# If it's BIG, doesn't STINK, make BACON!



## AndrewOSpencer (Jun 18, 2013)

The last two pigs I've shot have been pretty good sized. The bellies were really thick and I am curing some bacon in my fridge right now. For those of you who've never made bacon, you really should give it a go. I explain each of these a little more over at my silly blog, but here are the basic tools you need to make bacon: 

1. Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing by Ruhlman. 
2. Coarse Kosher Salt
3. Pink Salt (6.25% sodium nitrite)
4. Dextrose
5. Pork
6. An Electronic Scale
7. 2 gallon Zip lock bags
8. Refridgerator
9. Smoker
10. Fresh Spices

Its such an easy process, I hate to think of all the fine pork belly ground into sausage. Or worse left lying.

Here is some of the last batch I cut into lardons to add to a pot of pinto beans: 


For those of you who've made bacon before, can you add to the tools above?


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## PlicketyCat (Jul 14, 2010)

Since we smoke and hang our bacon, we use Cure 2 (sodium _nitrate_), Strictly speaking, you don't need the dextrose if you don't like sweetened bacon, or you could replace with honey or maple syrup.

Otherwise, I'd only add a sharp knife and a meat hook, twine or tray to your tools list.


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## PlicketyCat (Jul 14, 2010)

BTW - belly bacon, known as "streaky bacon" in the UK, isn't the only bacon out there 

You can also make bacon the same way from the back/side (proper bacon in the UK), and the neck/shoulder (proper bacon in many regions of Canada).

Anywy you slice or cube it, bacon is easy to make and dresses up everything. Life without bacon... it's just too horrible to contemplate.


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## AndrewOSpencer (Jun 18, 2013)

PlicketyCat said:


> Life without bacon... it's just too horrible to contemplate.


This is the truest statement ever.


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## countrygal (Feb 14, 2010)

I do not eat pig, but does anyone have an idea for using turkey?


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## PlicketyCat (Jul 14, 2010)

countrygal said:


> I do not eat pig, but does anyone have an idea for using turkey?


As in, making turkey bacon? I think they grind up mostly dark meat and then squirt it into strips (like a jerky gun) and then hot smoke it. If you added a nitrite curing salt to the ground meat seasonings, you could smoke the strips on a tray... don't think you could make them 100% shelf stable without canning unless you dehydrated it to snapping-dry (use a nitrate curing salt if you want to try). Anyway, you'd probably need to follow sausage or jerky recommendations.

Now cured and smoked turkey breast and legs are totally doable. Breasts are usually what they use to make turkey "ham", although sometimes they do the whole "chopped and formed" route with white and dark bits squooshed into a ham shape with seasoning, cure and smoking.

If you use ground or minced meat, you can add the curing salt right to the meat when you grind & mix it. You normally only soak full cuts or large chunks in curing brine.


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## countrygal (Feb 14, 2010)

Cool; thanks, PlicketyCat!


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## AndrewOSpencer (Jun 18, 2013)

Countrygal you can make some fantastic sausage out of turkey.


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## PlicketyCat (Jul 14, 2010)

Yuppers - you can make awesome andouille sausage with chicken or turkey (ETA: you can sub tallow for pork lard). MMMMM jambalaya.... : drool :

Life without bacon, ham or sausage (even the non-pork variety) is just not worth living.


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## countrygal (Feb 14, 2010)

I have made sausage, but it was from breast meat, and very dry. I cannot use tallow, because I am allergic to red meat. 

I am wondering if I can use coconut oil in the meat to make it moister.

I would still like to try making turkey bacon, too.


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## AndrewOSpencer (Jun 18, 2013)

Look for duck fat. I know duck fat will work, coconut oil may not have the right consistency. But duck fat will for sure. Goose fat will work as well. Same for chicken.


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## countrygal (Feb 14, 2010)

Thanks, AndrewOSpencer. That is a great idea.


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## PlicketyCat (Jul 14, 2010)

Any poultry fat will add moisture to your poultry sausage if you don't use tallow or lard. Just cut in all the fat trimmings when you're mixing the meat, or you can render off even more fat from the skins. I've found canned duck fat (graisse de canard) on Amazon, and have even mixed canned duck and goose confit in with my chicken/turkey sausage for added fat with good results. It's a bit spendy, but is worth it for moist yummy sausage. Of course, if you roast a whole duck or goose, you'll get _plenty_ of fat drippings from that to mix up a pound or two of chicken/turkey sausage.

ETA: veggies will also add some moisture to poultry sausage. We make one chicken sausage with roasted onion, bell pepper and tomato that's pretty moist with only the fat that's on the meat and the little bit of olive oil we used roasting the veg.


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## PlicketyCat (Jul 14, 2010)

AndrewOSpencer said:


> I hate to think of all the fine pork belly ground into sausage. Or worse left lying.


Belly is also good for just making plain salt pork. Pretty much the same process as bacon, but it uses a lot more salt and you don't smoke it. Traditional salt pork was soaked in heavy brine (just salt, no nitrites/nitrates) and then packed in salt (changed frequently) to drawn out even more liquid. Once sufficiently dried, it was either packed in layers of fresh salt or encased in lard. Nowadays, it's best to add curing salt to your brine to be on the safe side.

Just soak out the salt when you want to use it... awesome with beans and greens.


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## countrygal (Feb 14, 2010)

Veggies sound really good, Plickety!

Thanks to all who have taken time to answer.

Now, if I can also make turkey bacon, I'll be thrilled!


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## PlicketyCat (Jul 14, 2010)

Countrygal - I checked with a butcher friend who used to work at Jenny-O. He confirmed that they made turkey bacon with extruded ground meat. They cured and hot-smoked the turkey first and then ground up the smoked meat (rather than smoking the finished strips).


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## countrygal (Feb 14, 2010)

How do they get it to stick together?

Do they smoke it raw first, or cooked?


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## PlicketyCat (Jul 14, 2010)

Smoke it raw, grind it together and then squirt it out. Hot smoking only partially cooks it (why you need to cure it first)... it should still stick together just fine, at most you might need to mix in a binder like starch or powdered egg.


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## countrygal (Feb 14, 2010)

Thanks for the info! I will try this the next time we butcher a turkey!


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## PlicketyCat (Jul 14, 2010)

Might want to dry them a few minutes in the dehydrator to keep the strips from sticking together in the fridge/freezer, or bake them off for ready-to-reheat.

Less us know how they turn out!

Back to pork bacon -- just got down to the last unsliceble section of our slab, so I diced it up and fried it with some taters and onion in butter. Yum yum. Luckily, pigs have two sides (Ma Nature must love bacon, too!), so we're not out yet.


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## countrygal (Feb 14, 2010)

Thanks again, Plickety!


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