Got my RMS...put it together. Lesson One from Professor Wivott this week!

I found Pork Belly for $2.99/lb (skin on). Is that a good price?

It's higher than Peoria was when I used to get them there (they could be higher there too now), but if it's a good pork belly, it's not a bad price. Where did you find it and were you happy with the shape of it, fairly thick, no thin spots where something was cut out?

They have it at Inboden's in DeKalb (my stomping grounds). I haven't ordered it yet. This is a custom meat house, so I imagine I can order (or tell them what I'm looking for) and how I want it cut.

Is there a standard for how long it is ok to cure without nitrates?

I'm looking to make my first attempt at making bacon soon, but can put it off if I need to track down nitrates.

brandon_w wrote:Is there a standard for how long it is ok to cure without nitrates?

I'm looking to make my first attempt at making bacon soon, but can put it off if I need to track down nitrates.

I would recommend putting it off. I think you mean sodium nitrite. Sodium nitrate is used in dry cure sausages because the nitrate slowly converts to nitrite, which helps prevent contamination. In bacon, sodium nitrite reduces your risk of food borne illness and also plays an important role in flavor. Try nitrite free bacon sometime if you doubt the later claim. Sodium nitrite (pink salt) is available from The Spice House.

The Spice House
1512 N. Wells St.
Chicago, IL 60610
312.274.0378

Thank you Frank.

Got a new price from Inbodens in DeKalb for Pork Belly...skin on (trimmed the way you want it)....$1.99/lb. It is looking like making bacon time!

Life will be much, much easier if you get it with the skin already removed. I know there's some reason why it's supposed to be good to have a rind, but it is such a pain to remove without big butcher's knives and lots of practice. And let's just say, nobody has ever complained.

Yes, but Mike G....the great book of Charcuterie says to leave it on. That has to mean something!

Hi,

There was more discussion about curing with or without the skin here. If you scroll down there is more comments from Ronnie Suburban.

I have done it both ways and generally favor skin-off.

Regards,

Thanks, Cathy, I knew there was one but couldn't remember where.

I think the way to avoid curling is by keeping your temperature low and turning it hourly or so. Curling is an artifact of other mistakes (letting the fire get too high).

The smoke color has never seemed unattractive to me. It's part of the realness of it, versus a commercial product. But then I've been buying Paulina bacon for years, which also has that outer color.

Hi,

I also associate more smoke color equating to more smoke flavor, which is one of 'our' goals.

(The new search engine found the earlier discussion. I like how it brings you to the exact post, instead of the thread. Saves a lot of digging time.)

Regards,

I just could not let this thread go. I'm getting in the mood to make bacon. I called a more local (for me) meat processing place and was pleased with their price...$1.79/lb. With the price of gas, I don't know if it would be worth the trip, but maybe you could combine the trip with going to Ream's. Anyway, the processor suggests giving them a call ahead of time.

Eickmans Processing Co
3 00 Pecatonica Rd S
Seward, IL 61063
815-247-8451

Long time reader, first time poster.

I am 3 days into curing the belly using the pink stuff, regular salt, brown sugar and maple syrup (using the Ruhlman book recipe) and as I flipped the belly today (it is a non-reactive pan) splash goes the curing liquids. Luckily most remained with the belly in the pan, but is there anything to monitor to make sure everything is ok?

I can wait to get this thing on the smoker.

As long as salt has been applied over the surface, and the up side will be back down again in a couple of days, I can't imagine it will matter.

Thanks Mike.

That seems easy enough. Bacon is just delicious enough to make it seem complicated.

I went to Eickmans last week and got myself 40 lbs of pork belly. It is one sweet piece of meat...about 3 inches thick. One of these weekends I'm going to thaw it and cut it down to managable chunks. I did get it without the skin. I have been reading my Charcuterie book, and dreaming of lardons and homemade Pancetta. I'm going to save a chunk just for roasting...just for the fun of it. I'm so glad that there are people out there that understand an obession like this. I'm hooked!

Hi,

How much did you pay per pound for the 3-inch thick pork belly?

Regards,

$1.79/lb...Eichmans

I'm sorry to say that my Eichman's pork belly did not come as promised. Instead of a 3 inch thick pork belly (requested skin off), I got 4 slabs of 1 - 1/2 inches of pork belly (skin on) all stuck together. I didn't notice until I thawed the meat. I was very disappointed. However, the making bacon is on. I cut the 40 lbs up into 5 lb chunks, and cured and seasoned them a variety of ways (pepper and brown sugar, maple syrup, garlic, juniper berry, bay leaf, etc.). I'm into my 2nd day of curing. I did use one pork belly for the Char Su BBQ and smoked that for 6 hours. It was yummy, but still fatty. Even after a 6 hour smoke, I still sliced it up and fried it a bit more. I've also got one pork belly reserved for a making Pancetta experiment. I'm having trouble trusting a pork belly hanging from my basement rafters for a couple weeks. But I'm giving it a go. I also saved a couple chunks of fresh pork belly for future experiments. The economy may be going down the tubes, but by golly I'm going to have my bacon!

Well I made some bacon. I'm not sure the meat I had is really pork belly, they called it side pork at the butcher I bought it from, but I gave it a shot. Finding real pork belly around here is kind of hard to do. Sometimes Madison can be a real pain in the ass for finding a decent cut of meat.

Anyhow.

I ended up doing the Alton Brown methond with a 3 day wet cure. I changed his recipe up a bit add in maple syrup and junniper berries.

Here is a picture after three days in the fridge:


On the grill:

Smoked it for a little over two hours at 150-175º. I'm not a master at smoking yet and couldn't keep it quite steady.

Off the Grill:


Sliced up food porn shots:




All things considered I think it turned out pretty well. The flavor is good, not great. I'll have to look into getting some nitrates so I can do a longer cure next time, because yes, oh yes, there will be a next time.

Also, it's so easy to do once you actually take the plunge and go through the process.

You guys are awesome!

One more thing (learned from the school of hard knocks). Don't ever trust a ziplock bag for the curing phase of bacon making. Yeeesh, what a mess. Get out the duct tape and make sure those bags are sealed!

And another thing. I called Eichman's about my disappointment with the 1 1/2 inch pork belly (which was supposed to be 3 inches). I talked to the head guy for quite a while. Now I don't know diddlie about pigs, but this butcher claims that pork belly doesn't come in 3 inch thickness. He said that if you get a really fat hog, you are just getting more fat, not meat. And he went on to say that most people don't want to pay for fat (guess he hasn't looked at this forum). At most, he claims, pork belly will be only 1 - 1 1/2 inches thick...no matter how fat the pig. So there you have it folks. I'd like to hear another butcher's opinion. How about that Paulina Butcher guy? I'm interested.

brandon_w wrote:I'm not sure the meat I had is really pork belly, they called it side pork at the butcher I bought it from

Pork belly = side pork = raw bacon. It's all the same thing.

Pork cuts

The bacon looks great.

Thank you for the link LAZ.


I put my ziplock bag in a big shallow bowl that I have, that way if it started to leak it would go in the bowl. The ziploc did hold though.

LAZ wrote:Pork belly = side pork = raw bacon. It's all the same thing.

I'll just call it tasty for short!

Thought I'd let you know how my making bacon turned out. That...and I have a thing for this thread. You know what? 40 lbs of bacon is a lot of bacon! That thought struck me as I started my third batch in my smoker. However, the payoff was wonderful. I now have 40 lbs of glorious homemade and home smoked bacon, vacuum sealed in my freezer. I also have a sizable chunk of pancetta hanging in my basement. While I was smoking the meat I experimented a bit with Hickory sawdust. I saw this on a web site where I purchased the pink salt. I threw a couple handfuls onto my small fire, and it really generated a lot of smoke. When I do this again (someday) I'm going to select the pork belly myself. I'd really like a pork belly with more fat in it next time. I also wanted to mention that taking off the skin (after the smoking) was really no big deal. I cut the skin up in squares, and this weekend I'm going to give deep frying them a try. I think the pork skins would also be good to add to greens and maybe green beans just for the flavor enhancement. Making bacon...it's been fun!

It makes great gifts.