Author Topic: Homemade bacon  (Read 5504 times)

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Offline Chris

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Homemade bacon
« on: April 27, 2009, 08:18:06 PM »
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Perhaps one of the most beloved foods in our house is bacon. We've tried all kinds and like most of them. After reading up a bit, I learned that making bacon isn't really that complicated.



Bacon is made from pork belly. To be clear, American bacon is cured and smoked pork belly, British back bacon is cured pork loin. I am American, so I make bacon from pork belly.



The first step is curing the pork belly with a dry cure of salt, sugar, and pink salt (sodium nitrite). The main purpose of the cure is to prevent any bacterial growth on the meat and draw out some water.



Traditionally, bacon is cold smoked. The goal is to apply smoke to the meat without cooking it. That means keeping the temperature well under 150° F. That's not easy to do in a traditional smoker. So, I built a cold smoker unit from my regular smoker and a trash can. I'll post more about that project.


http://cruftbox.com/blog/archives/001573.html

Just think of all the bacon you could make with that!  A whole trash can full of bacon! :hyper:
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Offline Odin's Hand

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Re: Homemade bacon
« Reply #1 on: April 27, 2009, 08:23:30 PM »
"Hell is full of good wishes and desires"~St. Bernhard of Clairvaux

"Brave men are found where brave men are honored."~Aristotle

"Generally speaking, the "Way of the Warrior" is resolute acceptance of death."~ Miyamoto Musashi

Offline Chris

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Re: Homemade bacon
« Reply #2 on: April 27, 2009, 09:11:51 PM »
Robot sex...

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Offline Lord Undies

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Re: Homemade bacon
« Reply #3 on: April 27, 2009, 09:49:10 PM »
All I have to do is open the package, separate the slices, spread them on a cookie sheet, and stick it in the oven.

Much easier.  Really. 

Offline thundley4

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Re: Homemade bacon
« Reply #4 on: April 27, 2009, 09:59:39 PM »
All I have to do is open the package, separate the slices, spread them on a cookie sheet, and stick it in the oven.

Much easier.  Really. 

Huh?  I haven't had bacon fixed that way since I was in the navy.  I prefer to fry it.

Offline Chris

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Re: Homemade bacon
« Reply #5 on: April 27, 2009, 10:06:04 PM »
All I have to do is open the package, separate the slices, spread them on a cookie sheet, and stick it in the oven.

Much easier.  Really. 

Where's your sense of adventure?  Trash can bacon and coffee pot beer... think of the possibilities.
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Offline Lord Undies

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Re: Homemade bacon
« Reply #6 on: April 27, 2009, 10:07:23 PM »
Huh?  I haven't had bacon fixed that way since I was in the navy.  I prefer to fry it.

I don't know what they did to it in the Navy, but when I fry it in the oven, it's been FRIED, not baked.  It comes out just like it had been cooked in a skillet.  But it's so much easier (less messy; less painful too).

Offline Lord Undies

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Re: Homemade bacon
« Reply #7 on: April 27, 2009, 10:09:20 PM »
Where's your sense of adventure?  Trash can bacon and coffee pot beer... think of the possibilities.

I spent it all on sun tea.

Offline thundley4

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Re: Homemade bacon
« Reply #8 on: April 27, 2009, 10:10:25 PM »
I don't know what they did to it in the Navy, but when I fry it in the oven, it's been FRIED, not baked.  It comes out just like it had been cooked in a skillet.  But it's so much easier (less messy; less painful too).

It might have been that they were cooking large quantities and doing it quickly, which made for very uncrispy bacon.

If pan frying is painful, I'd suggest wearing clothes while frying it. It might help.

Offline Lord Undies

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Re: Homemade bacon
« Reply #9 on: April 27, 2009, 10:17:00 PM »
It might have been that they were cooking large quantities and doing it quickly, which made for very uncrispy bacon.

If pan frying is painful, I'd suggest wearing clothes while frying it. It might help.

That would squash the donuts.

Offline Chris

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Re: Homemade bacon
« Reply #10 on: April 27, 2009, 10:17:35 PM »
Huh?  I haven't had bacon fixed that way since I was in the navy.  I prefer to fry it.
The big industrial-sized boxes of bacon come with a half-pound of bacon laid out on parchment paper.  Throw a few of them on a sheet pan and drop it in the oven is the quickest way to make large amounts of bacon.  I think the only time I ever deep-fried a slice of bacon is when we had run out in the restaurant and were waiting for it to cook in the oven.  Much quicker than having the sautee pan-fry enough bacon for whatever orders that were going out.
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Offline Crazy Horse

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Re: Homemade bacon
« Reply #11 on: May 06, 2009, 05:59:10 PM »
All heathens except Thundley are going to hell..........................treat bacon like that


Bastards













Trash can bacon :hyper:
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Offline Eupher

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Re: Homemade bacon
« Reply #12 on: May 06, 2009, 11:00:01 PM »
When I cooked in an Army dining facility (feeding about 300-400 for breakfast every day), I could never get my compadres to understand that cooking bacon in a squarehead (large, 2' x 2' x 8" cast aluminum pan) on top of the stove is the quickest and least painful approach.

Panning up 25 - 35 pans of bacon was a pain in the ass -- done up the night before, of course.

Just drop that stuff in the squarehead, crank up the heat, and stir it every 5 minutes or so. Within 20 minutes, you've got 3 inches of bacon grease which in and of itself cooks the bacon. It finishes in a hurry after that.

Saves time and hassle, but the idjits wouldn't buy off on it. Shit, that's how it's done in the field. Bastids never cooked in the field, I guess.
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Offline Chris

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Re: Homemade bacon
« Reply #13 on: May 06, 2009, 11:18:26 PM »
When I cooked in an Army dining facility (feeding about 300-400 for breakfast every day), I could never get my compadres to understand that cooking bacon in a squarehead (large, 2' x 2' x 8" cast aluminum pan) on top of the stove is the quickest and least painful approach.

Panning up 25 - 35 pans of bacon was a pain in the ass -- done up the night before, of course.

Just drop that stuff in the squarehead, crank up the heat, and stir it every 5 minutes or so. Within 20 minutes, you've got 3 inches of bacon grease which in and of itself cooks the bacon. It finishes in a hurry after that.

Saves time and hassle, but the idjits wouldn't buy off on it. Shit, that's how it's done in the field. Bastids never cooked in the field, I guess.

I worked as a cook for ten years.  Good places, bad places, all kinds of places.  I bet we have the same kinds of stories.
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