Nitrate Free Bacon Success...!!

[TassieSmoker]

Hi All,

About a month or so ago I posted up a request for any information on curing and smoking up some pork loin without the use of a commercial cure product or any nitrates/nitrites.

With some great help and assistance from some members on this forum, namely FLBentRider and BuyLowSellHigh, I came up with a brine recipe and a final product that was fantastic.....here is what I did for anyone who is interested.

As per BLSH's instructions here, http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=19432.15 , my piece of loin funnily enough was 2kg, I used the brine recipe as follows:

Pork Loin 2kg
168gm of Salt
168gm of Brown Sugar
1.4ltrs of Water
1.2ltrs of Apple Juice
200mls of Molasses

The brine was chilled overnight then the loin placed in the brine and refrigerated for 7 days turning the loin in the brine every day.
After the 7 days I removed the loin, lightly rinsed in running water and placed on a rack in the fridge for a further 12 hours to dry and form the pellicle.
I then preheated the Bradley to 180F with some Maple smoke pumping hard and smoked for around 6 hours reaching an internal temp of 150F for around 30 minutes.......the end result was fantastic.
After going back through the steps I may have added slightly too much Molasses which gave the meat a dark shade and a slight sweet/bitter aftertaste however the crowd of family lining up for Bacon and Egg wrapps for breakfast the morning after Christmas was a good indication of how great it tasted.
Next time I will substitute the Molasses for Maple Syrup and may even give it a Maple Syrup Glaze before the cook.....

Hope this was of interest.

Cheers
Smokin Downunder

Ingredients ready to go......


Loin once removed from the brine......


Hanging ready for smoke and cook......


The final product, sliced nice and thick......

[BuyLowSellHigh]

Tasmanian apple juice -- I love it!

Great work Tassie!  Glad it worked out for you.

You guys sure have some dark, dark molasses.  Looks almost like  (groan) vegemite (yuck!).    ;D

[Caribou]

Beautiful bacon Tassie :)
Great job!
Carolyn

[Tenpoint5]

Looks really good Tassie. You leave the skin on it looks like.

[SoCalBuilder]

Man, look at all the meat on that thing! I noticed the rind also. Years ago, my mom used to buy 1 lb. portions of slab bacon that you sliced yourself. She would leave the rind on and just cross cut it so the bacon didn't curl. Everyone else in the family would just sideline the litttle pieces of rind and throw them away. Not this kid! I saved them for last and chewed away on them well after I left the table ;D Good memories!

[TassieSmoker]

Tasmanian apple juice -- I love it!

Mate all the best Australian Apples come from Tassie......its why we are called the Apple Isle... ;D

You guys sure have some dark, dark molasses.  Looks almost like  (groan) vegemite (yuck!).    ;D

I actually struggled to find Molasses in any supermarkets and ended up going to the local health food store which stocked the organic stuff.....dark, thick and sticky but smells sooooo good... :P
You guys just dont understand Vegemite.....tastes a bit extreme straight from the jar but lightly spread on some toast with some butter and its a whole lot different.......dont be afraid :D