Alternate use for old fermenting buckets

[tubby_shaw]

I had a couple of old fermenting buckets that had seen better days and wanted to put them to good use :)

I also had the problem of what to do with a pork belly from half a pig :wha:

So thanks to a variation on a H F-W Recipe
I'm having a go at making bacon :grin:

So in the little bucket goes the Cure to keep it clean and dry between uses

And in the big bucket goes the curing cuts of belly

I'm looking forward to a lovely bacon sandwich in a couple of weeks :party:

 

[Wez]

:clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap: :clap:

 

[31bb3]

:clap: :clap: sounds nice

 

[evanvine]

Did you make your own "cure" or did you buy it?
Judging from your pics, do just roll the pork belly in it then wait?
I'll be interested to hear what your results are compare to shop bought bacon!

 

[tubby_shaw]

Ev, homemade cure, rub it in, leave 24 hours, drain off liquid, dry, rub in more cure, rotate cuts of meat and repeat for between 4 and 10 days depending on how salty/flavoursome/keeping characteristics you require :thumb:

After the first 24 hours there was 1/2 a pint of liquid to drain off :shock:

 

[markp]

After the first 24 hours there was 1/2 a pint of liquid to drain off :shock:

See if you can ferment it :lol:
Looking good there tubby......I love bacon :thumb:

 

[Endadmcc]

mmmmm bacon wine lovely idea

 

[evanvine]

homemade cure, rub it in, leave 24 hours, drain off liquid, dry, rub in more cure, rotate cuts of meat and repeat for between 4 and 10 days depending on how salty/flavoursome/keeping characteristics you require

Well damn me, that straight forward!
Is the recipe a closley guarded secret or can you "google" it?
You don't have a smoker as well do you?

 

[tubby_shaw]

Is the recipe a closley guarded secret or can you "google" it?

No not a closely guarded secret at all if you follow the link in the first post the recipe that I adapted is there :thumb:

You don't have a smoker as well do you?

Doesn't every one :wha: here's mine

 

[evanvine]

Bloody hell TS, I was being flippant about the smoker, is there any thing you haven't got
Sorry, missed the link in the initial post
I wonder if his arguments against saltpetre are just ones of price and avaliability, or is there some thing more sinister?
Nice one TS, good post :thumb:

 

[jamesb]

Bloody hell TS, I was being flippant about the smoker, is there any thing you haven't got

Hair!

:twisted:

 

[evanvine]

Hair!

:rofl:

 

[tubby_shaw]

Bloody hell TS, I was being flippant about the smoker, is there any thing you haven't got

Hair!

:twisted:

:rofl:
It's funny 'cos it's true :thumb:

 

[evanvine]

Well that's at least two of us on the Forum without

 

[tubby_shaw]

3rd day of rubbing in the cure, still a lot of liquid coming out of the meat but the meat is firming up :grin:
Here are the 3 pieces ready to go back into the old FV for another 24 hours.

 

[screamlead]

Good post - we quite often get wild boar out here. Funny as hell as the locals - muslims wont touch the things but are quite happy to blast them to bits with laser sighted, scoped 12 bore 5 cartridge shotguns in winter!!
They even skin them but deliver whole - still not touching them - i think they wear rubber gloves.
I've had 3 off them so far biggest was about 120Kg - they turn up in the middle of the night in a truck with the 'pig' in the back wrapped in plastic bags and iced up like something off a fishing vessel!
All i have done in the past was soak them in the bath after chopping up and then salting. Then chop up into manageble pieces and freeze.

 

[tubby_shaw]

Mmmm wild boar is delicious :)

We buy half pigs and the friendly butcher joints them as we request, but I'd rather have a wild boar delivered in the back of a pick up :mrgreen:

 

[tubby_shaw]

The curing period is over and this is how it looks

And with the excess salt rinsed off

And hanging up over the Tubbereezer to dry :thumb:

 

[Grumpy Jack]

WOW! Brilliant thread this one!! :clap: :clap:

 

[tubby_shaw]

Time to report on how the bacon is :hmm:

Well here it is sliced into rashers

It sliced much more like Parma ham than bacon, it was much firmer than commercial bacon

And in the frying pan

Unlike commercial bacon there was no liquid leaking from the bacon and it didn't shrink at all either :party: but because I didn't use any saltpetre the bacon browned instead of staying pink which is fine

And here it is as part of a good, hearty breakfast :grin:

My conclusion
It is saltier than commercial bacon but not unpleasantly so, it is drier and not at all slimy like some bacon can be, it has a much more intense flavour and the pepper and bay leaves that I used in the cure were definitely there in the flavour but not at all overpowering I'll definitely be doing this again :thumb:
And finally?
Om nom nom nom :party: