# Hungarian Hunters bacon



## kvn (Dec 22, 2021)

Im trying to find a recipe or process on making Hungarian Hunters bacon. I love thinly slicing the bacon and making open face sandwiches. I know it will take a bit, but I'm not sure how, any ideas?


----------



## Brokenhandle (Dec 24, 2021)

Tried doing a search without a lot of luck. Is it actually belly bacon? A couple things I read made me think it's more just fat, not belly meat

Ryan


----------



## chopsaw (Dec 24, 2021)

Brokenhandle said:


> Tried doing a search without a lot of luck.


I did the same . Seems it's back fat , or a thick section of fat with a small amount of meat .Didn't look to hard though .


----------



## Bearcarver (Dec 24, 2021)

kvn said:


> Im trying to find a recipe or process on making Hungarian Hunters bacon. I love thinly slicing the bacon and making open face sandwiches. I know it will take a bit, but I'm not sure how, any ideas?




I have a lifelong best friend "Hunky Jack", who had a Hard-core Hunky Pop, and he made me one sandwich, back in the 60s. All he did was Jam a bunch of pieces of garlic into a Block of Fatback, and then Boil it for awhile.
Then he'd slice it real thin & lay the slices out on buttered bread, and close it up, into a Sandwich.
I'm not saying that was "Hungarian Hunter's Bacon', but it was Pure Hunky.

Bear


----------



## kvn (Dec 24, 2021)

Bearcarver said:


> I have a lifelong best friend "Hunky Jack", who had a Hard-core Hunky Pop, and he made me one sandwich, back in the 60s. All he did was Jam a bunch of pieces of garlic into a Block of Fatback, and then Boil it for awhile.
> Then he'd slice it real thin & lay the slices out on buttered bread, and close it up, into a Sandwich.
> I'm not saying that was "Hungarian Hunter's Bacon', but it was Pure Hunky.
> 
> Bear


Thanks for the responses, I wasn't really specific. Bende Makes a hunters Bacon. I am trying to see of anyone has made something similar? I would love to take a crack at it.


----------



## chopsaw (Dec 24, 2021)

It looks like buckboard bacon . It also said great to eat cooked or uncooked . So must be smoked to a safe temp when processed . 
It still looks like a fatty cut to me . Doesn't make me think belly bacon .


----------



## SmokinEdge (Dec 24, 2021)

Here is a very interesting read on the subject. A bit long but worth the read.

https://tastehungary.com/journal/a-guide-to-hungarian-szalonna/


----------



## radioguy (Dec 24, 2021)

Not sure if this is what you are after.  I just bought some Hungarian style bacon a few weeks ago.  It looks like a belly seasoned with paprika, pepper flakes, cayenne and then rolled, tied and smoked.  Very tasty, a bit of a nice kick of heat.  
I looked up Belmont sausage company, old school Chicago area.  They do have a Hungarian Hunters bacon listed on their website.  Looks like more traditional bacon / fatback.

Hope you find a recipe
RG


Belmont Sausage Company


----------



## thirdeye (Dec 24, 2021)

Can you tell us if Hungarian bacon is a style, a process, or some unique seasonings?


----------



## SmokinEdge (Dec 24, 2021)

thirdeye said:


> Can you tell us if Hungarian bacon is a style, a process, or some unique seasonings?


Follow my link in post #7. Very informative on this subject.


----------



## thirdeye (Dec 24, 2021)

SmokinEdge said:


> Follow my link in post #7. Very informative on this subject.


What a lot of varieties, and even one they just call 'bacon'.  I guess I should have asked the OP what type of Hungarian bacon they are trying to duplicate.


----------



## SmokinEdge (Dec 24, 2021)

Yes. I think 
K
 kvn
 needs to look at that link and tell us which variety he remembers. Seems they covered them all, and there are a lot of variations.


----------



## thirdeye (Dec 24, 2021)

SmokinEdge said:


> Yes. I think
> K
> kvn
> needs to look at that link and tell us which variety he remembers. Seems they covered them all, and there are a lot of variations.


The fat content of some of them was very interesting, and one of the fattier varieties used a lot of salt, but the author said it was not overly salty.    

Maybe you can recall this better than I, but I believe in one of the Marianski books, they mention that the nitrite in Cure #1 has no effect on fat because it contains no myoglobin. And at the same time, they mention that salting fat, will over time, make it more tender.  So, I'm thinking some of those fattier Hungarian bacon recipes might have a surprising flavor.


----------



## indaswamp (Dec 24, 2021)

thirdeye said:


> Maybe you can recall this better than I, but I believe in one of the Marianski books, they mention that the nitrite in Cure #1 has no effect on fat because it contains no myoglobin. And at the same time, they mention that salting fat, will over time, make it more tender. So, I'm thinking some of those fattier Hungarian bacon recipes might have a surprising flavor.


Here is my understanding....nitrite will not color fat, because there is no myoglobin, but the nitrite will disperse through the fat and provide antimicrobial properties to the fat while it breaks down to NO2 gas. Salting fat will preserve it and allow lipolysis to occur through enzymatic hydrolysis of the fat from both microbes and the natural enzymes within the fat from the animal.


----------



## jcam222 (Dec 24, 2021)

OP mentioned Bende meats. The Bende Hungarian bacon definitely looks like belly bacon. Reading a few comments on Amazon sounds as though it’s drier and more intense than “American” store bacon. Looks reddish as though paprika is a likely significant component it’s rubbed with. Makes sense for Hungarian. https://www.bende.com/m/product_info.php?products_id=37





	

		
			
		

		
	
Most of the other types of Hungarian bacon seem to be mostly backfat. I saw several references to a popular peasant meal roasting the “bacon” over a fire, dripping it on bread as it rendered and topping with onion, radish , fresh veggies in general for a “dirty bread” sandwich.


----------



## jcam222 (Dec 24, 2021)

SmokinEdge said:


> Here is a very interesting read on the subject. A bit long but worth the read.
> 
> https://tastehungary.com/journal/a-guide-to-hungarian-szalonna/


 Interesting read! Thanks for posting it.


----------



## SmokinEdge (Dec 24, 2021)

thirdeye said:


> The fat content of some of them was very interesting, and one of the fattier varieties used a lot of salt, but the author said it was not overly salty.
> 
> Maybe you can recall this better than I, but I believe in one of the Marianski books, they mention that the nitrite in Cure #1 has no effect on fat because it contains no myoglobin. And at the same time, they mention that salting fat, will over time, make it more tender.  So, I'm thinking some of those fattier Hungarian bacon recipes might have a surprising flavor.


Salt follows water. Water follows salt, and nitrite follows salt. So in a curing sense, salt on the surface wants to get into the interior of the meat because that place is low salt. Water in the meat then wants to gravitate to the exterior of the meat where salt concentration is high, they want to balance chemically and naturally. Nitrite follows the salt inward because it is sodium based.

Now, meat is about 75% water, and fat is about 15% water. So this diffusion of salt is slower with fat because of the lack of water. It still occurs, but slower, about 75% slower. When dry curing meat that has a fat cap or skin on, I apply most of the cure mix to the meat sides, all of them with exposed meat. Then apply maybe 1/3 the mix to the fat/skin side, knowing that the salt and cure move really slow through them.

Cured pork fat and rind is delicious once cooked. The flavor of the fat on the rind side is incredible. So yes I agree that salting fat, given enough time, will result in very flavorful fat. It is delicious but takes more time to happen.


----------



## thirdeye (Dec 24, 2021)

indaswamp said:


> Here is my understanding....nitrite will not color fat, because there is no myoglobin, but the nitrite will disperse through the fat and provide antimicrobial properties to the fat while it breaks down to NO2 gas. Salting fat will preserve it and allow lipolysis to occur through enzymatic hydrolysis of the fat from both microbes and the natural enzymes within the fat from the animal.


Here is the paragraph I was trying to recall. Sodium nitrite along with the salt carrier, plus any additional salt added will definitely diffuse into fat, although the rate may be different than whole muscle meat. I think a good example of salt's influence on fat is the difference between bacon with a 7 day cure and bacon with a 14 day cure.  For my tastes, the fat is better on the 14 day cure, and the tenderness and flavor is too.


----------



## thirdeye (Dec 24, 2021)

SmokinEdge said:


> Now, meat is about 75% water, and fat is about 15% water. So this diffusion of salt is slower with fat because of the lack of water. It still occurs, but slower, about 75% slower.


We must have posted about the same time. And so this brings me to my original observation when looking through the link you posted in #7 above....  Overall the Hungarian bacons are heavy enough in fat wouldn't they need much longer curing times?  And some kind of guidance as to just how much longer?


----------



## SmokinEdge (Dec 24, 2021)

thirdeye said:


> We must have posted about the same time. And so this brings me to my original observation when looking through the link you posted in #7 above....  Overall the Hungarian bacons are heavy enough in fat wouldn't they need much longer curing times?  And some kind of guidance as to just how much longer?


Yes indeed. We would need some Hungarian guidance. That said, under USDA guidance, you probably could not reproduce any of these products. This is old world with no FSIS, heck in a lot of those meat recipes they don’t use nitrite at all, and is regulated as such, no nitrates.

The old world way is interesting for sure. It’s more the process than regulations.


----------



## kvn (Dec 26, 2021)

happy Holidays!

Yes, its the photo of the Bende bacon above , I am going to try and produce something similar. I just really love smoking and trying to cure items. Totally fun!

The "old" world , this may help. Years ago I lived in hungary for 2 years as a missionary. During that time i had the opportunity to participate in 2 separate diszno vagas or pig butchering from locals in the little town/village. They would take their spices/salt/paprika and mix well together, then take all of their cuts of meat, hams, loins etc. put it into a cast iron tub and heavily put the spice/cure mix all over and coat and cover each piece and then make sure all pieces were placed in the tub and the rest of the spice/cure was put on top and the only visible item was the cure/spice mix. it was left in that state 2-3 weeks. 

Unfortunately, i wasn't sure what they did next? Smoke the items? I think they did.


----------



## indaswamp (Dec 27, 2021)

K
 kvn
 , if you go here and ask, I'm sure someone will know. It is a Polish site but has a lot of people from Austria and Hungary on it...This is Stanley Marianski's site...

https://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/index.php?sid=68cf96186f838f9a7ff9afbb90509c06


----------

