• 9/2 Int'l Bacon Day - 1

    From Dave Drum@1:2320/105 to All on Sun Sep 1 15:27:00 2024
    MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06

    Title: Dirty Dave's Pork Butt "Bacon"
    Categories: Pork, Preserving
    Yield: 3 Pounds

    4 lb (to 5) boneless Pork Butt
    1 ga Water

    MMMMM---------------------CURING INGREDIENTS--------------------------
    1 c Pickling Salt
    +=AND=+
    3 oz Prague Powder #1
    +=OR=+
    3 oz Modern Cure
    +=ALTERNATIVELY=+
    1 1/4 c Morton's TenderQuik can be
    - used place of pickling
    - salt AND Prague Powder or
    - Modern Cure
    3 California bay leaves
    1 1/4 c Brown sugar
    3 cl Garlic
    3 tb Dirty Dave's All-purpose Rub
    1 tb Juniper berries; lightly
    - crushed
    1/2 tb Black peppercorns

    Equipment: 8 qt or larger stock pot, stoneware plate,
    weight(s), marinade/brine injector (opt)

    Make a bag (bouquet garni) of cheesecloth for the juniper
    berries, bay leaves, garlic and peppercorns. Put the
    gallon of water into the stock pot with dry ingredients
    and bring to a boil. Boil hard for about 10 minutes to
    insure all the flavour is obtained from the bouquet garni.

    Remove pot from heat, fish out the packet of bouquet garni
    and let cool to 38oF, which is your ideal temp. Add the
    butt and weigh down with a plate if necessary to ensure it
    remains submerged in the brine.

    You can use a cooks' syringe to inject strained curing
    brine into the heart of the meat to ensure complete
    curing. I just did a straight soak for 7 days. Suggested
    soak time is 5-7 days. If using multiple pieces of pork
    that might be resting on each other, it wouldn't hurt to
    flip them within the brine about halfway through the
    curing process to allow brine to reach all surface area of
    the meat.

    After the 5-7 days of soaking, remove the pork from the
    curing brine. At this point it can be rinsed/soaked in
    clean, cold water or cheap (Carlo Rossi) red wine to
    remove some of the saltiness of the brine. Depending on
    your taste/tolerance of salt content in cured meat, you
    may want to skip this step entirely or soak/ rinse for up
    to 2 hours (change the water a couple of times if going
    this length of time).

    Next, pat the loins dry with paper towel or dry cloth.
    Apply a thin coating of Dirty Dave's All-purpose Rub.
    (recipe follows)

    Prepare an indirect fire in your cooker, aiming for a temp
    of 225oF/105oC. Use the smokewood of your choice. Cherry,
    oak chunks, pecan, apple, or even grape vine trimmings.

    The target internal temperature of the cook will be
    determined largely by your finished intention for the pork
    butts. If you are looking for a breakfast bacon to be
    fried before eating, then an internal of 140-145oF/60-63oC
    will be ideal. For a finished fully-cooked product, keep
    cooking to internal of 155-160oF/68-70oC.

    The bacon can be fried up immediately or kept in the
    fridge with much the same shelf-life as other commercial
    cured bacons. It also freezes well, especially when
    pre-sliced with pieces of waxed paper placed between the
    slices.

    Recipe and MM Format by Dave Drum - 09 September 1997

    Uncle Dirty Dave's Kitchen

    MMMMM

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