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DRY-CURED BELLY (Pancetta-Style Bacon)
INGREDIENTS
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1 pork belly
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3% salt to the weight of the meat
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100g Demerara sugar
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10 torn Bay Leaves
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30g cracked black pepper
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20 juniper berries, lightly crushed
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5g grated nutmeg
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fresh thyme
Firstly, weigh the piece of pork belly and then weigh out 3% of its weight in salt. If, for example the pork weighed 1Kg you would weigh out 30g of salt.
In a clean, non-metallic container, thoroughly mix the salt and all of the other the flavouring ingredients you want to use. Put a thin layer of this cure in the base of a clean box or tray, big enough to hold the belly. Add the belly, skin side down, and lightly rub all of the remaining cure over every surface.
Leave the box, covered, in a cool place safe from flies or otherwise in your fridge. After 24 hours you’ll see that the meat has leached salty liquid into the container. This is the action of curing taking place.
Keep the cure on the belly, three days for every Kg of its raw weight. So if it originally weighed 1Kg it stays in the cure for 6 days.
After the allotted time wash all the cure from the belly under a cold running tap then clean their surfaces with a clean tea towel. You can hang the belly at this stage but it is ready to slice and eat.
You can keep the bacon hanging in a cool place, or store it in the fridge for as long as you can refrain from eating it. Take slices as you need them, removing the bones as you come to them.
LABNEH
Labneh is a wonderfully affective strained yoghurt cheese which is really just the thickened remains of yoghurt after the majority of the whey has been drained off. Salt is the agent that causes the whey to drain and all that is required is a little bit of patience and a small amount of cheesecloth or muslin. I make it all year round but it is a particular family favourite at Christmas when I prepare it on Christmas eve ready to serve on Christmas morning with my own cured, smoked wild salmon and warm bagels. Of course it can be serves with fresh salads or even just simply drizzled with olive or rapeseed oil.
INGREDIENTS
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300 ml of natural yoghurt (doesn’t need to be full fat)
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a generous pinch of salt
EQUIPMENT
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A bowl
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Muslin or cheesecloth (or a clean jay cloth)
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Length of string
METHOD
Place the muslin, cheesecloth or jay cloth over the bowl so that there is enough falling over the edges of the bowl to gather up and tie once the yoghurt is put in. whilst the yoghurt is still in its container or poured out into a separate bowl, sprinkle in the salt and gently stir it in. Immediately transfer this onto the cloth covering the other bowl and gather up the corners so that they can be tied with the string. Find a way of hanging the cloth with the yoghurt in over the bowl in order to catch the whey which will begin the leach out almost immediately. I tie my yoghurt cloth on the tap in my kitchen sink with the bowl underneath. Every once in a while I give the tied cloth a little squeeze to accelerate the draining of the whey but this isn’t necessary unless you just appreciate the tactile element of doing this as I do! Allow the yoghurt to drain overnight and when you open the cloth you can see that there is a lovely ball of cheese that can be eaten immediately or be kept in the fridge for a week. You could also introduce herbs, flowers or suspend in good quality oil to add additional flavours.
QUICK, HOT-SMOKED, MACKEREL (Serves four)
INGREDIENTS
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4 mackerel fillets
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150g sugar
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150g salt
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1 tsp juniper berries
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4 bay leaves shredded
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1 tsp black pepper corns coarsely crushed
METHOD
Combine all the cure ingredients in a bowl just before you are ready to salt your fish.
Take a small plastic tray or something similar that is large enough to hold the fish in a flat layer. Scatter half the cure on the base of the tray. Lay the fish on top and scatter over the remaining cure. Allow the fish to salt for 12-15 mins.
Rinse the cure from the fish under a cold running tap; allow them to dry.
Hot smoke the fillets over a gentle heat for 7-8 minutes
Allow to rest before serving.
These are also delicious served cold mixed with crème fraiche, lemon and garlic as a smoked mackerel pate.
SMOKING
Smoking is an additional, but not essential, means of preserving meat which has already been cured. The purpose of smoking is, firstly, to remove the moisture from the meat very slowly, like drying, and secondly, unlike drying, to give additional flavour and preservation.
You may need to experiment with the siting of your smoker in order to obtain a steady temperature and flow of the smoke, as both of these are affected by the prevailing wind. I suggest you use a jam thermometer, situated at the top of the smoker, to check the temperature.
When the belly is dry, it is ready to cold smoke, ie below 80F/26C. It is an ideal piece of meat for the beginner to attempt as it is inexpensive if it goes wrong! I would suggest smoking the belly in 8 hour sessions, as I find it easier to monitor the temperature during daylight hours.
Once the meat has been smoked, you should hang it in a cool place for at least 24 hours to let the flavour develop.
THE GOLDEN RULES OF CURING RATIOS
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Whole muscle (such as coppa) require 3% salt per weight of meat on the whole surface and cure for 3 days per 500g
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Pancetta requires 3% salt per weight of pork belly and cures for 3 days per 500g and allows the cure to turn into a brine that envelops the meat
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Back Bacon uses a 50/50 sugar salt ratio and is liberally sprinkled on by hand over a period of days and has the moisture removed on a daily basis. It cures for the equal amount of time the cure is added before it is ready (5 days for streaky, 10 days for back) Or you can use the 3% rule for a precise finish.
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Prosciutto style hams are completely buried in salt 3 days for every Kg and air dried until they have lost 30% of their original weight
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A general brine uses a ratio of liquid to 3% salt. So a litre of water would require 30g of salt. We use the same ratio of 3 days per 500g in a brine but produce should be cooked after being brined.
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Salami also requires at least 3% salt to the overall weight of the meat in order to cure but is left to ferment, firstly in warm conditions for about 6 hours and then hung in the same place as your bacon until ready.
PERFECT AIR DRYING CONDITIONS
It is perfectly possible to affect the conditions which allow for air drying cured meat. The three main criteria are humidity, temperature and flow of air. You can easily air dry cured meat without any need to buy expensive kit. It could be as easy as finding a place to hang your products out of direct sunlight, where the temperature is comfortable and a flow of air can move across them on a regular basis. Think porch or out building, a badly made shed or garage where the air can whistle through. A cellar as long as the air isn’t stagnant – it must have a flow of air even if it means manufacturing it with a desk fan.
Of course to minimise the risk of flies and to maximise the natural elements of humidity, temperature and air flow it is only really advisable to hang curing meat outside at the right time of the year. On average in the UK, the perfect conditions happen over the winter period or between the parameters starting October of one year through to the end of April the next. The perfect conditions you are looking for are:
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Average temperatures between 10 – 18 degrees C
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Average humidity between 60 – 80%
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A constant flow of air
For those of you that are on the cusp of trying this technique but just can’t square away the fact that the meat will be left to its own devices outside, there are several ways in which you can further the protection without negatively altering the process. You could use a ‘jambon sac’ or muslin wrapped loosely around it. You could manufacture a meat safe which is basically a wooden frame box that has fly mesh instead of panels. Here on the Devon / Dorset border it is something that you come across regularly at car boot sales or bric-a-brac shop. I have known people to hang theirs in coarse fishing keep nets. As long as the mesh is small enough your ham will not get flies eggs on it.
