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Opened the fridge this morning and sat at the back was an open pack of bacon, so I grabbed it and there were two slices left. The problem was that the pack had been open for so long that the top slice was welded to the bottom slice and had the texture of leather.
Not to be discouraged I cut the [double thickness] slice into 3 so it would fit into my small De Buyer pan and cooked it on the hob adding an egg towards the end.
The first thing I noticed was that, despite this being cheap bacon pumped full of water, the pan stayed dry and nothing came out of the bacon. The second thing was that it tasted pretty awesome - quite intense - and the texture was fab.
So I guess that leaving the pack open at the back of the fridge for at least a week has actually cured it and removed all the added water!!
This might become a thing as I love thick bacon - takes me back to when my local village shop had an old bacon slicer on the counter and you could specify how thick you wanted it.
I have thought about buying some pork belly and curing my own back in the barn..... anybody here do this?
Post back in two hours to confirm you're still alive, ok?
Unsure how a cold temperature will help the curing and remove the excess water, but I'm liking the suggestion so may try it myself!
Unsure how a cold temperature will help the curing and remove the excess water, but Iām liking the suggestion so may try it myself!
not sure it will actually cure it further but fridges are very good at drying out anything left uncovered, the moisture evaporates into the fridge air then that air gets chilled by the fridge and the water condenses out.
I thought fridges were quite good at drying things out, forever telling teenagers off for not wrapping things up.
Less water ( storing it in a fridge will have dehydrated it) - so flavours are more intense
Relative salt content will be higher
The breakdown compounds from all the pathogens will make it seem tasty š
At least one person (down under IIRC) on here ,& probably more, already does there own home curing, & has create a thread about it, I'd give it a go but our local butchers bacon is proper nice (#hartlands master butcher).
You could just stop buying shit bacon in the first place and find a decent local butcher.
Or... just buy decent dry cure bacon from a butcher and ask for it thick sliced.
Edit: beaten to it!
The first thing I noticed was that, despite this being cheap bacon pumped full of water, the pan stayed dry and nothing came out of the bacon.
Because it had dehydrated in the fridge.
The second thing was that it tasted pretty awesome ā quite intense ā and the texture was fab.
Because it had been fried, not steamed/boiled, which is what effectively happens when you cook cheap (and, indeed, a lot of not-cheap) bacon as it's full of water. What you had there was what bacon is supposed to taste like.
You could just stop buying shit bacon in the first place
I would like to point out that I didn't buy this bacon.... it was my darling wife!
(I'd normally get dry cured streaky bacon but it often disappoints - and I don't have a local butcher now.... we used to have two in the village)
Yep, always cure my own now. I get either loin or middle from my butcher. Cure it then take it back and he slices it for me.
Have also cold smoked the bacon too.
It is super easy and you can experiment with flavours in your cures. Having a vacuum packer helps. It's curing for a good few days, then drying out on a rack in the fridge for a couple more. Recently did a marmalade cured bacon. Delish.
No need to use Prague powder or a cure. Just use salt, sugar and whatever flavouring you have.
Waitrose 'finest' or whatever it's called bacon is on a par with the best I've had. Other supermarket fancy brands not so much.
More importantly, who leaves 2 slices of bacon behind? What sort of house do you live in!
I had the Hugh Fernley Whitingstal meat book a few years ago. Tried curing some pork belly based on that. Went pretty well but the time and effort didn't outweigh going to the co-op and getting some taste the difference or what not smoked streaky bacon.
Nice idea to dry it out a bit more in the fridge though.
No need to use Prague powder or a cure. Just use salt, sugar and whatever flavouring you have.
Hmm, I'm sure that has worked for you (you're seemingly still alive!) but I'd be wary of taking that advice until I was more experienced at curing my own meat!
Slight side note. I found a cheese that we had bought for the Christmas meal. It had been put in the drinks fridge for some reason and gradually been pushed to the back. I took it out and left it to warm through for a couple of hours and it was bloody lovely.
It was a gooey French cheese - imagine a small circle of brie but about 3 inches deep - and the insides was just at that right point between solid and liquid and the taste was exquisite.
I would never think to mature a cheese in a fridge but clearly four weeks in there did the trick as it was so much better than the same cheese we ate on Christmas Day.
Cut in 3 to fit the pan? That must be tiny.
Anyway dry, green, furry bacon isn't all that bad.
Had a smoked bacon and egg banjo for lunch. Left the pack unwrapped when I put it back in so will see how this goes!
My local butcher sells slabs of bacon. You can have it sliced as you like or slice it yourself. I bought a five pound slab for Christmas and polished it off in ten days. I tried to ration it, but frying up big slabs of bacon and eggs for breakfast just got the better of me. Obviously, I varied my diet as much as I could with lunch and supper, but after 10 days of lasagne, hamburgers and chips, and roast meat, washed down by gallons of beer, the constipation and farts just got to be too much. I like a good fried onion and bacon fart as much as the next guy, usually I stop and admire my handiwork, but the stench of these beasts was just unbearable; I'd casually leave the room and pop back 15 minutes later, but I'd still be gagging . So, when the bacon ran out, I tried eating fruit for breakfast (bananas, kiwis, and pineapples), but it must have overwhelmed my gut biota and they all went into spasms and I had several hours of excruciating explosive diarrhea. I've gone back to bacon and egg breakfasts and I'm gently introducing fruit and vegetables. I think the trick with them is that you need to eat them regularly or else your gut bacteria think they're being attacked, so at least once a week seems wise.
Well ...er...thanks for that thols. I reckon we've all got a mental picture of how your insides work. Something akin to a washing machine.
I fear though nobody here is ever going to want to share a tent with you.
.
Modern bacon is injected with brine, so its not just water, theres saltpeter in there too and allowing it to 'air dry' will evaporate the water and leave the constituent parts of the brine inside the bacon. Not sure thats for the best, and personally I'd rather it came mostly out in the frying pan