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.

A new adventure

Bacon is, simply put, one of the world's most perfect foods, speaking directly toward flavour. It has a meaty, salty, smoky taste that appeals to the everyman. It should then follow that an understanding of the bacon making process is a fine thing for him to practice. It is sufficiently masculine, and the rewards are quite decadent.

In my constant attempts to better myself, I will be, for the first time, preparing some of my very own bacon. I see no reason not to openly discuss the process in this forum, as it is a fairly simple one. The first step is to obtain the ingredients. Normally, pork belly is the preference, but I will be using a small batch of pork side, the kind of cut typically seen in store-bought bacon. It is less fatty, but this is a small experiment, and I see no problem using such a conventional cut.

To start this occasion, and to give myself a sort of reference point and palette cleanse, I cooked up some of the raw product and ate it. Unseasoned pork is quite distasteful, mostly in that it has the approximate flavour of fried strips of shoe leather. I was not expecting much, but this might have made me physically ill to my stomach.

The next step in the process is the wet-curing technique, which will imbue the bacon with its characteristic saltiness, as well as remove pesky water that makes good meat spoil. There are a number of formulations for the wet-cure, known as a brine, and I am in the process of making a decision as to what seasons and humours will bring the best out of this project. I have to say I'm quite excited about all this, and since this is my project which you are reading, you are invited to share in my excitement.