Cooking The Books

Bacon Connoisseurs' Week 2011 - Black Bacon Day 7

So we're finally at the end of the week and the bacon is ready to eat.  Any worries about the not particularly appetising black colour penetrating deep into the meat are unfounded.  As soon as I broke the surface the dark exterior gave way to sweet pink meat.  It's maybe a little darker than normal but in an appealing well aged way, the thin edge adding to this matured feel. 

The sugar in curing has no effect on the curing process itself and is there merely for flavour, to help counteract the heavy levels of salt.  The treacle has the same effect and this is a sweet bacon, the edges almost toffee like once grilled.  I'd have loved for there to be a hint of the ginger too but the teaspoon of ground is lost on my tastebuds.  I'm not too worried though as this is damn good bacon, perfect with a little brown sauce in a home-made potato roll.

Josh's Black Bacon

Per kg of pork, back (loin) or belly is the usual

2.5gr cure #1

25 gr rock salt

1 ts ground ginger, I couldn't taste it but removing it might ruin it, so I won't

3 TB black treacle

Method

Grind the salt, cure #1 and ginger with a pestle and mortar until smooth.  Rub the pork well with this mixture, maing sure ot get it into all the crevises.

Rub the pork with the black treacle (this is a little tricky as it's pretty thick) then place into a zip lock bag.  Try and scrape as much of the cure & treacle mix off your hands into the bag too.

Cure in the fridge for 1 day per cm of thickness plus 2 days, so probably 5 days for a belly and 7 days for a loin/back.

Remove, wash well then dry, uncovered on a rack (or hanging from a hook if you have somewhere suitable) for a day or two.

Slice and eat.

Shrimp and Grits

For a second week running I've turned to the US for breakfast dishes that are pretty crazy for a British breakfast table.  For some reason products of the sea are conspicuous in their absence from the first meal of the day here, you may see a rare kipper or an even rarer smoked haddock, a trip across the Severn may see a few cockles and some seaweed, but that's about it - definitely no prawns.  My stint in Asia left me loving them for breakfast though so making the transition from a noodle soup to this dish was very easy. 

It's a quick dish to prepare.  The first step of browning some smoked bacon and onion in a little oil leaves a pan full of those flavours, ready to impart on the prawns.  Once they're starting to colour a few chunks of tomato go in - we're not aiming to break them down, just warm them through.  A knob of butter adds richness to both the sauce and grits and the soft yolk is a second, ready made sauce.  It's real comfort food that spoons down the throat very easily, warm with smoke and interspersed with the sweet chew of prawns and crunch of browned bacon. 

It's a southern US dish at heart but is supposedly very popular in the hipster establishments of New York, I can see why.  With current blogger's favourite Spuntino offering the first grits I've seen in London maybe a restaurant version of this isn't too far down the line here either.  If it does pop up I'm not sure it will be at breakfast time though.

Shrimp and Grits

Serves 2

1/2 cup grits

500ml stock (chicken or prawn)

12 king prawns/shrimps, if you have them the shells will help with your stock

4 rashers smoked streaky bacon

2 eggs

1/2 small red onion, 1cm dice

1 large tomato, seeded then 1cm diced

A big knob of butter

Method

Prepare the grits as detailed on the packet.  Mine takes 5 minutes which gives enough time to make the 'shrimp'.  Finish it with a knob of butter, although that's not just yet.

Get the fried egg goings.

Heat some oil over a reasonably high heat.  Slice the bacon into 1cm batons then fry with the onion until both are starting to brown, chuck in the prawns and fry until coloured.  Add in the tomato and the remaining butter and give just enough time for them to heat through and the prawns finish.

Spoon the grits onto a plate (pasta bowls work well), place an egg on top and pour over the 'shrimp'.

I like to eat with some hot sauce (Franks, Tabasco...) so you may do too.

Bacon Connoisseurs' Week 2011 - Black Bacon Day 6

After 5 full days in the cure the bacon can now be removed, hopefully the cure has penetrated to the centre.  You could eat it now but it may be a little moist and so it's good to dry it for a day, a couple of days would be more than fine too but I've only got one day left before Bacon Connoisseurs' Week 2011 and so that's all it will get.  This could be done hanging from a hook somewhere cool and airy but in my new-build flat nowhere meets that description.  As such it's back into the fridge, uncovered and on a rack so air can circulate.  It's taking quite a bit of willpower not to hack of a slice and give it a taste today, but I shall resist.

 

Bacon Connoisseurs' Week 2011 - Black Bacon Day 5

One of the, actually scrap that the, favourite thing of mine about curing meat is the colour effect, the way bacon is pink raw and pink cooked and salt beef is red raw and red cooked.  I'm going to give chicken a go soon to see if that holds, although I'm not sure if I want it to in that case.

The part of the cure that is causing this effect is the nitrite, which in the case of my cure #1 is sodium nitrite.  Nitrite is nasty, posionous stuff and kills bacteria (and humans in the right amounts, so measure carefully), and so is very useful in curing. It also slows down the oxidisation, this occurs when the nitrite breaks down into nitric oxide inside the meat and this nitric oxide binds to the iron in the meat cell's myoglobin.  This effectively reduces the oxidisation process and sets the colour - I think, any scientists feel free to correct me and any students do not use me as a reference in any essays on the subject.  As much as I love the man this means that HFW's salt only cure, devoid of any nitrites, and resultant greyish bacon is a no no.

Looking at this piece of belly this morning, entering it's last day in the cure and looking very dark, I cannot imagine it being a bright, rosy rasher of bacon.  Hopefully of all the chemicals that have been drawn into the meat this week though, none of them are that nasty black colour and so a slice will reveal the full pink glory with a delicate outline of black.  We shall find out Sunday when I cut the first slices.

Bacon Connoisseurs' Week 2011 - Black Bacon Day 3

The general rule of thumb for length of time to cure when bacon curing is 1 day per cm (or half inch, it is a rule of thumb after all) of thickness, plus 2 days.  As such a skinny little piece of belly like this doesn't need any more than 5 days and so we're pretty much at the half way point now.

To look at there is no difference but the salt will still be doing its thing, which as well as drawing the liquid from the meat is also drawing liquid from the cells of anything in there we don't want to recreate along with slowing the oxidation process, both of which help the meat to stay edible longer.