Dry-curing bacon for seasoning meat, part 2

The previous post, with some basic info and getting started on this batch: Dry-curing bacon for seasoning meat

This batch ended up sitting longer in the fridge, near the end, because I got distracted by a tooth abscess–but, it turned out fine anyway. Here are some more process photos, finally. 🙂

Day 2, before draining and resalting:

Day 3 or 4, with less liquid already getting drawn out:

Don’t worry if the brine smells like stale blood, BTW, because it mostly is. 😐 Glad to drain that stuff off!

Day 5 or 6:

I thought that, with the amount of lean meat full of moisture, it would probably take a bit longer for this batch, and it did. At this point, it needed a couple more days of curing.

But, a couple of days after that, it was starting to dry out enough that I intended to dump the rest of the cure on it and give it one more day in the fridge. That turned into about a week, but at that stage it wasn’t a problem. Thankfully! This photo is after I started resalting it for the day.

 

About a week ago, I finally got it rinsed, wrapped, and hung up to dry more.

Ready to go!

First I laid out a clean, thin tea towel. Don’t use one that you mind staining; some other kind of thin cotton cloth will work OK, too. This one has been repeatedly used for things like this, and it still doesn’t look great even though I always wash kitchen towels with Oxi stuff to get rid of germs.

Yep, my counter’s still a wreck. 😉 The bag of GF pasta in the background at least fits the theme here.

The lighting was really bad here. But, lay the pieces lengthwise, and wrap them up. This approach is easier with a single bigger slab, but it works OK with the sliced.

 

I rubber-banded the top and bottom. One reason I like to use these towels is that they come with handy hanging loops. 🙂

 

Those hooks are inconveniently placed for dish towels, as Mr. Sweden intended, but they’re great for things like bags of citrus and drying bacon. 😉 Not to mention decorative corn that you’re not sure what else to do with out of season. But, corn!

Cherokee folk song sung by Walker Calhoun of Cherokee, North Carolina at the Berea College Celebration of Traditional Music 10-26-90.

Today, I figured it was probably dry enough, and I wanted to use some in a pot of beans. One of the leaner pieces still had a bit much moisture, so I cut some from it and hung it back up. The other three pieces got double-bagged and put into the freezer. Salty, fatty things won’t keep too long in there, but it ought to hold for a few extra months without starting to go rancid. IME, about six months is the freezer storage limit before it starts turning.

The color is a bit off here, but looking pretty good! I wasn’t sure, but apparently there was enough nitrate (with my cautious addition) to keep it from turning brownish greyish: perfectly fine to eat, but an offputting color.

 

Ready for the freezer!

 

Review: Pizza Hut UK’s gluten-free version

I liked the “serve it on a cutting board” approach.

I was excited when Pizza Hut introduced a gluten-free crust in the UK, and had been meaning to risk cross-contamination and try it. Homemade crust is great when you have the time and energy, and I’m glad to have good access to decent frozen pizzas to embellish, and GF pitas or naans to use as a base–but, I’ve really missed just being able to order a pizza! It’s taken a while to try, since the nearest dine-in location is not so convenient with me gimpy from the celiac complications, and our not having a car. Which is pretty frustrating, in itself, since that’s less than a mile and a half away, and I used to walk or cycle to the Homebase and Pets At Home there pretty often. There used to be another location in Romford town centre, but it closed for some reason several years back.

They started out launching the GF crust only in dine-in locations, but I see now that it is apparently now also available from delivery-only ones from a couple of weeks ago, which is handy!

But, we needed to go by the vet’s in Pets At Home over the weekend to pick up some more Advocate for the cats (it’s never not flea season, in this climate!), and Mr. Sweden suggested popping in Pizza Hut for a late lunch.

He can eat the regular crust, but we ended up splitting a Cajun Sizzler and a Best Ever Supreme (*hollow laughter*). Not surprisingly, the selection in UK restaurants is different from what I’m used to in the US, and it’s been better than five years since I was in a Pizza Hut at all, so I had a hard time deciding what to get. 🙂 Here’s the official menu, BTW. The GF crust only comes in a 9″ square, to easily distinguish it from any of the wheat crusts, and the size was about right for one person.

Well, the crust had a pretty good texture and flavor. It got a little dry mouthfeel as it cooled down, but overall I was impressed. They did well with the crust recipe.

But, I won’t be going back to that location for more pizza, because they were so stingy with the toppings, including sauce, that I ended up having to add some caesar dressing and pickled jalapeño rings from the salad bar for lubrication! The regular pizzas on other tables looked the same with that, so I think it’s just a subpar Pizza Hut location.

A bad shot of me holding up a piece, but you can maybe see that there is very little on top of the crust in cross section. 0_o  Plus Mr. Sweden’s knife-and-fork approach, which is too civilized for me! I also gnaw on bones in public.

Cajun Sizzler

Most of what I could taste with the Cajun Sizzler was the crust and chile rings. I was remembering it as a Cajun Chicken Sizzler, because the one we got didn’t have any pepperoni at all–but it was apparently supposed to, looking at the menu now. They were even skinchy with the onions. There wasn’t much chicken, either, but that did have a pleasant seasoning.

“Best Ever Supreme”. The little brownish dots are apparently the beef. This didn’t have more sauce; that’s mostly color spreading out from the pepperoni.

The “Supreme” had a little more flavor from mostly the pepperoni, but yeah. I would be embarrassed to serve something like that, for (I think) £8.95. Mr. Sweden paid, and I wasn’t paying much attention to the price. It isn’t clear on the online menu, but I think they are charging “regular” size price for the smaller GF crust version. (Fair enough.)

I didn’t want to complain too much at the time, since the hub was thoughtful in suggesting it and then sharing pizzas when I couldn’t decide what to get, but yeah. Overall, it was a disappointing experience, but I am chalking it up to a not-so-great individual restaurant location. And, now that I know it’s available now, I look forward to trying some more from the delivery-only location just down the road. 🙂 If I weren’t already cooking some red beans for tonight, I might call it Pizza Night.

That was Sunday, and today (Tuesday) I am still not noticing any ill effects. So, maybe the round of restaurant roulette was OK from a cross-contamination standpoint. *crosses fingers* I seem to be less sensitive to traces than some, though, in terms of violent symptoms, so YMMV even at that restaurant location. (It probably doesn’t do much for nutrient absorption, anyway, and I’ve been trying to be more careful lately.)

Still to try: the Dominos version. 🙂 Even though I have some problems with the parent company’s political activity in the US, and how they treat their workers: I’ll take extra cheese, olives, no homophobia (the two things are not unconnected, AFAICT). At least the corporate Operation Rescue ties are false, according to Snopes, though I am not pleased with the personal contributions there. Desperate celiac pizza lover here, though. 😉

Also, I see that there is a nearby Zizzi location, serving GF pastas besides risottos, which I am totally going to have to try, even if they don’t have GF pizzas or calzones.