Posted on 09/05/2009 6:23:28 AM PDT by JoeProBono
We are a people obsessed with bacon.
And the obsession is growing.
Chef and food writer Michael Ruhlman is working to make sure the pork belly doesn’t lose its soul.
He’s a purist when it comes to bacon, believing people should cure their own at home to taste what bacon is really all about.
Curing at home, he says, is as easy as marinating a steak — everyone can do it, and everyone would do it if they just tried it once and tasted the difference.
“People say to me, ‘Your bacon has changed my life,’ ” Ruhlman said.
Ruhlman’s simple method for home-curing bacon is detailed in his 2005 book with Brian Polcyn, Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing.
The two main ingredients are fresh pork belly and curing salt, which is often called pink salt for its color. Pink salt is a combination of salt and nitrites. Nitrites change the flavor of cured meats, preserve their red color, keep them from spoiling and prevent bacteria growth, particularly the bacteria that cause botulism.
Pork belly isn’t hard to come by. Some butcher shops routinely stock it, but those that don’t and supermarket meat departments generally will order it for customers upon request.
Pink salt can be more challenging to find than pork belly. It’s sold under various brand names, including DQ Curing Salt and Insta Cure No. 1, which are available from mail order or Internet sources, Ruhlman said. His recipe for a basic dry cure includes kosher salt, pink salt and sugar. Morton’s Tender Quick (about $5.95 for a 2-pound bag) is essentially a prepackaged version similar to Ruhlman’s homemade dry cure.
Ruhlman said home-curing meats is a great way for cooks to broaden their culinary horizons, and homemade bacon will be an eye-opener for those who have had only the grocery store variety.
“You’ll notice a depth of flavor that you’ve never had before. A chewy and delicious texture that you’re not used to. A succulent fat that you’re not used to. It’s not that water-logged brine-injected stuff from factories. There will be more fat in the pan, but a good fat, not a fat that you have to be afraid of. The factory fat is the fat to be afraid of,” Ruhlman said.
Home-cured bacon can be smoked, but it doesn’t have to be, he said: “Both still have that same bacony flavor.” He noted that pancetta, Italian-style bacon, is dry-cured and then air-dried, not smoked.
For those who do want to smoke their own bacon, Ruhlman said a kettle grill and wood chips will do the job instead of an actual smoker. Stovetop smokers also are available at stores that sell cooking supplies. Home-curing bacon also allows cooks to get creative.
Ruhlman’s recipe is for a basic dry-cured bacon. But he said the recipe works well with the addition of maple sugar or maple syrup for sweeter bacon, and a host of other flavors for more savory bacon, including garlic, herbs, peppercorns, juniper berries and nutmeg for a classic pancetta.
“Heat would go great with bacon,” Ruhlman said, noting that chili powders or hot paprika would work well in the cure. “You’re limited only by your imagination.”
Home-curing bacon has the added benefit of connecting people with their food in a real way, Ruhlman said.
God obviously loves us.
Bacon does sound good this morning :)
“God obviously loves us.”
HE told us not to eat the stuff.
Why do you cure it? Is it sick?
We dont eat bacon..but we love Turkey bacon and the best way to make it is broil it in tho oven with maple syrup on it..it turn out perfect-o
How come this isn’t about bacon flavored vodka?
“He told us not to eat the stuff”
Depends on where you stop reading the Bible.
Like most drugs, bacon is more effective and faster acting when absorbed by the lungs rather through the stomach. My only question is where do I get a bacon bong?
Visual Drool response.
We have 25lbs of this King Vanity Phat PNW Salmon Run 2009
Address:http://community-2.webtv.net/YaquinaBay/KingVanityPhatPNW/
in a sweet orange/maple brine and will be going into the Big Chief smoker today.
That was because he was unable to express to people of that time what dangers lie in not heating to temperatures necessary to be safe. ;o)
Hey, if you are going to be unclean until nightfall anyway, why not go whole hog and add mushrooms, sliced bloody roast beef, cheese, and scallops to that bacon and make a great sandwich?
*
*needs scallops
I do not eat pork, but I do cook/eat turkey bacon. How much syrup do you use? I also make my own beef bacon from a brisket cut and I found cooking it on the grill is the best way to keep it from curling up as it heats up.
Oh and I am Christian and I read the rest of the book.
There is a restraunt here in Oregon (Portland) that has a bacon bar.
Prepared in every odd way you can think of.
Chocolate dipped bacon strips.
(hurlish IMO)
“HE told us not to eat the stuff.”
Divine regulations aside...
made great sense for a bunch of nomads in a desert where it would be
a real challenge to find enough firewood to kill off the trichinosis
parasites in pork with sufficient heat during cooking.
And lacking refrigeration to freeze the pork to kill the little
suckers off.
Bacon comes from pigs. You cannot use the terms “bacon” and “turkey” in the same sentence. Bacon is pig bosom. Turkeys do not have bosoms.... :).
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