bacon talk/ingredients/ladies and gentlemen

[Dan H.]

i think this is the proper place for a few comments/and ?'s. Last 4 half slabs of bacon I loved. Rhulman's...that darn recipie is probably still my fav...so simple to. Had high hopes for Josh's garlic, w/ K's addes herbage (yup thats a word around here) and was excellent, make a great b.l.t.
1st thing w/ that was I missed out on the lemon zest part of it, probably not enough is my first guess, I did only ad like a tsp...i know thats probably why. A bit silly question but is dried lemon peel about the same as lemon zest? I tempted using it. and 2nd, are dry herbs going to do less good then fresh? I used all fresh except for sage that recipie. thanks. Good write up to J, your instructions were clear and your approach easy to follow, I like the use of tenderquick, easy to find, easy way to apply (your method of laying the slab to coat and tapping it, etc.)
A big surprise was I made up a really good tasting peppery bacon... see I don't even have a good name for it... peppery. Man quite good, totally fooled by how much pepper flavor actually "crawls" deep inside the meat, that 'curing' and flavoring process really works. This is a reason I asked about fresh vs. dry. The pepper of course is dry and really shined. Along w/ this went some brown sugar and oregano, white pepper. ...good for me making it up, made me feel good. No ?'s here, this one really gave me some ideas for next time.
Im tempted to use lemon pepper also. I've actually been reading up alot on this stuff. I can't imagine not hot smoking it, but I see some do, interesting, was wandering if anyone has compared/cooked both ways. whats the big difference.
Same ? for brining. You can brine bacon. Anyone do that? My bud did and it was just fine except for it just tasted like, normal, no smoke, a little salt + pork flavor bacon. I believe (wouldn't swear) I've read that it may not be the "best" way to do it. I didn't notice much of a texture difference, so I wander what I may notice? Anyone wanna talk bacon some more!

a few of you wont pass up a bacon thread, Josh, (I just know you've made a LOT, because you've mentioned salomies, sausages, etc.) and everyone else, mind sharing your favorite/best cook w/ me? I know we all have different tastes, but I'de love to hear your best one, it may temp me to try a cold smoke, or a brine, etc. ...just differnt things, its a lot of fun. I'll tell you about the meat slicer to if you like, but wont waste the space if you don't.

 

[Josh Z.]

Dan,

Any shameless plug deserves some feedback and a bump

Well most of my experience with bacon has been documented, but I will tell you a secret... I haven't talked at all about my (well its pretty much Ruhlmans from Charcutery) canadain bacon.

I use 1 gallon of Water, 1 1/4 Cups of Tenderquick, a bunch of FRESH thyme and sage, a pinch like 4 needles of rosemary (I like it buts its powerful stuff for my tastes), 3-4 crushed garlic cloves. Stir to disolve water, bring to a boil, pull from heat, let it come to room temp. Then add the trimmned loin. It takes 3-4 days, then wipe and air dry, then smoke. The herbs come through in a very nice way, but you wouldn't say, "oh man taste all that herbage (yeah I stole your word)", but you would also taste it and not say thats straight up salt cured and smoked.

Now I don't see why something like that wouldn't work for a slab of belly and make a nice brine. The key would be to let it get dry enough to make a nice pellicle. You can experiment away with differnent aromatics and herbs to make some great tasting bacon. Perhaps I'll just have to get on that

My next bacon will be a ginger honey bacon made with the honey from a jar of ginger in honey. I love ginger and honey, how can it go wrong.

Try that on for size.

Josh