Bacon

[maunahaole]

My mom sent me this news clipping. mmm. Bacon. I know what I'm shopping for next time I head back to the mainland.

Local chef Tony Baker brings to America an English-style bacon from the pig's back, not the belly - MontereyHerald.com :

[WadePatton]

mmm, yes, i'm no Tony Baker butt i do have handy a few recipes/tech for curing and smoking bacon...and if i get over this sausage thing before i heartattack, bacon i'll make...pretty much like bbq only longer cure/vs marinade/rub and then it's smoked, but at lower temps so it doesn't cook...eff yeah.

in georgia they have macon bacon.

[protege55]

You put a thread on "Bacon" and only two replies? Smokes - I'm simply replying to say eff yeah...bacon...any and all forms - from the belly, from the back - as long as it's pig, I'm good...

[AntLockyer]

Back bacon is our normal bacon but we do get streaky bacon too which is the stuff you guys in the US have as normal I believe.

[Dorman]

My mom sent me this news clipping. mmm. Bacon. I know what I'm shopping for next time I head back to the mainland.

Local chef Tony Baker brings to America an English-style bacon from the pig's back, not the belly - MontereyHerald.com :

Shouldn't you be out harvesting your own? When I was on Maui a few years ago a couple of guys got busted for hunting/killing a pig in someone's garage. It ended up being their pet! Seriously, I love Neuske's applewood smoked bacon from cheese land.

[caleb]

Man, that sounds great. I'm fortunate to have a good butcher/smokehouse a few blocks from my house, but all the bacon is from the belly.

On a related note, does anyone know if it's possible/advisable to make bacon from black bear? Seems like bear and pigs have lots in common so it might work. I should be able to locate some bear belly gratis once season opens next week if I have anything to do with it.

[maunahaole]

Shouldn't you be out harvesting your own? When I was on Maui a few years ago a couple of guys got busted for hunting/killing a pig in someone's garage. It ended up being their pet! Seriously, I love Neuske's applewood smoked bacon from cheese land.

Something like that happened on Oahu - possible the same case. There wasnt really much "hunt" involved. More like some pig hunters walked in the yard and killed some folk's pet pig.

[WadePatton]

Man, that sounds great. I'm fortunate to have a good butcher/smokehouse a few blocks from my house, but all the bacon is from the belly.

On a related note, does anyone know if it's possible/advisable to make bacon from black bear? Seems like bear and pigs have lots in common so it might work. I should be able to locate some bear belly gratis once season opens next week if I have anything to do with it.

just don't confuse "belly" with "stomach".


as to the short thread with the tasty title:

because this sub-forum is about the _creation_ of epicurean delights*, not just buying shit and dumping it into the skillet-which is all you has to do with good bacon. which is not the shit they serve at the international greasy spoons of america truckers united fuel station inc. which _can be_ tasty if you've been on the road too long.

*also appropriate are historical notes, distinguished techniques, variations, secret recipes, process chemistry, and ref to good books and articles of same.


if the word "microwave" is central to your post, then you get to go sit in the corner with edoz. pooch issues the release forms for a nominal fee.

[Ben]

Http://www.gratefulpalate.com has a "Bacon of the Month Club." Their website's under construction, but there's a phone number.

[Tom]

Naw, bacon's way more than getting it and skilleting it. You start with a couple piglets you snatch from their 800 hundred pound roaring mom with jaws like an alligator snapping at your butt end. You put them in a big pen behind the pole barn with rocks and dirt and a giant elm log they roll around for fun. They spend the summer eating mash and whatever they root out of the ground and the scraps from the vegetable garden. In the fall you shed a tear as you lure them into the crate and take them down to Miller Bibens' slaughterhouse in North Springfield. I don't know how Bibens cured them, but the hams and bacon were unlike anything I've ever had anywhere anytime since except maybe in that place in Madrid with jamon hanging on every wall. You take the big slabs of bacon you got back and sliced them thick, a minimum of 3/8 of an inch thick.

Then when it was time for breakfast you went to the chicken house and got about 8 eggs still warm from the chicken's ass. On the way back you stopped in the potato patch and dug up a few nice Kennebecs and got an onion out of the garden, too. You brewed a big pot of A&P Bokar coffee strong. You fried the bacon and then the sliced potatoes and onion in the bacon grease. Scrape the black bits down a bit and then fry the eggs in the same pan. Slice a couple of big thick slices of fresh home made whole wheat bread, thickly coat it with butter and blackberry jam. Pile the whole thing on a big plate, pour a giant cup of steaming black coffee, heavily dose the eggs and potatoes and onions with salt and prepare to start your day the second best way possible.

On that you could cut firewood all day long. I know. Good times, good times.

[HSTFixed]

I was alarmed that the bacon thread has yet to have any photographs of any actual bacon. So here we go.

5#10oz. of Winding Brook Farm Pork Belly. Cut to be squarish.



Mise en place for curing a pork belly. 1 Pork Belly, Basic Dry Cure (out of Charcuterie: 450 grams salt, 225 grams sugar, 75 grams pink salt) 1 Scale, 1 Scoop (1/4 cup) 1 non reactive container to cure in.




Here it is rubbed down and ready to go into the fridge. I'll redistribute the cure every other day for a week and then see where were at.



This is from a card carrying member of the bacon of the whenever I get a belly club. Gotta do it. Make things from scratch. Try it people! Few things I find more rewarding.

[WadePatton]

Tom, what's with the past tense? did you slick up and go to the city?

HST--NOW WE'RE GETTING SOMEWHERE!!!

[Tom]

Tom, what's with the past tense? did you slick up and go to the city?

HST--NOW WE'RE GETTING SOMEWHERE!!!

Yeah, life went to crap. In Tall Buildings. John Hartford.


Someday my baby, when I am a man,
and others have taught me
the best that they can
they'll sell me a suit
they'll cut off my hair
and send me to work in tall buildings

So it's goodbye to the sunshine
goodbye to the dew
goodbye to the flowers
and goodbye to you
I'm off to the subway
I must not be late
I'm going to work in tall buildings

When I'm retired
My life is my own
I made all the payments
it's time to go home
and wonder what happened
betwixt and between
when I went to work in tall buildings

So it's goodbye to the sunshine
goodbye to the dew
goodbye to the flowers
and goodbye to you
I'm off to the subway
I must not be late
I'm going to work in tall buildings

So it's goodbye to the sunshine
goodbye to the dew
goodbye to the flowers
and goodbye to you
I'm off to the subway
I must not be late
I'm going to work in tall buildings

[Ben]

Yeah, life went to crap. In Tall Buildings. John Hartford.

Be careful with that song. Once, I listened to it enough that I quit a good job at a high-falutin' law firm. It turned out to be a good decision but, you know, just be careful. P.S. I love John Hartford.

[WadePatton]

i'm just in from the garden with fresh veggies and basil yo. problem with my plan is i miss-spent the $-making days and am just going to hill-billy-it on out of here. hell, i think i'll write a song.

mmm cured pork!

[Dorman]

Man, that sounds great. I'm fortunate to have a good butcher/smokehouse a few blocks from my house, but all the bacon is from the belly.

Don't you be holding out on me. Fess up, who is it? I'm not above a quick drive into town.

[caleb]

Don't you be holding out on me. Fess up, who is it? I'm not above a quick drive into town.

Everett's on 38th Street. You won't be sorry.

[HSTFixed]

Finally got a smoker and made some proper bacon. Not just salt pork anymore. Yes...It is delicious.


Belly in the Cure.


Getting it Going!


Yes Please!


Now That is what a slice of bacon is supposed to look like.

[summilux]

One good bacon picture deserves another. Mine was hot smoked with cherry (225 degrees)

[joosttx]

Awesome... If you got to buy it I would recommend Belcampo. They have a great bacon mail order:

Bacons of the World | Belcampo Meat Co.