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Smoked Bacon

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AK1 View Drop Down
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    Posted: 01 May 2012 at 12:48
One of my favourite snacks is cured & smoked bacon!
It's cured for one week, then smoked for at least 1 week. After that it hangs in my cold cellar for a few weeks to firm up.  Ready to eat.




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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TasunkaWitko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 May 2012 at 12:57
looks wonderful, darko ~ nothing beats bacon, and everything is better with bacon!
 
what sort of recipe did you use? i tried making buckboard bacon once; a simple sugar cure with maple flavour added. turned out well, but yours looks delicious!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote HistoricFoodie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 May 2012 at 15:35
That's some good lookin' bacon, my friend.
 
If you need my address.........Wink
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ChrisFlanders Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 May 2012 at 06:28
Very professional looking result, Darko!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AK1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 May 2012 at 19:19
It's pretty simple really. 

I take a pork belly with skin, rub it evenly with the proper amount of curing salt for it's weight. Then rub it with a half cup or so of regular salt, about a quarter cup of sugar, and a few tbsp's of crushed peppercorns.

 Stick it in a bin in my garage and flip it daily for 7-10 days. The salt draws out quite a bit of moisture so the belly almost ends up brining. After the curing time is done I rinse it off and hang it in the garage for a day or so to develop a pellicle. From there it goes to my brother in law's smoke house where it smokes for 1 week or more 24/7. 
After the smoke, it comes home to hang in my cold cellar for a few weeks to harden a bit more.

All this is done in Jan/Feb when the temps are cold, both my garage and the smokehouse are below 40 degrees F

That pic was what was left of ones I did early last year.  I have 2 15lb bellies from this year in the cold cellar, and a couple of small 3 lb bellies that I cured with jerk sauce that are still at the BIL's place.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote africanmeat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 May 2012 at 06:01
Great one will do a great farmers breakfast 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AK1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 03 May 2012 at 23:37
It does, as long as it's eaten raw.  Because of the long cure & smoke, it doesn't do well cooked.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote pitrow Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 May 2012 at 09:57
Originally posted by AK1 AK1 wrote:

It does, as long as it's eaten raw.  Because of the long cure & smoke, it doesn't do well cooked.


Really? I can't imagine chewing on that much raw fat. Dead
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AK1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 May 2012 at 11:16
Most people can't... until they try itThumbs Up
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote HistoricFoodie Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 May 2012 at 16:27
In fact, many central European bacons are eaten "raw." Has to do with the curing and aging.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote africanmeat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 May 2012 at 02:28
Yup you are right .
in Romania it is called slanina,or costita afumata. and in the winter we use to eat it smoked.
in Italy you can get shaved lard   on bread with a drink in the afternoon on the piazza .
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AK1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 May 2012 at 12:24
Woo Hoo! My brother in law dropped off my jerk cured bacon.

Bummer big time!!!  No jerk flavour at all.  Still, it's mighty tasty just like speck should, but I was hoping for some jerk flavour in it.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AK1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 09 May 2012 at 12:32
Originally posted by africanmeat africanmeat wrote:

Yup you are right .
in Romania it is called slanina,or costita afumata. and in the winter we use to eat it smoked.
in Italy you can get shaved lard   on bread with a drink in the afternoon on the piazza .
Interesting. Where I'm from in Croatia, the bacon is called "Speck" (pronounced... Shpeck). Slanina is what we typically call the shoulder parts that are smoked. If it's ham we call it Sunjka ( pronounced... Shoonyka" where the n-y sound is blended together.).

Speaking of slanina, my brother in law dropped off a hunk of shoulder that he smoked. It's no wonder we Croatians call it Slanina. This damn thing is salty!!! Will try and post some pics when photo bucket stops giving me headaches.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AK1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 May 2014 at 19:36
I knew this was hiding somewhere in my past.

Ron asked me to put together a post about making Eastern European style bacon.

This pretty much gives the details.  Get belly, cure belly, cold smoke belly, dry belly, eat belly. Repeat last step.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TasunkaWitko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 May 2014 at 22:40
Hey, Darko - thanks for bringing this up! 

I like it because it is old-world, old-school and it is simple - three traits that often equal great flavour. I lke the idea of the slanina, which is also the Slovak word for the same concept:

Quote While the sausages were smoking, the other meat was covered with salt and left to marinate in a wooden tub (korýtko). The juices that the meat let out were periodically poured again over the meat. Bacon (slanina) was treated the same way.... Meats were then smoked for some 5 or 6 days, until the bacon got yellow and the meat got golden. Smoked meat (údené mäso) was stored in a dark pantry (komora) where it would keep all winter long.

http://www.slovakcooking.com/2010/blog/zabijacka/

I'd like to give this a try; I imagine that fall would be the best time ~ a couple of questions:

The amount of cure is a constant by weight, of course; but do you have any method for determining the amount of the other ingredients?

Is the bacon brought up to any specific temperature during or after smoking?

Would oak be a typical example of smoking wood used over in that region? Perhaps apple or cherry?

I'll probably have more questions before too long. I intend to try with a couple of chunks of shoulder, most likely from the picnic shoulder. Pork belly is something that just isn't seen much in these parts.Cry


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AK1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 May 2014 at 20:20
Originally posted by TasunkaWitko TasunkaWitko wrote:

Hey, Darko - thanks for bringing this up! 

I like it because it is old-world, old-school and it is simple - three traits that often equal great flavour. I lke the idea of the slanina, which is also the Slovak word for the same concept:

Quote While the sausages were smoking, the other meat was covered with salt and left to marinate in a wooden tub (korýtko). The juices that the meat let out were periodically poured again over the meat. Bacon (slanina) was treated the same way.... Meats were then smoked for some 5 or 6 days, until the bacon got yellow and the meat got golden. Smoked meat (údené mäso) was stored in a dark pantry (komora) where it would keep all winter long.

http://www.slovakcooking.com/2010/blog/zabijacka/

I'd like to give this a try; I imagine that fall would be the best time ~ a couple of questions:

The amount of cure is a constant by weight, of course; but do you have any method for determining the amount of the other ingredients?

Is the bacon brought up to any specific temperature during or after smoking?

Would oak be a typical example of smoking wood used over in that region? Perhaps apple or cherry?

I'll probably have more questions before too long. I intend to try with a couple of chunks of shoulder, most likely from the picnic shoulder. Pork belly is something that just isn't seen much in these parts.Cry


Here's the biggie! Use the proper amount of cure based on the weight of the meat. Other than that, I don't know the other amounts. I learned from my family.... "yeah that looks right, when it comes to salt pepper etc.

Then again, my family never used curing salt either. Just a crap load of regular salt(not table) and let it sit for a few weeks, and then give it a quick rinse & into the smoke house for a week or two. Then hang to dry somemore in the cold cellar for a month or so before we started to eat it.

Then again, I grew up going to a pig farmer with my parents, picking out a pig, killing it, and using every bit of it to make something. Heck, we even kept the blood to make blood sausage.

I remember the general things we did, but the specifics elude me.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TasunkaWitko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 25 May 2014 at 12:01
Thanks for the information, Darko - I'll see if I can put it to good use!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AK1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29 May 2014 at 11:31
I'm going to talk to my Mom today. I'll see if I can get some specifics as to amounts.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote TasunkaWitko Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 02 June 2014 at 23:56
Sounds great, Darko - looking forward to hearing what she has to say!
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote AK1 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 04 June 2014 at 21:33
I talked to mom the other day, and basically it was about a pound of salt per belly as per her recollection.  

I'm not quite happy with this, simply because there is no cure used, so I don't really like putting this idea forward. I'll say that I have been eating this stuff for many many years & haven't had an issue.

In 6-7 months or so, there will be a new batch being made, so I'll see if I can get a better idea of how she does it.

Needless to say, I'll still make mine with cure.
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