ottawa foodies

OK, I just finished doing my cure and whipped up a video along the way. Part 1 of the video is uploaded now but is still being processed by Youtube



Part 2 is still uploading so I'll update this thread as soon as I have a URL for it.

Together they get it into the fridge. Next weekend I'll be smoking it.

nice! good call on the fresh garlic. made some the other day with garlic poweder, onion powder, and cracked black

re: the measurements of cure - every recipe i have read and used which calls for Instacure #1 measures by volume (ie 1-2tsp per 5 pounds of meat). don't view this as a problem since it's a standardized mix. i think if you are mixing your own cure (using salt + sodium nitrite) you might want to weigh to ensure you have the right split.

i've stressed this before in other threads - there are different types of cures of varying strength and uses, and as such each one has different measurements and guidelines. as noted in your mathematics preamble many cures are not interchangable (Instacure/Readycure/Morton's Tender Quick). i'm glad Da Butcher clarified that Nicastro's is selling Readycure because that could be disastrous for someone following the recipe i originally posted!

Here is part 2, but still being processed by Youtube.



You are right that it is probably just fine to go by volume measures.

good stuff! be sure to post a follow up with the final product

what are you smoking it in? charcoal grill?

Definitely will be following up on this one!

I've got a bullet smoker so will be doing it in there. Was hoping to have some sugar maple but do not, so cherry it will be!

EDIT: my article with recipe and the math I did to convert from Instacure to Readycure.

urbanhippy.ca/making/bacon

Crap, forgot that I'd lent my chainsaw to a buddy so I was not able to smoke my bacon today - into the freezer til next weekend.

don't freeze it! let it cure another week. when it's done curing just make sure you give it a good rinse and thorough soak.

Seriously? 2 weeks is OK? Those crazy nitrites! Too late though as I already rinsed it and tossed it in there. Not too worried about it though as I've brined and frozen meat for years before smoking it, and it works fine. It was looking pretty good going in

Next time I may just do a 2 week cure right off the top.

Does bacon make good gifts? Oh wait, I already know the answer to that - gave a big slab of it to a friend about a year ago, as a congrats on the birth of her son. Was definitely a good gift for her :-)

Liberty Bacon, NRA style: www.reddit.com

Got the bacon on the smoker - video to follow hopefully later today :-)

4 hours of smoke - a bit on the high end but that is the way I like it. The bacon I ate this morning was smoked about 6!

Side view, with the skin still on. I used almost all apple wood today, about 2 years curing in my driveway. Got it from a coworker. I started the smoker with some service-berry twigs that I'd urban-foraged about a month ago and kept it going all day long with apple. Did not even have to add chips til the very end, the pucks were smoking so well.

outstanding!

First of 4 videos. The good shots of the final product being cut are not until video #4

Smokin' Video #2

#3

#4 - though I think I screwed something up because 2 and 3 seem to be the same. Will have to double check whether there are supposed to be 3 or 4. Getting tired at this point :-)

so what's the verdict? nitrites or no nitrites? ;)

Have not eaten it yet so dunno :-) The 4 chunks got vacuum sealed this morning and went back into the freezer.

I have a lot more experimentation to do before I reach that verdict. I've never even done a cure before - always brined my bacon. So my next step would be to do a cure with just salt and no nitrite. And I should also do a brine with nitrite.

I will say just judging by the look and feel of the meat, I do like the cure better than the brine for bacon.

Bacon popcorn!

urbanhippy.ca/bacon/popcorn

how was it??? get much bacon flavour?? Could maybe make bacon salt for it aswell, just blend some of the bacon bits with salt in coffee grinder......getting hungry now.

Yup, definitely got flavour from it - was good. Subtle and not overpowering, but definitely there.

Made some more last night - it was fantastic! And this time even the boy in the video love it :-)

how on earth did i miss the popcorn last time you posted it?! great idea. bravo!!!

ps - nitrites or no nitrites?

You already asked me above about nitrites monty - still no verdict because I've always done brining rather than curing. So I still have to do an apples-to-apples comparison. But I do like the curing method better than brining.

OK, I'm ready to try curing again but without the nitrates.

Where exactly in Chinatown can I get pork belly? Does the 158 Market have it?

Had some of this bad boy for (second) breakfast this morning BTW :-) I've got the fat set aside to filter through a coffee filter, and will be making some bacon popcorn this evening :-P

168 had it for 3 bucks a pound - pretty darned good price

It was cut into smaller slabs but I'm not concerned about that - will actually make it easier to deal with in some regards. Each slab is about 5 or 6 inches long.

Dude! Bacon popcorn! That's a fantastic idea. Right up there with adding bacon fat directly to a vinaigrette.

I'm having a Bacon Makin' Party today - people cured their own in the fridge this week, and are coming over today to smoke it!

w00t!

One of the 4 slabs I made for myself at the Bacon Makin' Party yesterday. All 4 were from the 168 market.

Cross sectional view of one of the slabs - yummy!

Oh, this was 3 hours of applewood smoke

Some more cross sections

14 little slabs for me, and 3 organic ones for others

My 14 range from about 300g to about 475g

Horray for bacon!

Here is the first of 3 videos of the Bacon Makin' Party. It is mainly various shots of some of the food that was cooked and served - the only bacon shots are curing in the fridge, and on the smoker.

Most of the food shown is by a buddy of mine - the last guy on earth you'd expect to cook up some crazy good grub, but he always manages to impress! He always comes with a wagon and granny cart packed high with grill, cookery, food, and so forth. You can see in this video he brought an aluminum cookie sheet and cutting board to use as work surfaces! Well done!

In Video #2 the slabs of bacon are already chilled overnight, and I'm cutting them up and vacuum sealing them.



And in #3 I show it all sealed up, and then a pictorial montage at the end

so which cure recipe did you use? I'm planning on tackling this before the end of summer. Results look great!

I use the cure from my link here :

urbanhippy.ca/making/bacon

And adjust the herbs/spices each time. Forgot the garlic this time around!

Best part of the first bacon smoking video:

-No excuse for you...
-Ya there is, it was 1968 and my parents were experimenting with the birth control pill... Oh **** you're recording that.... Shhhh

The bacon looks amazing, where did you source your organic pork from?

Organic pork was raised by a buddy of mine who decided not to raise any more - got too attached to the piggy wiggies and hated to send them to slaughter :-P

Just about to go fire up the smoker - have 12 lbs to smoke today, including about 4 lbs from Upper Canada Heritage. I saw some random person on twitter looking for someone to turn her side pork into bacon - so I took on the challenge for half the take, and hauled my own side pork out of the freezer as well, along with a whole belly from Saslove's.

Oh, contrary to my previous message, my buddy is raising pork again, and I think he has some available right now if anyone is interested. Let me know and I can put you in touch.

12 pounds of pork to smoke, now that is a good way to spend a day. I have some belly brining as we speak. I have preferred brining to curing however you have inspired me to go back and try curing again. The next few weeks should be filled porky goodness.

hope all turned out well for you and your bacon.

I loved watching these bacon videos, the part with the cloth diaper was priceless!
I am so stoked to make my own bacon, from my own organic Berkshire hogs. Guess my husband better get that smoker built. I think I might prefer a cure to a brine, but I'm happy to experiment with all the bacony options.

I am so glad that there are people out there still taking food and doing cool things to it. Not that there's anything wrong with buying food that's all done for you, I just think there is such value in doing some of these specialty things on your own.

Have any of you smoked roasts and chops before?

check the "all things bbq" thread in the forums for more smoking goodness. I haven't specifically seen any discussion on chops - but roasts have come up.

Bacon porn!

I just made a grilled cheese sandwich with bacon fat on the bread instead of butter or margarine.

Yum!

Spring is in the air - time to pull out the bradley. Nitrates or no Nitrates - I didn't see - or miss the answer here. On Monty's making bacon forum some users have not used Nitrates - any consensus?

I cannot really tell the difference with or without but will try more experiments this year.

I've been watching those bellies go by every day now, waiting for the one that is going to be my bacon! Actually there have been quite a few really good ones but I'm just not ready yet to make bacon.

Soon. Soon!

If you want some good bacon(s) and do not make your own like me there are a few good stores in Ottawa.

Bank St saussage (they also sell their products at Swiss pastries in billings),
Piggy Market
Marche Outaouais-the food co-op there are 2 producers of pork and they have bacon.
one is an organic bacon made with maple syrup-it is great,not too much maple.

Boar bacon: Sanglière de l'Outaouais

-not organic, have not tried yet. | www.sanglier-outaouais.com

----------------------------
FERME FÉE ET FOUGÈRE: viandes, charcuterie & +

www.giteetaubergedupassant.com |
-Bacon bio - 360 g | À l érable, sel de mer, sans nitrite - 21$/kg - Congelé | Prix : 7.56$ | Quantité disponible : 4

-not sure if these are sold in Ottawa or if it is just Gatineau

If you want another great bacon, try the stuff from Lavergne. The regular and the double smoked are both fantastic. Regular #2 is on sale right now $27.50 for 10 lbs.

Can you get some kind of deal on like 2lbs?

Also any idea if they use stuff like phosphates in what they make or buy.
I know most places use those...except organic as far as I know...and Piggy Market I'm pretty sure.

I'm really trying to make a effort and not have any preservatives that I'm supposed to avoid.

Not sure if Aubrey's butcher shop has any of the ingredients I'm trying to avoid.
I emailed them and they said they would get back to me with the distributor they buy their bacon from...so apparently Aubrey's does not make their own bacon from what they wrote me.

I can post the email they sent me if you want.
I still like Aubreys though-the chicken I bought was very good.

I will try and check out Lavergne,but I will call them to ask a few questions first :)
No room for 10lbs of bacon here...I only eat a couple slices a week.

Lavergne bacon has nitrites, yes.

So does Aubrey's.

If you want it without, your best bet is to learn to make your own

p.s. there is no deal on 2 lbs but regular price is only something like $3.50 per lb

Birthday Bacon for refashionista

OK, bad me - at 2 hours I'll use a flashlight :-)

Full video of this batch of bacon



There was something not quite right with this batch - it is still rather green after a week of curing when normally it is fully cured by then. I think it is because I tried double-decker curing for the first time so it needed longer to penetrate. Next time I won't do that.

No biggie, it is a bit green is all. Some people prefer green bacon anyway ... still extremely yummy!

OK just going through some old threads to try to figure out what my bacon cure looks like ... been a little over a year since I've made it!!!

Sure thing! Thanks for letting us all know.

:-) I'll post my video when it is done ... the jowls are now curing in the fridge.

It's actually my first time making jowl bacon ...

A few posts up you mention double decker curing, Zymurgist. The last 10 bellies or so we smoked (first time ever smoking meat) we used a brine.

The six bellies my hubby smoked today, he tried a cure, and stacked them (we called it cheddaring the bacon, lol!). We used less salt than the recipe called for, and cured it less time, and it is SO salty! Like burn your mouth salty.

We'll stick with the brine I think.

Look forward to hearing how your jowl bacon turns out. :-)

OG how long did you cure it for? I am a 5 day max baconmaker and even though it starts off as a rub, it becomes a brine after 2 - 3 days.

Yeah and what was your salt to water ratio? If you have a low enough ratio you can brine it forever and it will not get overly salty.

We put the salt rub (salt, brown sugar, bay leaves, pepper and something else I'm forgetting) on the bellies on late friday then we tested some (sliced a bit off and fried it) on Monday morning and it was WAY too salty.

Now, I'm also pretty sure that DH was pouring off the liquid that formed each day, so that probably concentrated the cure, yes?

I forget what his water:salt:belly ratio is for a brine, but his brined bacon smoked with Applewood is to die for.

Oh it was a dry rub sorry I missed that. Hmmm. How much salt per weight of meat? My cure is 1/4 cup salt + 2 tsp curing salt for 5 lbs of meat.

I don't think it would matter pouring off the water ... it's going to come off sooner or later.

You can unbrine them before smoking.

Francis did some related experiments a while ago

Forum - Unbrining Experiment

I think you said they were thinner bellies but from F - M it should not have got too salty. I use a ziplock bag and keep everything in there for the whole duration. A couple times a day swish it all around to ensure it is evenly distributed to cover the belly.

I am fairly new to making bacon (I've only done 4x5lb bellies) but I follow the excellent advice from Monty. I do find it to be fairly inexact when it comes to the saltiness but I can adjust it by soaking it for an hour or two after brining. If it's still too salty after smoking, I give the individual slices a bit of a soak before frying. It's all good ;-)

I always try for 2.4% salt in my dry cure, but if I test a strip and its too salty after curing I soak it in a cold water bath for 20 minutes 2 times to reduce the salt before smoking.

Bacon made from the "Eye of the Shoulder", which is a custom cut that encompasses most of the butt, and some of the picnic. When I was a butcher we used to get a lot of old Italian guys coming in for this cut to make proscutio out of, so I figured if it was good enough for their proscutio, it was good enough for me :-)

My cure for 5lbs meat :

1 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup light lager
2 tsp ground pepper
1/4 cup sea salt
2 tsp prague powder (6%)
3 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons freshly ground rosemary

EDIT: forgot to mention that this is by far the best maple flavour I've gotten in bacon. I think the 2 week cure was part of it, but also that I used so much maple syrup and no brown sugar.

Great video...a couple of things though:

1. When you cure with Prague powder (sodium nitrite) you only require an internal temperature of 150. I don't think you were wrong to shoot for higher, but since your intention was to fry it after smoking you are fine as long as you hit 150 on it.
2. You essentially cured and smoked a pork butt. As soon as you put it in there I said "he's gonna hit a stall for a long time cooking at under 200 degrees in that Bradley." As soon as you had the desired amount of smoke in that thing I would have foiled it to crutch it over 140 faster.
3. I couldn't disagree with you more about the Thermapen. I know you love the cheap instant read type from Russell Equipment, but the Thermapen is probably the best cooking tool I've ever had. It will temp thin pieces of fish, poultry - Anything you throw at it really - faster and more accurately than any thermometer on the market. There would be allot less shitty food out there if everybody had a Thermapen and actually used it.

Seriously though, thanks for posting this video, I need to make some bacon and I'm going to do it the same way you did.

Glad you liked the video.

We will have to agree to disagree on #3 :-) You don't need that kind of accuracy with 99% of cooking. Brewing, yes. Cooking, no. +/- 1C is fine for cooking.

@Zym, when are you going to start selling maple jerky ? I very much want to try it.

Been a while since I've made bacon ... glad I keep notes in this thread :-)

I've got a 3340g / circa 7.5 lb hunk of organic belly waiting to be cured. Going to use the cure above though not sure exact what I was doing with the light lager in that one ...

For 5 lbs :
1 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup light lager
2 tsp ground pepper
1/4 cup sea salt
2 tsp prague powder (6%)
3 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons freshly ground rosemary

I've only got 2 beer left to my name so not sure I want to sacrifice one of my last beer. To make up for the liquid I am going to puree a whole spanish onion in place of the onion powder. Also just picked up some fresh local garlic and will put a whole head in there.

Will report back in a while with exactly what I used for a cure but it will be very similar to the above.

Here is what I ended up with for my cure - for 3340g (almost 7.5 lbs)

1.5 cup maple syrup
1 whole pureed spanish onion
1 whole pureed head of garlic
2 tsp ground pepper
3/8 cup kosher salt
3 tsp prague powder (6%)
2 and 1/3 tablespoons freshly ground rosemary

Made more bacon on the weekend.

Won't bother posting details :-(