Black Forest Bacon

[BedouinBob]

Have a friend who was a missionary to Europe and has German friends that do Black Forest bacon. The actually have to get EU permission to to the traditional recipe. I think it's because they hang it dry for a while. I am adapting the recipe with the flavor profile to keep it safe. 

Started last night with the dry brine on a 5 lb pork belly:
450 grams Kosher salt
50 g #1 pink salt
8 crushed Juniper berries
3 g black pepper
2 g brown sugar
2 g coriander
1 g garlic powder
1 bay leaf

I had a full pork belly so the other half is straight up method by
Pork Belly.  Love that recipe.
Now we get to wait 14 days.....  :'(

 

[Pork Belly]

That sounds like a good mix. I  have been toasting my spices and juniper berries to wake them up prir to grinding or crushing, it works great. 

 

[BedouinBob]

Good point Brian. I didn't this time as I was pressed for time to get this started.

 

[Pork Belly]

I am curious about the dry aging, what do you know about that step in the recipe?

 

[BedouinBob]

Brian, not a lot of detail but after the refrigerator cure for 12/14 days they rinse and hang at room temp for 2 days before smoking. Probably not that bad considering the preservation is done at that point but the EU really wants to regulate them for some reason (go USA!). The interesting thing to me is they do multiple smokes (6 times for ham and 2-4 times for bacon). That seems like a lot of smoke to me. I may try 2 times to see, one cold and then second to 150 deg. What are your thoughts?

 

[Pork Belly]

The hang time is not an issue, you can do that in a shady spot in the pantry or just leave it on a wire rack if you are more comfortable with that. If I make Panchetta (Italian Cured Belly) in the winter I just hang it on one of the kitchen cabinet handles after it is cured, rinsed and rolled. The hang time or additional rest in the fridge reduces the moisture in the meat concentrating flavor and firming the texture.

I don't really have a theory for multiple smokes as to how that would be better than a long cold smoke. I just did a 14 hour cold smoke + 8 hours hot smoke. I like the flavor that gave us.

 

[BedouinBob]

Bacon was complete on cure after 14 days, rinsed and put on racks for pelicle over night. Today, I am smoking it along with cheese as a first cold smoke. I plan on smoking to 150 deg IT later this weekend. I'll post the final pics then......maybe after a taste test next week. I'm interested in the Black Forest flavor profile.