Curing.

martin_b

Well-Known Member
So now Ive retired I've been looking for alternative income revenue streams. Ive also been cold smoking fish ( both caught and bought) and im happy to report that the local exchange rate for Smoked Salmon V Pint of beer is very favorable :-)
Now the other day I came across an M&S yellow label pork belly that just seemed too good a price, and I thought how hard can it be to make bacon so off I went.
Watched a couple of youtube video's ( obviously equivalent to a degree in food science) bought a packet of Prague number 1 and gave it a go.
Well bu**er me if the result isnt the best tasting bacon Ive had in years, aesthetically its a mess, (but then so am I )

Will check out the Beer V Cured Meat exchange rate next week and plan accordingly.
 
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So now Ive retired I've been looking for alternative income revenue streams. Ive also been cold smoking fish ( both caught and bought) and im happy to report that the local exchange rate for Smoked Salmon V Pint of beer is very favorable :-)
Now the other day I came across an M&S yellow label pork belly that just seemed too good a price, and I thought how hard can it be to make bacon so off I went.
Watched a couple of youtube video's ( obviously equivalent to a degree in food science) bought a packet of Prague number 1 and gave it a go.
Well bu**er me if the result isnt the best tasting bacon Ive had in years, aesthetically its a mess, (
Yep I do my own bacon all the time now, it truly is easy and safe, get your weights right and you can't really go wrong, try the Hugh fearnly whittingstall recipe and add or subtract the flavours you want, brilliant 😋
 
Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall has a good recipe in his meat book. 👍
Hugh's TV/book got me into all sorts from curing/smoking meat and fish, to cheese and salami making. His Meat Book bacon recipe as it stands results in very salty grey bacon because he uses too much salt and does not use cure or saltpetre to keep it pink. His butcher at the time, Ray Smith, was not complimentary when I met him.

There are many good homecure bacon recipes available, this is not bad: . I get supplies from Weschenfelder who are invariably excellent.
 
Buck, buck, moose by Hank Shaw is pretty good for deer, I also have HFW book.

The most knowledgeable guy on here was banned, Woodsmoke!
 
So now Ive retired I've been looking for alternative income revenue streams. Ive also been cold smoking fish ( both caught and bought) and im happy to report that the local exchange rate for Smoked Salmon V Pint of beer is very favorable :-)
Now the other day I came across an M&S yellow label pork belly that just seemed too good a price, and I thought how hard can it be to make bacon so off I went.
Watched a couple of youtube video's ( obviously equivalent to a degree in food science) bought a packet of Prague number 1 and gave it a go.
Well bu**er me if the result isnt the best tasting bacon Ive had in years, aesthetically its a mess, (but then so am I )

Will check out the Beer V Cured Meat exchange rate next week and plan accordingly.
The Michael Ruhlman Salumi and Charcuterie books are very good.
Bacon is a doddle, as is duck breast prosciutto. While muscle cures are pretty easy (brasaeola, etc) as is whole leg curing - just need to get the drying and mould growth right (a little trick I use is to buy a commercial dried sausage with the white mould on it, take some of the skin off and soak it in water with a bit of sugar in it and then brush that onto the curing meat - this promotes growth of that good white mould and not the nasty black /blue/green stuff)
 
Woodsmoke!
I met him once at a clay shoot at Scone. It was the whiff of smouldering beech and mothballs that first got my attention. Impressive chap. His ability to roll a fag one-handed while still managing to shoot DTL was little short of amazing. I seem to remember he walked off with the trophy that day. He didn't actually win it, he just walked off with it. His constant swearing was a little disconcerting though, especially-so as I don't think he repeated himself once. Nice fella he was, offered me some of his homemade biltong. It was fine once the pocket fluff was wiped off. I last saw him trying to sweet talk the barmaid in the Game Conservancy members area into letting him show her his etchings.
 
… she was reported later to have gasped at his weighty smoked sausage… or was it the dusting of white mould, or that it was vacuum sealed at the point of delivery??

Either way, she was reported to have been left gagging for more, the leg-end that he was…



They don’t call him Donkey hotty for nothing! 😆🙀
 
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