We had our three little piggies butchered right at Christmas time. The main reason we did pigs was to have the opportunity to process all of the meat ourselves. I wanted to start this thread to share some of the successful recipes that we have tried so far and to gather recipes and info from the rest of you on your experiences.
To be fair I need to give credit to the authors of two books......Rytek Kutas for "Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing" and Michael Ruhlman/Brian Polcyn for "Charcuterie". None of the recipes that I am going to post are verbatim from these books but are a combination of both and my own tastes.
Gotta start with bacon.
Bacon
1 4 to 5 pound slab fresh pork belly
1/4 cup of kosher salt (50 grams)
2 tsp instacure #1 (12 grams)
1/4 cup dark brown sugar (50 grams)
Combine the salt, sugar and instacure and mix thoroughly.
Rub all surfaces of the belly with the cure.
Place in a large zip-loc and pour any leftover cure in the bag with the belly.
Refrigerate for 7 days, flipping daily to redistribute the cure.
After 7 days rinse the belly in cold water to remove the excess cure. Take your time and rinse really well or the bacon will be too salty.
Let rest uncover on a cooling rack in the refrigerator over night. The smoke will penetrate the meat and youll get a lot prettier color if the belly is completely dry.
Preheat smoker to 135 F.
Smoke bacon with apple wood for 2 to 3 hours at this temp. Continue to cook until an internal temperature of 128 to 130 is reached.
Remove bacon and refrigerate overnight.
Slice and package.
To be fair I need to give credit to the authors of two books......Rytek Kutas for "Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing" and Michael Ruhlman/Brian Polcyn for "Charcuterie". None of the recipes that I am going to post are verbatim from these books but are a combination of both and my own tastes.
Gotta start with bacon.
Bacon
1 4 to 5 pound slab fresh pork belly
1/4 cup of kosher salt (50 grams)
2 tsp instacure #1 (12 grams)
1/4 cup dark brown sugar (50 grams)
Combine the salt, sugar and instacure and mix thoroughly.
Rub all surfaces of the belly with the cure.
Place in a large zip-loc and pour any leftover cure in the bag with the belly.
Refrigerate for 7 days, flipping daily to redistribute the cure.
After 7 days rinse the belly in cold water to remove the excess cure. Take your time and rinse really well or the bacon will be too salty.
Let rest uncover on a cooling rack in the refrigerator over night. The smoke will penetrate the meat and youll get a lot prettier color if the belly is completely dry.
Preheat smoker to 135 F.
Smoke bacon with apple wood for 2 to 3 hours at this temp. Continue to cook until an internal temperature of 128 to 130 is reached.
Remove bacon and refrigerate overnight.
Slice and package.
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