Not all people are clearly defined in terms of whenwe are talking about products close to lard. The more difficult it is to resolve the issue, rather far from our realities: salted, smoked, dried bacon - what kind of kitchen, and is there such a product in the adjacent stores. Considering that moment, that now in many recipes bacon participation is required, it is worth finding out what it is and how to use it.
Dispel misconceptions
Buying dried bacon, no matter what its kitchen"Invented", it is necessary to understand that this is not fat. Not every pig, and not all parts of it, is suitable for him. Animals are selected with a long back and fast growing. At the same time, the diet of pigs intended for bacon is also very important. They are in no way fed with mud and waste - only beans, barley, millet, vetch; root vegetables are chopped, pigs are otpaivayutsya obrat, and even milk. As a result of such expensive investments, it turns out, rather, not fat, but meat with its layers. When slaughtering bacon, only the side of the pig goes. The product is primarily salted. Already after it can be dried or smoked.
Dried bacon - what kind of kitchen?
Actually, the name of the product has Celticorigin. That is, the historic homeland of bacon was the land of Wales, Ireland, Cornwall and Scotland. In written sources of these territories, it was first mentioned in the 14th century. The British still love, produce and willingly eat Celtic bacon, although now the country of its greatest distribution is still, probably, the States.
Controversial moments
However, not everything is so simple with a delicacy calleddried bacon. What kind of cuisine claims authorship other than Celtic? For example, Canadian. In it only the lumbar part of the pig goes for bacon, and the ham must also be lean. So Canadian bacon is much more expensive than regular.
The Italians can also consider themselves the "parents" of bacon. Their variant is called pancetta and differs from the Celtic modification by the abundance of spicy herbs and spices.
Salty, Celtic, homemade, non-smoked
You can cook bacon at home.The recipe of preparation, in principle, is simple. True, you can hardly find a real "bacon" pork. It can be replaced with a spatula or ham, the structure closest to the original. A brine is prepared from three liters of water, a liter of beer, 400 grams of sugar (try to find brown though), 600 - coarse salt and 50 - sodium nitrate. As the spices are taken 10 crushed peas of pepper, the same mashed juniper berries and bay leaves. This amount of liquid is enough for 10 kilos of large pieces of meat. Pork is immersed in brine and placed on the bottom of the refrigerator for four days. Then for two weeks the bacon is suspended in a cool room, preferably at the same temperature (about 4 degrees). Celtic Bacon is ready. To improve the taste and quality, you can withstand it for up to a year.
Seduce in Italian
As already mentioned, not only the Celts inventedbacon. The recipe for cooking, invented in Italy, consists of several stages. The first step in a wide container is pounding a pound of coarse salt and spread on it 2 and a half kilograms of pork (do not cut it!). The bowl is wrapped in foil and placed in a refrigerator for three days. After the specified time, the pork is well washed in running water and the brine is prepared: pour a spoonful of salt into a liter of apple cider vinegar, a teaspoon of ground red and black pepper, a chopped rosemary sprig and four crushed garlic cloves. In this brine, rinse the meat for a few minutes, then roll it in a kind of breading of 100 g of salt, a handful of fennel and a tablespoon of both types of pepper - red and black. The whole surface should be covered with this mixture. Future bacon is tightly packed in parchment and tied with a ball of twine. Since the pork will give away fat, the top of the package is wrapped around with a cloth or paper towels for absorption. After a month spent under the freezer, when the bacon becomes elastic, the wrapper is changed to clean, and the meat itself can be eaten.
If there is a smokehouse
Unfortunately, without it, smoked bacon is notto cook But if you have it, or a friend or relative of yours lends it to you, you can make an amazing delicacy. It will take some preparation, in particular, you need to concoct the so-called pink salt. For her, iodized salt is mixed with sugar, ground pepper (of all kinds that you will find) and porridge from Bulgarian red pepper, onion, garlic and basil. Proportions - at your discretion. Just do not make such salt too much - for two and a quarter pounds of brisket enough teaspoon. To it are added one and a half tablespoons of brown sugar, the same amount of common salt and a stack of maple syrup. Meat is rubbed with this mass, placed in a small saucepan with the skin down and put in the refrigerator for a week. Turn and mix need daily. Next, the brisket is washed, dried, placed on the rack and returned to the refrigerator for half a day. Since the meat will drip, it is placed under the baking sheet. Now cooking bacon enters the final phase. It is placed in a smokehouse heated to 95 degrees for three hours. It remains to cut off the skin and wrap in a film before use.
