Thursday, December 23, 2010

Bacon! Today's Final Step

Now, the hard part -- sticking the proto-bacon in a bag and stuffing it in the fridge.

See, this is where we basically will do nothing for the bacon for a few days. As the cure leaches into the meat, the meat will lose moisture, which will pool in the bottom of the bag. So each day we will simply remove the bacon from its resting place, drain off the collected moisture, flip the bacon over, and put it back where it belongs in the fridge.

Recipes I've read suggest that at day 5 or 7 you pull out the bacon and ready it for smoking, but I'm still researching that step. So, either December 28th or December 30th, we'll be moving on to the next step.

Meanwhile I've improvised in typical fashion to prepare for the curing process. I can't find my Sharpie, so an envelope with the recipes on it rests on top of the three segments. Beneath that are three 2-gallon freezer bags, each with a piece of meat in it. Beneath that is a turkey roasting rack and the ends of the bags, so that hopefully in between drainings the moisture will pool away from, rather than on, the meat.

Anyway, that's it for now. The whole thing took about 45 minutes. Easy peasy.

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