Blasphemy or bliss?
That microwave bacon box at the store tries pretty hard though.schmendeler said:
Oven roasted is delicious. But it's hard to make bacon not delicious.
chipotle said:
Doesn't that make a mess? I get you want to make a lot of bacon but is it really that hard just to cook it on the stovetop?
Haven't tried it, but not a joke:Duncan Idaho said:
Sous vide or gtfo
Never done this either but I will drop a pack in tonight. It occurs to me that this has the added advantage that you can drop eggs in the water the last 45 minutes and make 63* eggs at the same time.biobioprof said:Haven't tried it, but not a joke:Duncan Idaho said:
Sous vide or gtfo
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/11/overnight-sous-vide-bacon-recipe.html
biobioprof said:Haven't tried it, but not a joke:Duncan Idaho said:
Sous vide or gtfo
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/11/overnight-sous-vide-bacon-recipe.html
mathguy86 said:
Report time.
I was between batches of home cure bacon so I used a package of Hempler thick cut from the fridge. I put it in at 145 dF 10 hours. Took it out, patted it dry and cooked it on a griddle over medium heat. Cooked it the same way I would my thick cut homemade stuff, a couple of minutes a side, flipping a couple of times.
Is it better than normal pan fried? Yes.
Better than oven cooked? Yes and certainly faster to cook.
Better than home cured/smoked cut thick and just cooked in a skillet? No.
mathguy86 said:
Report time.
I was between batches of home cure bacon so I used a package of Hempler thick cut from the fridge. I put it in at 145 dF 10 hours. Took it out, patted it dry and cooked it on a griddle over medium heat. Cooked it the same way I would my thick cut homemade stuff, a couple of minutes a side, flipping a couple of times.
Is it better than normal pan fried? Yes.
Better than oven cooked? Yes and certainly faster to cook.
Better than home cured/smoked cut thick and just cooked in a skillet? No.
Quote:
Great bacon is all about timing - specifically, from when you buy your pork belly, cure it, rinse/dry it, smoke it, chill it, and slice it (thick!).
Set up your cooking sheets, foil, and cooling racks and get the bacon going before you start the rest of the cook and it's worth it. Foil keeps the mess to a minimum. Once you go down this path, your days of store-bought bacon are over.
Then there are the bacon burnt ends (Think Heims)
The toaster oven has not been built large enough to cook a serving of bacon at a time.rhoswen said:
unless you're feeding a crowd, a countertop toaster oven works without heating up the whole house.
BlueSmoke said:
This is why I love this board. Trying. Sounds awesome. If you are into banh mi sammiches, this sounds ideal.
BigLeroy said:Quote:
Great bacon is all about timing - specifically, from when you buy your pork belly, cure it, rinse/dry it, smoke it, chill it, and slice it (thick!).
Set up your cooking sheets, foil, and cooling racks and get the bacon going before you start the rest of the cook and it's worth it. Foil keeps the mess to a minimum. Once you go down this path, your days of store-bought bacon are over.
Then there are the bacon burnt ends (Think Heims)
I've made lots of homemade bacon as well as Canadian bacon (basically done the same way but out of the loin or tenderloin). Recently I started making buckboard bacon out of the Boston Butt cut. Its wonderful and cheaper than the pork belly. De-bone and cure about longer 2-3 days more and you are good to go. It has plenty of fat, but more meat. I dont think I will ever go back to pork belly.
Quote:
Would you mind posting your whole recipe? I want to try this!
not trying to be sarcastic here, but have you considered using less salt (table salt) in your cure? maybe then you won't have to do a soak afterward? also, you could cut it into thinner pieces to cure faster, and might help with the oversalting issue.BigLeroy said:Quote:
Would you mind posting your whole recipe? I want to try this!
Sure, this if for 5 lbs of pork (its what I use for belly as well). Boston butts can be twice this weight, but I suggest buying three 7-8 pounders, make a batch of dry cure that is 4X this recipe, then divide it into 3 ... one for each butt. Weight of butt will drop some when you debone.
Ingredients:
5 lbs pork
1 cup kosher salt
2/3 cup brown sugar
1.5 teaspoons pink salt
1/2 cup coarse ground black pepper
2 tablespoons granulated garlic
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Instructions:
Mix all the dry ingredients together well.
Cover the entire pork butt or pork belly with the cure mixture including the sides and rub it in really good.
Place meat in a ziplock bag and get all the air out of it as best possible.
Place into a large pan and put in the refrigerator for approximately seven days, flipping it over once per day.
You will notice the meat get firmer throughout the curing process.
if the meat is still a bit soft, it's not quite ready, but normally the 7-Day mark usually gets the job done. If it's a very large pork butt you may need an extra two or three days. The pork butts will take a little bit longer than the pork belly for the simple reason that they are thicker and it takes more time for the cure to work its way through the meat.
after the curing process is complete, remove the bag and rinse the meat thoroughly with cold water. Let the meat sit in a pan of cold ice water for about 2 hours. This will draw the salt out so the bacon is not too salty.
at this point I typically cut a little piece of the meat off and fried up and taste it to see if it's still too salty. If it is I soak it for another hour and repeat the process until I like the saltiness of the meat.
Dry off the meat and set it in the fridge on a rack by itself uncovered for about 4 hours. This will allow the surface of the meat to get tacky before you smoke it.
smoke the meat on a pit with your favorite wood at about 250 degrees. Bring the internal temperature of the meet up to 145 degrees.
immediately wash the meat off and put it into some ice water and cool it down to stop the cooking process.
chill overnight in the refrigerator.
If you want peppered bacon cover the smeat with cracked or coarse ground pepper at this point.
Slice and eat or freeze.
Enjoy ... its ez, better and cheaper than anything at the store.