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Garlic bacon

2K views 29 replies 10 participants last post by  genemachine 
#1 ·

Just checked the firmness of this garlic bacon slab. I'll be firing up the smoker tomorrow.

mjb.
 
#8 ·
Me thinks I need to try my hand at this.
Exactly what I was thinking K~girl! After seeing this thread (which I'll continue watching with attention to make sure I don't miss teamfat's photos and commentaries), I did a quick search and just this minute I was reading this:

The big guys who make commodity bacon inject pork bellies with a brine with flavorings such as liquid smoke. Then the slabs are sprayed with more liquid smoke. Then it is baked. The product is delicious, but there is no substitute for the flavors of slowly smoked bacon made the old fashioned way.

Source: http://amazingribs.com/recipes/porknography/making_bacon_from_scratch.html
 
#9 · (Edited)
#10 · (Edited)
Me thinks I need to try my hand at this. Bacon does NOT last more than one day in our house and GEEEEZ!!! The price of the stuff, not to mention some of the stuff taste like, well, it rhymes with SAP!!
By all means, go for it. I started my first experiments based on the basic recipe from Ruhlman's "Charcuterie" - try out his cure then develop your own flavours. Haven't bought any bacon for a year now...
 
#11 ·
I started my first experiments based on the basic recipe from Ruhlman's "Charcuterie"
Is it the same recipe he has on his website? http://ruhlman.com/2010/10/home-cured-bacon-2/

I was surprised to see that the recipe does not involve smoking - for some reason I thought bacon was always smoked. But that's good news to me since... I can get started making bacon without a smoker! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif
 
#12 ·
The recipes are pretty similar, the one you posted is great for getting started. There are 2 basic approaches dry cure and wet cure. The first uses no liquid, the wet cure method uses a brine. When doing a dry cure, however, the salt will draw water out of the belly, so you get a self-brining effect, so to speak. There are a lot of recipes on the net. This one has some nice pictures:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/96761/smoked-bacon-step-by-step-with-qview

Bacon usually is smoked, but it doesn't have to be - like Italian style pancetta.

mjb.
 
#13 ·
One thing I will mention is that if you use nitrates ( pink salt, Morton Tender Quick, etc. ) you want to measure it fairly accurately.  The aromatics, sugar and what else can be by guess and by gosh.

mjb.
 
#15 ·
Is it the same recipe he has on his website? http://ruhlman.com/2010/10/home-cured-bacon-2/

I was surprised to see that the recipe does not involve smoking - for some reason I thought bacon was always smoked. But that's good news to me since... I can get started making bacon without a smoker! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif
It is a bit more elaborate. The basic recipe in his book has a cure of salt/nitrite/sugar that you can flavour however you want.As teamfat said, the pink salt is a fixed amount, with the rest, you can play around. You can just bake it without smoke and still get a decent result, I, however, hot smoke it in my Weber grill. Just keep the temperature down.
 
#17 ·
Now that sounds good, waiting for the results. I really should order some fresh bellies and make a batch of bacon. Could probably get 3 in the traeger using the stacked rack. Tired of putting bacon in the pan and having it steam for minutes before frying.
 
#18 ·
I lied, sort of. There were still some softer spots, let the belly cure for a bit longer.


In this picture you can only see a small bit of the liquid that is extracted from the curing process, just to the lower right of center.

Should have taken another picture today of it in the bag, more of the brine visible. But I rinsed it off, being happy with the texture.


It is now sitting uncovered in the garage fridge, where it will dry for a day or so. If you look closely at the bottom of the slab to the right, you can see where some scoundrel took a sliver of fat, probably did a quick fry on it to test. Normally when I do bacon I might use 2, 3 or 4 cloves of garlic. This one was about a dozen. It showed in that taste test.
 
#19 ·
@teamfat I always end up with some soft areas but if the rest is done I smoke it. Otherwise I think can over cure the other parts. One idea I had was to press the bacon to make it more uniform but have yet to try it. How much garlic did you use? Did you puree it or just chop it?

Nice work and thanks for sharing.
 
#20 ·
@teamfat I always end up with some soft areas but if the rest is done I smoke it. Otherwise I think can over cure the other parts. One idea I had was to press the bacon to make it more uniform but have yet to try it. How much garlic did you use? Did you puree it or just chop it?

Nice work and thanks for sharing.
This often depends more on the texture of the meat that you are curing than on your curing technique. I rarely get a cut that really cures unifomely. As long as the main body is done, it goes into the smoke.
 
#21 ·
Dropped the ball on this one. No pics of it in the smoker. Took almost 2 hours in the chamber, at about 225 F. Used a few apple chips, though with the strong garlic flavor a heavier smoke would have worked as well.

It was a 3.25 slab, used almost a whole head of garlic - I had previously taken a couple of cloves off. When slicing it up this morning for my bacon and eggs I remembered I was going to add more to this thread. Oh well, here's a snapshot of a slice.


It has quite the garlic aroma and a nice garlic taste. I'm liking it! Going to have to do some beans and bacon soon.

mjb.
 
#24 ·
Teamfat - Nice one, indeed. I do agree regarding the smoke, if I use strong flavours in the cure, like garlic, juniper, lots of bay leaf, I tend to go for stronger smoke, e.g. hickory or beechwood. Chipped up bourbon barrels are also worth a try.

MaryB - Ageing it in any way helps. I found that my home smoked bacons keep without problem for 2-3 months just in the fridge, without freezing. There, they lose some more moisture and the flavours concentrate. Properly cured, bacon is basically immortal...
 
#25 ·
@teamfat:

Looks good!

I made bacon the other day and cured with juniper, bay and pepper (and I cold smoked it). Adding garlic sounds like a great idea.

And it is true, once you have made your own bacon there is no way back. Everything else just doesn't taste good enough!!!
 
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