Hunting Washington Forum

Community => Butchering, Cooking, Recipes => Topic started by: KFhunter on December 06, 2018, 06:04:40 PM

Title: making ham & bacon
Post by: KFhunter on December 06, 2018, 06:04:40 PM: Maxing up some brine, 5 gallons at a time, I'll need 15 gallons total. Doing two hams and a bunch of bacon.

5 gallons water
5c sugar
5c morton flake salt
5 tbsp morton quick cure
1c molasses (kinda worried about this, last time I used about 1/2C per 5 gallons, but I wanted a bit more of that oaky flavor in it this time.
1/2C turned out great I had some this afternoon)

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181207/141d8fdc2940837a12c73f40d4a62b08.jpg)

I pour in hot water in the bottom, mix it up with an immersion blender to get it all fully emulsified.

(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181207/2fec70e6e50e5b1f66c927bfa194e091.jpg)

Pour in cold water once the salt and sugar are dissolved in the water, fill the bucket.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181207/1ec37398ec6245b2bd363ee1ffe9fbd5.jpg)

The brine only penetrates about an inch, so one must inject
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181207/ffb3dd1dd0065ca55d4f28615ccebeed.jpg)

especially important to get it down in next to the bone or you'll end up with brown spots in your ham when you cut it
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181207/d9be045a609562ef69f7e282cd0e8de6.jpg)

Add a bag of air to the top
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181207/e101815dd56819d084e1351c2acf302e.jpg)

See you next month!
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20181207/8b0ee4dd5202bd83e74bc8e32ba3de35.jpg)

sent from the telephone
Title: Re: making ham & bacon
Post by: KFhunter on December 06, 2018, 06:17:23 PM: same deal with wet brine on the bacon, reduce cure time to 14 days max or it gets salty.
Title: Re: making ham & bacon
Post by: brew on December 06, 2018, 06:40:39 PM: looks good. what cut do you use for bacon ? i've used pork bellies but recently have been using the shoulders (butts) for bigger bacon
Title: Re: making ham & bacon
Post by: KFhunter on December 06, 2018, 06:43:23 PM: I'm using bellies off two hogs
Title: Re: making ham & bacon
Post by: brew on December 06, 2018, 06:50:55 PM: copy...i need to get back into raising my own pigs again as the bellies i buy from cash & carry aren't very big..maybe 1 1/2" tall max. I do love making my own bacon...have never made my own hams but those look good. thanks for sharing
Title: Re: making ham & bacon
Post by: KFhunter on December 06, 2018, 07:03:46 PM: I made a Christmas ham last year, burgundy glaze, it was good.

Everyone devoured it and left the goose and turkey untouched :chuckle:
Title: Re: making ham & bacon
Post by: KFhunter on December 06, 2018, 07:06:20 PM: Quote from: brew on December 06, 2018, 06:50:55 PM
copy...i need to get back into raising my own pigs again as the bellies i buy from cash & carry aren't very big..maybe 1 1/2" tall max. I do love making my own bacon...have never made my own hams but those look good. thanks for sharing

Some of the belly is 3+ inches thick, I injected it. When you cut your own hog you can do whatever you like!

I even made bacon off a boar that would top 600 lbs, injected and brined for 14+ days. Dang it was good, but chewy...I called it jerky bacon but you'd just chew and chew and chew and the flavor just kept coming.
Title: Re: making ham & bacon
Post by: Threewolves on December 09, 2018, 07:40:55 PM: looks like it would work for bear