{"id":11997,"date":"2015-06-24T19:58:12","date_gmt":"2015-06-24T19:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/?p=11997"},"modified":"2015-06-24T20:01:45","modified_gmt":"2015-06-24T20:01:45","slug":"expat-essentials-english-bacon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/expat-essentials-english-bacon\/","title":{"rendered":"Expat Essentials – English Bacon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yes, you read that correctly. \u00a0 This is a “how to make your own bacon” post – brought to you with the able assistance of Mr R (and a very helpful website. \u00a0More on that soon!) as he is chief bacon\/sausage maker in this house.<\/p>\n

I didn’t really<\/em> learn to cook and bake properly until we first left the UK, when I spent many hours trying to recreate food from home in moments of desperation (as I write this I am watching Nigel Slater’s “Eating Together” and he has just stated “cooking can be a way of expressing and preserving heritage”, and he is completely right. I have always liked Nigel!). \u00a0 And Mr R? \u00a0He learned how to make English style bacon and sausages, also in moments of desperation. \u00a0 I remember an evening in Denmark when my sister and brother in law were visiting. \u00a0 My sister and I were getting ready for a night out in Copenhagen, and came down to a scene slightly reminiscent from Ghost with first attempts of sausage making taking place. \u00a0They will both kill me for telling you that, and I shall perhaps save sausage recipes for another day, but it did make me laugh at the time (incidentally if you live close to Vienna, you should check out Britwurst<\/a>, and then you wouldn’t need to bother!)…<\/p>\n

“But you lived in Denmark, how could you miss bacon when you lived there?” I hear you ask… \u00a0 We did indeed, but a) I am not overly keen on the Danish stuff (sorry) and b) they export most of it to the UK believe it or not, so it’s quite hard to find. \u00a0 And so we started making our own – the good stuff mind you, home cured from organic meat (preferably), and not pumped full of water and chemicals…<\/p>\n

I\u00a0apologise in advance to those readers that this recipe isn’t suitable for, but bacon has to be one of the things that a lot of British Expats miss, and the smell of it cooking must tempt many a vegetarian (I speak from experience here!)… Yes, making it is a bit of a lengthy process, but I promise you it’s worth it!<\/p>\n

Of course it helps that most Danish and Bavarian houses seem to come with inbuilt industrial sized bread\/cheese\/ham slicers which help with preferred thickness (or thinness), but in case you don’t have one of these Mr R suggests freezing the bacon before half defrosting it and slicing it with a super sharp knife (he also speaks from experience)…<\/p>\n

\"english<\/a><\/p>\n

So, on with the recipe…<\/p>\n

Ingredients:
\nGood organic belly pork or back loin;
\nPickling salt (Known as Cure #1, we order ours from SausageMaking.Org<\/a>);
\nOrdinary salt;
\nSugar (we use light brown);
\nSeasonings of choice (we use a couple of crushed juniper berries and a bayleaf)<\/em>;<\/p>\n

When you’re working with Curing salt it’s important to use precise amounts (use too much and it can be toxic), for this reason a set of scales accurate to better than 1 gram \u00a0are necessary. Next up you need to calculate how much of the curing mix you will need. \u00a0 This handy calculator <\/a>also from the sausage makers is great!<\/p>\n

Weigh the pork and let the calculator work out the required proportions for your ingredients. \u00a0Mix the cure well and then rub it into the meat. \u00a0Place into a ziplok bag on a plate and put in the bottom of the fridge. Now \u00a0leave it for for 5 to 7 days. \u00a0Rotate the bag every day\u00a0(this is called “overhauling”)\u00a0to redistribute the curing salt and juices that form quickly…<\/p>\n

When the time’s up, the meat will feel firm to the touch. \u00a0 Give it a rinse, pat it dry with kitchen roll, put it back on a clean plate and place back in the fridge uncovered for a day or so (and although it’s now cured make sure it’s away from other food stuffs obviously). This is to form a tacky surface (“pellicule”) on the meat to which the smoke will stick to…<\/p>\n

English bacon is cold smoked, so it stays raw. \u00a0 We have a ProQ Cold Smoking Starter Set<\/a> which you can use in a covered barbecue, or even in a cardboard box! \u00a0 Put the meat on a rack, place in the covered barbecue above the smoker, light it up and leave it to smoulder away for 4-6 hrs, depending on how smokey you like your bacon…<\/p>\n

Bacon made this way keeps in an air tight bag in the fridge for a week. \u00a0Alternatively, freeze it, and as mentioned above, it’s much easier to slice anyway when it’s partially frozen…<\/p>\n

Slice it, fry it or grill it, tuck it lovingly into white bread spread with plenty of butter, and top it with brown sauce (in our house) and Bob’s your uncle. \u00a0Yes it’s fiddly, yes it’s worth it.<\/p>\n

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