Unblazed trails

Ah ha, my bacon experiment is under way. A bit of business took me to the far side of the country for a bit, and when I had returned I found that my pork had spoiled. I did not let this deter me though, and restarted with a new set of ingredients.

The wet-cure process is one in which a brine is used to remove the water from the bacon. It sounds strange that a watery mixture can be used to remove water from a subject; some sort of science is at work here that I'm not an expert of. What it also does is prevent the bacon from spoiling, killing harmful pathogens with a salty death. After much research, I decided on the most basic of brines: a litre of water to 60 g of each kosher salt and dark brown sugar. The reason for such a simple recipe is twofold. The first reason is that extravagance, in this case fancy peppers and spices and tonics added to the brine, are trivialities that need not be explored in my bacon. Undertone flavors are for the wine sniffer, not the everyman. The second is that the bacon, salt, and woodsmoke should provide the flavors I seek, and to try to cover them up does not pay them the respect due.

The amount of time needed to properly wet-cure the bacon tends to vary between 3 days and two weeks. I don't plan to set a specific period; I prefer to let my instincts tell me when the curing process is complete. The temperature must be kept at or around 3 degrees. This is not a problem; I have an icebox that will do fine, but I prefer to keep it outdoors, as the weather is agreeable to these conditions.

My next update for the adventure will be formidable, and a substantial bit of improvisation will be required to see its success. Do not fret, though, I will prevail.

Merrye Christmas to ye all.