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.
The nice flat dry bacon you get in restaurants is baked, has been for years,,, But, put your bacon on a rack above the baking pan so that the fat can drain down. Then be careful taking the pan out of the oven as it will be full of scalding hot bacon grease.
So HE changed HIS mind?
“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)”
So, you can read HIS mind?
That thin stuff is not bacon
This is bacon - and good cold, on some real rye with real mustard
http://www.andysdeli.com/shop/popup_image.php?pID=156&osCsid=c277e9284540b7f17bba6e4f8abeba9b
That’s sidemeat!!!!
The advantage of curing your own is you can give it a REAL smoke flavor by smoking it over hickory rather than that fake injection that they do. I have done it many times
Evil Man! I am trying to loose weight! YUM!!! :D)
FR: where religious wars break out even on the bacon threads.
He told the Jews not to eat the stuff. Christians are off the hook.
Hooray for bacon! It is so yummy!
I was thinkin the same thing only on FR........
How long do you smoke it? Also, do you cure it, smoke it, then slice it last, or do you slice before smoking?
Smite the bacon-consuming heretics!!!
Indeed. LOL!
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