I have some pork butt sliced into slabs, and sitting in the cure. I will soak, smoke and slice it up later this week, once the weather clears.
I realized that if I ever wanted to make bacon again, I was going to have to do it buckboard style. The place I had gotten the pork belly before (US Foods) hasn't carried it for over two years, and I haven't seen it anywhere else for less than $7/pound. I'm in Charlotte, NC, and all the butchers around here that I can get to (as in late or weekend hours) are Halal, so no luck there.
But then, the Food Lion near me keeps selling pork butt at $1/pound (MVP special). So I'll occasionally pick up a few to make NJ pork roll (Taylor Ham, taste of home!) and I thought, "why not?"
But I have a question about the recipe. I'm following the basic Meathead recipe for belly bacon, but the rundown of bacon types recommended that I follow the Canadian Bacon recipe, which expects me to roll the thing up into a chub, and cure it that way.
I'm sure the way I'm doing it will turn out fine, but of course I must worry that I'm missing something important. (I'm an older gentleman (ahem) of European descent, worrying is how we express love; it's what drives the children away to become successful in life.). Does the meat/fat ratio require a higher amount of cure? I notice that it's giving off much less liquid than the last time I tried this, but that was with belly bacon.
Also, since they came to slightly different sizes when I cut them, I'm curing the lesser one as long as the greater one. Which way should I have sliced them? I hope they will be delicious either way.
I realized that if I ever wanted to make bacon again, I was going to have to do it buckboard style. The place I had gotten the pork belly before (US Foods) hasn't carried it for over two years, and I haven't seen it anywhere else for less than $7/pound. I'm in Charlotte, NC, and all the butchers around here that I can get to (as in late or weekend hours) are Halal, so no luck there.
But then, the Food Lion near me keeps selling pork butt at $1/pound (MVP special). So I'll occasionally pick up a few to make NJ pork roll (Taylor Ham, taste of home!) and I thought, "why not?"
But I have a question about the recipe. I'm following the basic Meathead recipe for belly bacon, but the rundown of bacon types recommended that I follow the Canadian Bacon recipe, which expects me to roll the thing up into a chub, and cure it that way.
I'm sure the way I'm doing it will turn out fine, but of course I must worry that I'm missing something important. (I'm an older gentleman (ahem) of European descent, worrying is how we express love; it's what drives the children away to become successful in life.). Does the meat/fat ratio require a higher amount of cure? I notice that it's giving off much less liquid than the last time I tried this, but that was with belly bacon.
Also, since they came to slightly different sizes when I cut them, I'm curing the lesser one as long as the greater one. Which way should I have sliced them? I hope they will be delicious either way.
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