More from Mr Neil (not-so) Master Butcher (his words, not mine!) So it’s only 12 hours until I start my 20+ hour journey to Bangkok. Guess that mean time to hang the pancetta! Right off the bat, I’ll admit the moniker Mardi has given me may be at risk. I’m dubious of this whole exercise, [...]
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Prepping the pancetta
Preparations for the pancetta hanging are well underway back in Toronto. More from Mr Neil, Master Butcher: We did not have a proper wine cellar thermometer before (quelle surprise!). Meaning, one which has min/max memory for temp, but also a hydrometer to measure humidity. Needed to check on cellar conditions for the hanging event mid-week…. [...]
Maple bacon – the finished product
Thanks to Cleo’s supervision, the maple smoked bacon got done today: According to Mr Neil Master Butcher, it looks to have “cooked” a bit too much versus “smoked”. The end bits are of course saltier (dry cure on outside), but I tasted a bit and it was certainly glorious. A fork was delivered to our [...]
Maple Bacon smoking – the process…
More from Mr Neil Master Butcher who is handling the bacon part of the BLT challenge… Here’s the belly, rinsed and patted dry from the fridge. (Sorry, I could not take picture of the process as my hands were a bit gucky!) Truth be told, I think it may have needed a few more days [...]
Maple Bacon and pancetta… Mmmm… bacon!
More from Mr Neil, Master Butcher: Here’s the Maple Bacon, in its finished form. You can see the bits of maple sugar…they look like corn kernels. They say the reason it’s important to have a rather tight fit in the container is to aid in the curing process. The salts draw the liquid out of [...]
Curing details
(Some more details about the pork belly curing from Mr Neil, Master Butcher): Here are the two curing mixes for comparison. Both use the Basic Dry Cure mix as a base, with slightly different proportions. Then there are various spices and sugars. On the right, the Maple Bacon cure. It features maple sugar flakes, just [...]
