [19th March 2010], final yield, 2.238 kg
Pictured step-by-step
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5.4 kg of rindless pork loin - vacuum packed
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First salting - layered
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First salting, angled for easy drainage
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Plastic lid used to separate pressing weights
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1 week on showing 2 day's desiccation & weights (bagged up hammers!)
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After 2 weeks salting
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Use displacement to work out how much liquid you'll need
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Remove the bacon and measure the remaining liquid
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Ingredients for the next step: Cold water to cover, 2 tablespoons coriander seeds, 2 tablespoons fennel seeds, 1 kg brown sugar
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bring to the boil, stir, then allow to go cold (6 hours)
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Rinse under cold running water for 2 hours
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Cover with sugar water and spices and leave in a cool place for one week
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After 1 week in the molasses and spices
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Into the smoker for 2 days (smoke with 4 briquettes, leave bacon in smoker, switch it off, repeat the following day)
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The bacon is now smoked
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Sewn into the muslin - it doesn't need to be neat!
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Air-drying - see you again in March!
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