- Jun 21, 2008
- 5
- 10
Hello all.
I did my first bacon last weekend. Only problem I had was the Extreme saltiness of the meat(leaving me to have to soak my slices before I cooked them). The flavor underneth the salt was amazing though. I just did a simple salt/sugar cure(no nitrates) to the meat put them in plastic bags and turned them once a day leaving them to pretty much soak in their own juices for 7 days. ( then cold smoked for 8 hours) Was this my mistake? Should I have drained off the "pig juice" each day and reapplied cure?
Or is the extreme saltiness part of the process? I'm going to try other methods next time. Just wanted, really, to know if this is how all homemade bacon turns out? Over salty.
Pork bellies in my area are 2.79 per pound. And really at that price I'm only making the bacon for the superior flavor. My wife was a bit put off at the expense-to-saltiness ratio. And soaking the meat prior to cooking made it shrink incredible and loose some of it hickory smoke flavor.
Any help/thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Rich
I did my first bacon last weekend. Only problem I had was the Extreme saltiness of the meat(leaving me to have to soak my slices before I cooked them). The flavor underneth the salt was amazing though. I just did a simple salt/sugar cure(no nitrates) to the meat put them in plastic bags and turned them once a day leaving them to pretty much soak in their own juices for 7 days. ( then cold smoked for 8 hours) Was this my mistake? Should I have drained off the "pig juice" each day and reapplied cure?
Or is the extreme saltiness part of the process? I'm going to try other methods next time. Just wanted, really, to know if this is how all homemade bacon turns out? Over salty.
Pork bellies in my area are 2.79 per pound. And really at that price I'm only making the bacon for the superior flavor. My wife was a bit put off at the expense-to-saltiness ratio. And soaking the meat prior to cooking made it shrink incredible and loose some of it hickory smoke flavor.
Any help/thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Rich