Hello,
I have some questions about curing fresh hams and bacons. I normally use a recipe for each that I got in a book from The Sausage Maker. I like the recipes they are easy to prepare and have had success with them. However, I would like your recommendations on how to make the hams and the bacons sweeter.
The Hams are soaked in a brine with water, salt, powdered dextrose, and Insta Cure #1
The Bacons are rubbed with salt, Insta Cure #1, and Honey
Both with the proper amounts for the weight of meat and smoked with hickory in the DBS (LOVE IT, set it and forget it until the ringer goes off).
Everyone who has tasted them suggests that I try something sweeter for both the hams and the bacons.
I was thinking brown sugar and molasses, but is it ok to just add these to the recipes at will or is there a better way to sweeten thing up?
Should I brine the bacons also, they do tend to be a little salty, but taste great on a burger.
Any suggestions or recommendations that you can give are appreciated.
Thanks
i would say brown sugar... and try smoking with a sweeter chip / bisquette like cherry, apple or maple and start off with an 40 minute to hour smoke and adjust to your taste.
good luck
beefmann
Welcome to the forum littlebitt!
I have yet to do bacon, but at the tail end of the smoke/cook on ham I use a honey, molasses, bourbon and a touch of bbq sauce mixed up for a glaze. The pork gurus will be along!
C
Have never cured a fresh ham but I have cured bacon and if you want to sweeten the bacon, pour some pure maple syrup in the bag/container that is holding the bacon while curing. 1/4 cup per bag is sufficient. I use brown sugar in my cure mix already.
KyNola
Hi littlebit;
Welcome to the forum.
You can add and subtract ingredients to your recipe as long as you maintain the proper amount of InstaCure #1 in the recipe.
For ham I use Sausage Makers Maple Ham cure and add a few of my own ingredients. When I don't have that particular cure on hand, I have developed a close enough replacement.
Smoked Cured Ham (http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?t=465)
The recipe looks complicated but it fairly easy.
As for the bacon, I would follow KyNola's suggestion, and massage it into the meat well. Since the recipe you are using calls for your to pour the honey on after applying the dry ingredients, another thought is that you could be applying too much of the dry cure on your bacon.
I have good results using the cure recipe in Charcuterie.
2 oz. Kosher salt
2 tsp. Cure #1 or pink salt
1/4 C. Brown Sugar (or Maple sugar granules)
1/4 C. Maple Sugar (Honey in your case)
(This is enough for about a 5 pound slab)
Mix all ingredients together and apply mixture to the entire surface. You can use the same curing method as you are using now, except I like to turn the bellies over every day or at least every other day.
When I do my hams I add Maple powder to sweeten it up. You can order it from www.targil.com If I remember right it was only like $5 for 10oz (Don't quote me on the price)
Yeah! Either maple syrup and sugar works well. Though I prefer the maple sugar granules over the powder form, they are less likely to clump up. I get mine from Vermont Country Store, but today I'm having problems accessing the site.
This is the site http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/browse/Home/Food-Candy/Food/From-Our-Kitchen/Granulated-Maple-Sugar/D/30100/P/1:100:1020:10270:100740/I/f06406 you may have better luck accessing it.
Our Bacon is plenty sweet - to the point that we need to fry at a lower temp to prevent scorching...
I cure my bacon (belly and Canadian) with:
Per pound of meat:
1T Mortons Tender Quick
1T Brown Sugar
per belly / 4lbs of loin:
1/4 C of Maple Syrup (The real stuff - not hungry jack / Mrs Butterworth)
Cure 5 to 7 days, smoke 3 hours to an IT of 140.
I'm far from an expert, but I'd have to agree with the others. The addition of maple syrup seems to sweeten it up quite a bit.
Dan
During the past 3 weeks I have been using Agave Nectar in several recipes. It is extracted from the Agave plant, the same plant that they make tequila from. It is 3 -4 times sweeter they sugar, maple syrup etc, and very low in calories. The gold is very sweet, with almost a neutral flavor, I also have the blue, but haven't tried it yet. You have to make some adjustments to how you back, but so far I am pleased with the results.
I haven't used it for curing yet, but it may give you the additional sweetness boost to your honey or maple syrup. If you don't have a health food store near you, just do a search on the internet, you'll get a ton of hits. It's not cheap, but you don't have to use as you would other syrups and sugar.
Has anyone tried use Morton's sugar cure in place of tender quik? Not sure what the difference is between the two.
The sugar cure has additional sugar in the form of dextrose from corn syrup. This is the version of Tender Quick that Morton recommends for bacon and hams. All three types of Tend Quick are interchangeable.
I have 20 lb's off back bacon in the box now,I am using the Agave Nectar and will report results next week.Initial taste of the stuff(Agave Nectar) was ULTRA sweet that stuck with me for 5 min.Normally I go with the maple syrup......always willing to try something new...........................Oh and finished it off with honey prior to the smoker
Are you using the golden or blue. I've been using the golden for some time, and just started using it in recipes. The flavor improve when blended in a recipe, don't use it as a syrup for pancake; way too sweet. I find it is super sweet, but no after taste.
I've just used the golden for some Canadian bacon. It is reported to be 3 to 4 times sweeter then sugar, honey or maple syrup. I want to add to the sweetness, but not over power it, so I only used 1/2 the amount of Agave nectar, then what the recipe called for in sugar and maple syrup. The finish product was sweeter but not over powering sweet.
Habs,
Stop & Shop has a brand that has Amber & Light. I wonder how that compares to your golden & blue -- maybe the amber = golden? I have used the light in baking a few times - things like burger buns. I have some of the amber but haven't used or even tasted it yet.
Deb
Hi Deb;
The blue is really a very dark brown color. I refer to it as "the blue" because it comes from the blue agave plant. What I am referring to as gold can also be called amber. I haven't come across any brand that was lighter then amber. I have 3 bottles of the blue, so I may open one today and see if there is any difference in taste.
Though my favorite grocery stores are Price Chopper and Hannaford, I'm going to have to make a trip to Stop & Shop in my area to see if they carry Agave Nectar. I usually have to go to a health food store or buy it online.
My choices are ShopRite or Stop&Shop. Price Chopper closed earlier this year. I wish we had a Hannaford , it's where I shopped when I lived in NH.
This is the brand they have at my Stop & shop:
(http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk234/deb415611/agave.jpg)
Stop & Shop only carry the smaller size. If you use alot of it I Amazon.com carries agave. I just looked - they have several kinds -- you have to buy 12 of the smaller bottles but they come to 2.87/bottle - I think I paid 4.39.
I'm going to do some Canadian Bacon & Bacon in a few weeks - I think I'll try the agave
Deb;
Thanks for the information. I finally got around to tasting the Blue Agave Nectar. The blue definitely has a distinctive taste, with a slight bitter after taste. I'm not sure if I will continue to use this; I'll try it in a few recipes.
The gold (lighter color nectar) just add sweetness, with no noticeable taste.
I can't wait to hear Thunder Fish and your reports.
The bacon is one of the nicest product to come out of my Bradley,very "rich" smooth flavor,I did soak it down a few times with honey prior to smoking and it was same Agave as in the pictures in the previous post..Light I think I used.really great bacon..........only problem is I only purchased 3 full loins..........should of got more ::)
Thunder Fish;
When you used the Agave Nectar did you reduce the amount, or did you use the same measurement for the sweetner that the recipe called for? I thinking when I use it the next time if the recipe calls for 1/2 cup of sugar, or syrup; I'll use the same amount of nectar.
In the picture above from deb415611........I used the second bottle from the left(8 or 12 oz)and did 9 packs of 2-2.5 lbs each and stuck to the recipe amount of brown sugar(I believe it was your recipe).After rinsing and letting them sit on a rack for 30-45 min I gave them a drink of honey(#1 amber),let them sit for 30 min did that a second time and there was still very little dripping off,hit them a 3rd time about 30 min later and the honey was just about running off...........into the smoker they went.
I have some of my wife's relatives in from eastern Canada,so after they cooled on the racks,I gave them a light dusting of more honey(#1 amber)and rolled them in corn meal.......aka"Peameal Bacon"......I have yet to try any that have been vacuum packaged yet just the stuff right off the racks from the smoker :P
I'd be careful with the Agave nectar......stuff is really sweet.......and I saved a bunch of coin on the maple syrup even though I get it from Quebec for $5 a 8 oz can,never used any this smoke time.
Thunder Fish;
Thanks for the additional information. You used what I call the gold nectar. From your recipe it seems that you uses approximately the amount I had used in my last batch. I may adjust the amount of nectar up for my next batch.