This is a sad morning, gentlemen

[galopede]

Why are all your American bacon photos of the cheaper streaky bacon? Do you not get decent back bacon made from pork loin over there? Much nicer!

Can't imagine running out though, whatever the type!

Gareth

 

[August West]

is there such a thing as BAD? (bacon acquisition disorder)

MCAD--Meat Candy Acquisition Disorder

I'm off to the market to buy some bacon. Have a great morning.

 

[rahgnar.s]

I bought three pounds yesterday- I only had one left in the freezer. You can never be too sure.

This is the way to buy bacon!

 

[oc_in_fw]

This is the way to buy bacon!

I would have bought more, but payday was still a few days away

 

[The Knize]

You all really ought to be curing and smoking your own bacon. It will not help much is preventing you from running out.

I seem to freeze some of every batch I make so I will have some around going forward, and then defrost it within a few days so that I consume all I have around.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Give the kid some count chocula and tell him to shut up or get a job.

 

[flabajaba2213]

As an aside, anyone else bake their bacon? 400 degrees for 15 - 18 minutes, depending on servings, and it is delightful. The only complaint is that there seems to be less fat in the baking sheet afterward, which means less fat to jar and save for cooking later.

 

[GVBender]

Started curing my own bacon just this year. I usually pick up a half belly from a local butcher here, rub with cure, flip back and forth in the fridge for a few days, then smoke with apple chips over a hot plate in an old Brinkmann to keep the temp low. I've even skipped the smoke and it turned out great. The real beauty is being able to slice to your own thickness or dice it for other dishes.

You all just reminded me to do this before Christmas. I have the whole family staying over for three days and need to stock up. Never tried baking it before, but my friends usually do it that way for crowds. I always do batches in the cast iron skillet and it takes forever. I'll be changing my ways this year!

 

[rahgnar.s]

As an aside, anyone else bake their bacon? 400 degrees for 15 - 18 minutes, depending on servings, and it is delightful. The only complaint is that there seems to be less fat in the baking sheet afterward, which means less fat to jar and save for cooking later.

SWMBO introduced me to this method last year and I've never turned back since... In my opinion the best way to cook our beloved (bacon). So much easier cleanup than frying too... Especially if you use aluminum foil on the pan and pour off the grease for later use

 

[The Knize]

Started curing my own bacon just this year. I usually pick up a half belly from a local butcher here, rub with cure, flip back and forth in the fridge for a few days, then smoke with apple chips over a hot plate in an old Brinkmann to keep the temp low. I've even skipped the smoke and it turned out great. The real beauty is being able to slice to your own thickness or dice it for other dishes.

You all just reminded me to do this before Christmas. I have the whole family staying over for three days and need to stock up. Never tried baking it before, but my friends usually do it that way for crowds. I always do batches in the cast iron skillet and it takes forever. I'll be changing my ways this year!

I just started curing my own bacon this year, too. I usually let it stay in the cure at least a week though. Also, I did a batch without smoking it and I would say I missed the smoke quite a bit.

Do you leave the skin on while the pork belly is in the cure? Some recipes emphasize that the skin should remain on the pork belly all the way through the cure and smoking process. I have had better results removing the skin right at the start, and it really does not make sense to me why the skin would be left on.

 

[Jim1968]

My daughter (The Baconator) would claim eminent domain for that bacon.

 

[YetiDave]

I leave the skin on my bacon and remove it as and when I slice it. I find I get far less waste that way (although I turn the skin into cracklings and render out the fat anyway)

 

[Alacrity59]

As an aside, anyone else bake their bacon? 400 degrees for 15 - 18 minutes, depending on servings, and it is delightful. The only complaint is that there seems to be less fat in the baking sheet afterward, which means less fat to jar and save for cooking later.

Yes. For me it is a very easy and consistent way to cook bacon. Load the pan, put in cold oven and set to 400. Huge differences depending on which shelf you have it on . . . so watch it like a hawk the first time . . . tiny frothy bubbles make for crispy bacon.

 

[The Knize]

I leave the skin on my bacon and remove it as and when I slice it. I find I get far less waste that way (although I turn the skin into cracklings and render out the fat anyway)

Decreasing waste makes some sense to me. But the recipes I read seem to say to remove the skin right after smoking or baking, so that does not seem to affect wastage. I would think taking the skin off right at the start would make the cure and smoke "penetrate" better. In fact, you see photos associated with various recipes of pork bellies being cured, with criss-cross patterns cut through the skin. Thanks.

 

[GVBender]

I accidentally left the skin on the first time I made bacon assuming that it had been removed. From the looks of things it wasn't immediately obvious that the skin was still there until I bit into a piece or two and it felt like I had twine in my mouth. Since then, I've had good luck removing it after the smoking process (or oven if that's how one chooses to prepare it) as the fat is still warm, which helps with skin removal. I wouldn't worry too much about losing smoke flavor by removing skin after the smoke. Plenty has penetrated the meat by that point. Mmmm.... bacon.

 

[YetiDave]

Belly's not particularly thick and I've never found the skin to hinder the curing process. I also cold smoke bacon so can't really remove the skin just after, although I've heard this is done a lot when hot smoking. Whatever works for you I guess!

 

[The Knize]

I started four lbs of pork belly on Saturday in a cure after cutting through the skin in a criss-cross pattern. I'll see how that works.

It was actually hard to cut the skin without cutting too deep.

It is somewhat easily to remove the skin after a hot smoke for as GVBender says the fat is hot. However, I am not sure it is all that hard to remove it before the cure. I do not know how much fat I lose doing it that way. I hope I did not rough up the meat too much in trying to do a criss-cross pattern.

I saw a You Tube diy video on making bacon where the guy removed the skin in the first instance. Still confusing to me why some recipes say it is important to leave the skin on, aside from the possibility of some addtional waste when removing the skin first. Thanks.

 

[setldown]

How do I like my bacon?



Next to my other bacon.

 

[YetiDave]

I don't think it's important whether you leave it on or not really. You'll get a quicker cure skin off, but given it'll only take 5-7 days skin on it's not a big deal

 

[The Knize]

I probably go a full seven days even without the skin on. I am now thinking that the smoke penetration is probably more of an issue that the cure penetration would be.

You are probably right that it does not make much difference. I put another two lbs in the cure today, this time with the skin off. I did not find it all that much harder to remove the skin than to put cross hatching through the skin. I suspect it is slightly easier to remove the skin and take less fat with it after a hot smoke, but it is not all that hard to skin cold. And as was said, the skin is for cracklings so it is not as if any part of the pig is ever wasted.

I am still curious as to why some of the recipes I have seen emphasized leaving the skin on, but in my short experience I really cannot see that it matters.

By the way, oddly, I am finding that an ingredient not to leave out of the cure is crumbled up bay leaves. Really seems to add favor that is missed otherwise. I would not have thought it would be noticed.