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is one Smokin' Farker
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2014
- Location
- Arizona
Per a request in my Brisket Today thread, here is my recipe for Spiced Coffee bacon, also known as Dirty Chai bacon. Dirty Chai is a chai with a shot of espresso in it.
Method for curing
Everything in this recipe depends on the weight of the pork belly being cured. I work in grams, because it is more precise/easier than working in ounces.
You start by cutting your pork belly into manageable sized pieces. You may trim it to get a descent rectangle as well.
Weigh a piece of the pork belly. The weight of the ingredients for the dry cure is a percentage of the weight of the pork belly.
For example - if you have a 1000 gram piece of belly, and the recipe calls for 2% coarse kosher salt, you would use 20 grams of salt (1000 x 2% = 20).
Doing it this way, rather than by tablespoon and teaspoon ensures the pieces of belly all get the proper amount of cure, no matter what it weighs. Mix up the batch of cure for each piece of belly individually.
I then place the piece of belly into a vacuum bag, though you can use a large zip-loc bag. I spoon the cure mixture into the bag with the belly, rubbing it in, and spreading it out as evenly as I can. Use all the cure mixture you mixed for that piece of belly.
Then I vacuum seal the bag, making sure I get a good seal. The bags of pork belly go into a pan, in case of leaks, and into the refrigerator. Each day I flip the bags over, taking the time to rub the bag to move the cure around and eliminate any dry cure that is there.
Dry curing bacon is a bit of a misnomer, as the dry cure will pull moisture out of the pork belly, creating a "wet" cure in the bag.
After 10-14 days in the refrigerator, I remove the bacon from the bags, rinse it, dry it and put it in the refrigerator on racks overnight. The next day, I smoke the bacon. I smoke at low temps. If the outside temp stays below 40 degrees, I can smoke for a long time - in excess of 12 hours. This time of year, I smoke for 3 to 3-1/2 hours. For cold smoking bacon, I use an electric hot plate and a pan of pellets to provide smoke with little heat.
Once the smoking is done, I vacuum pack the bacon and put it back into the refrigerator for a week. Then it is sliced and repacked in 1-pound packages.
On to the recipe...
Ingredients
2% kosher salt
2% sugar
1% instant coffee
1% chai spice
0.25% cure#1
You could find a recipe for chai spice on the interweb and mix your own. I use chai spice from The Spice House in Milwaukee, WI. My family has done business with them for decades. I trust their spices.
That's the way it works.
The packages on the right are Spiced Coffee bacon. Any dry spice you see will be completely incorporated within a couple days.
Post smoking bacon.
Sliced bacon
Method for curing
Everything in this recipe depends on the weight of the pork belly being cured. I work in grams, because it is more precise/easier than working in ounces.
You start by cutting your pork belly into manageable sized pieces. You may trim it to get a descent rectangle as well.
Weigh a piece of the pork belly. The weight of the ingredients for the dry cure is a percentage of the weight of the pork belly.
For example - if you have a 1000 gram piece of belly, and the recipe calls for 2% coarse kosher salt, you would use 20 grams of salt (1000 x 2% = 20).
Doing it this way, rather than by tablespoon and teaspoon ensures the pieces of belly all get the proper amount of cure, no matter what it weighs. Mix up the batch of cure for each piece of belly individually.
I then place the piece of belly into a vacuum bag, though you can use a large zip-loc bag. I spoon the cure mixture into the bag with the belly, rubbing it in, and spreading it out as evenly as I can. Use all the cure mixture you mixed for that piece of belly.
Then I vacuum seal the bag, making sure I get a good seal. The bags of pork belly go into a pan, in case of leaks, and into the refrigerator. Each day I flip the bags over, taking the time to rub the bag to move the cure around and eliminate any dry cure that is there.
Dry curing bacon is a bit of a misnomer, as the dry cure will pull moisture out of the pork belly, creating a "wet" cure in the bag.
After 10-14 days in the refrigerator, I remove the bacon from the bags, rinse it, dry it and put it in the refrigerator on racks overnight. The next day, I smoke the bacon. I smoke at low temps. If the outside temp stays below 40 degrees, I can smoke for a long time - in excess of 12 hours. This time of year, I smoke for 3 to 3-1/2 hours. For cold smoking bacon, I use an electric hot plate and a pan of pellets to provide smoke with little heat.
Once the smoking is done, I vacuum pack the bacon and put it back into the refrigerator for a week. Then it is sliced and repacked in 1-pound packages.
On to the recipe...
Ingredients
2% kosher salt
2% sugar
1% instant coffee
1% chai spice
0.25% cure#1
You could find a recipe for chai spice on the interweb and mix your own. I use chai spice from The Spice House in Milwaukee, WI. My family has done business with them for decades. I trust their spices.
That's the way it works.
The packages on the right are Spiced Coffee bacon. Any dry spice you see will be completely incorporated within a couple days.
Post smoking bacon.
Sliced bacon
