The Bandit Posted December 6, 2020 Share Posted December 6, 2020 Hubby and I finally managed to get a piece of pork belly and started making our first slab (all be it a small slab😁) of bacon. We're using a Woodchurch bacon curing kit, kindly given to us by Wade. Photos are being taken and I'll update this post once it's done. Cheers. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Icefever Posted December 7, 2020 Share Posted December 7, 2020 Well done, you'll never buy shop bought bacon again. Ice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Posted December 7, 2020 Share Posted December 7, 2020 Looking forward to hearing and seeing how you get on When you come to taste it, dont forget that the end slice will taste saltier than the rest of the bacon as the whole surface will have been exposed to the cure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bandit Posted December 29, 2020 Author Share Posted December 29, 2020 (edited) The bacon is now finished!! I can't say we won't ever buy bacon again, we are online shopping at the moment therefore there are issues getting the right piece of pork, but home cured and smoked will be our first choice. On with the photos The pork - a piece of Waitrose essential belly Sprinkle on the cure Give it a good rub in Ready for bagging up Off to the fridge. After turning daily for 10 days, rinsed, dried and ready to rest for a day or two in the fridge After a rest, strung and into the smoker. Cherry wood dust in a ProQ maze, around 10.5 hrs (a full maze worth) Smoked, wrapped and into the fridge for 5 days Rested and ready to go A few test slices The proof of the bacon is in the eating........Definately worth the effort, even enough bacon fat to cook the egg!! Edited December 29, 2020 by The Bandit 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wade Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 That looks really good. Lovely colour and it had cooked well. How was the flavour? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bandit Posted December 30, 2020 Author Share Posted December 30, 2020 (edited) Thank you Wade. We were very happy with the way it turned out. As advised we tried the outer edges green, although salty (thanks for the warning) we would have been happy to leave it at that point but our preference is for smoked so we forged ahead. The first few rashers (some of which are pictured above, alongside the egg) were used after 5 days resting. At this point we thought we would try a little shorter smoke next time, however, we had some more a few days later and the smoke had mellowed further and was just right, it seemed to have evened out through the meat. We are hoping to get out and buy some loin next week and get started with making smoked back bacon. We both really like the extra fat of the streaky but I fear our arteries would disagree😁. I'd like to think all our bacon will be home made, all I can say is we'll do our best! Thank you to Wade and others for your wealth of knowledge and help on this site👍. Edited December 30, 2020 by The Bandit 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Bandit Posted January 31, 2021 Author Share Posted January 31, 2021 Quick update. Today we have vacuum sealed, in one meal sized portions, slabs of our second cured and smoked bacon. Two into the freezer and one in the fridge. This time it was a loin. Not yet sampled the finished article but this will soon be rectified😁. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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