The title of that post may sound really weird, and I apologize if it makes you squirm. However, we’re going in on a cow with my parents and another family that is on the bandwagon of chemical free foods. This cow happens to be grass fed, and living in a farm north of us [...]
Today the bacon has firmed up a tiny bit, the brine is starting to collect even more, I would say maybe two tablespoons now in each bag. I have decided to smoke the bacon with pecan, its my favorite flavor with pork, and I can’t feel good about going with a more generic wood. It [...]
This morning I checked in my fridge and it appears that the rub I put on the pork belly has been doing its job and the salt has drawn out some water from the pork cells and that water is mixing with the sugar (and other spices and flavorings) and its turning into a brine. [...]
I have ordered some pork belly to cure and smoke myself. I am going to cure & smoke the bacon at home without nitrites. This is a slightly risky situation because of the chance of botulism, but I’m going to continue to do my homework so as to avoid any serious risk. There are a [...]