Should I throw out 5lbs of Bacon?

(Jamie) #41

I recently bought a 500g (tad over a pound) package if something called Steakan… not just thick but super thick cut bacon.
500g package was 6 slices

So i only had 6 slices of bacon for supper!

(Windmill Tilter) #42

Eat the bacon.

I always chuckle when I see “uncured” sausage or bacon at 3 times the price in the grocery store. Those things are like little nitrate bombs.

Most “uncured” products like hot dogs, sausages, and other deli items are actually much higher in nitrates/nitrites because they use celery extracts and aren’t regulated by the FDA in terms of maximum nitrate dose. There are a number of articles about this issue. Here is one of them:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/the-uncured-bacon-illusion-its-actually-cured-and-its-not-better-for-you/2019/04/19/0c89630c-608c-11e9-9ff2-abc984dc9eec_story.html

My favorite bacon alternative is full fat pulled pork. When you buy a full sized 8lb pork shoulder, it costs $1.00 per pound and has no added garbage. When you trim it you get about 1lb of gorgeous fat. I render this in a cast iron frying pan and put it in the fridge. Then I smoke the shoulder on my grill at 250-300 for 5-6 hours, let it cool, pull it, and then add the rendered fat back in. It’s a nice sunday afternoon activity. Super easy to do.

I put it into 1lb ziploc bags and freeze it. It freezes amazingly well. When you reheat it for breakfast in a cast iron skillet, it tastes like it just came off the smoker. It’s way, way better than bacon. My kids can’t get enough of it. No nasty chemicals either.

(Ann) #43

Thank you for this tip. I’m always amazed with all the wonderful people on this forum. I sometimes find myself doing the same thing and eating the same food. Then I get inspiration to try something like this. Thank you so much.

(Robert) #44

Can you share details, or a link to a how to, please? I’ve been searching for sugar free bacon for quite some time, and do not want to put sugar into my system.

(Robert) #45

Don-Q, I am interested in the method for purchasing and cooking the best bacon type product for my wife and myself, very likely daily consumption.

You mention " rendering " the 1 lb of fat, but I can only guess what you mean by the term rendering. Are you saying you heat in in your cast iron skillet?

(David Cooke) #46

Bacon was originally a method of preserving meat, it has become a method for preserving a particular cut of meat which is supposed to have particular characteristics.

  1. Buy your meat. I take pork loin by the kilo and make what is called ‘Canadian bacon’.
  2. Rub in salt, lots.
  3. Leave it in the fridge for at least 10 days, turning once a day, tip off any fluid.
  4. Learn how to sharpen knives and cut off what you need every day, You can wash off the superfluous salt if you wish.
  5. I don’t bake or smoke the meat, can’t see any point as I don’t intend to keep the meat for a year or more and the difference in taste isn’t worth the trouble.
    Internet recipes are unnecessarily complicated. We make about 5 Kilos a month.
(Windmill Tilter) #47

I was talking about pulled pork, not bacon. It costs much less money. The cut of meat you’re looking for has a lot of aliases depending on where you live. You’re looking for: picnic shoulder, pork shoulder, pork butt, picnic roast, or boston butt. I wait until they are on sale for 99 cents per pound and I buy 20-30lbs. I cook them all at once and have enough for months. I typically smoke them on my regular old weber kettle grill using the offset method at a temp around 270 degrees to 300 degrees. The oven does a great job too though.

Here is a video of smoking them on a charcoal grill. It’s not hard. Pork butt is very forgiving.

(Robert) #48

Don_Q:

Many, many thanks for the detailed description. Yes, I made a mistake in calling it bacon, of course. My fault, for someone who has not eaten or purchased pork of any type for over 20 years. I am a novice, but I do have a nice grill, and I’ll look for the shoulder equivalent names in some local stores here in Arizona soon.

(Robert) #49

Agreed, but fresh greens are vital to a keto diet, and those prices are very reasonable, every day, with greater and greater variations available. I truly appreciate all the choices we have :slight_smile:

(Windmill Tilter) #50

If you have a nice grill, you’ll definitely want a pan or foil below the pork! Lots of fat will render off during the long cook. In the video he fills the pan with water to regulate temp around 225 degrees, but thats not necessary and adds several hours to the cook time vs 275-300. I’ve not attempted it on a gas grill, but doubtless some enterprising youtuber has done so and has posted the footage. The oven does a fine job too.

In answer to your earlier question about rendering fat, you just cut the fat up into small cubes and melt it down in a frying pan or pot. The reason this is done is that the fat cap on a pork shoulder can reach 1" thick, and will not render fully during the smoking.

One thing that raises pulled pork to the next level is to add bacon. I’ll bake a few pounds in the oven (roughly 1lb per 6lbs of pork) on sheet pans and chop it up and add it (including bacon fat and drippings) into the pork while pulling. It’s amazing.

(Full Metal KETO AF) #51

Thanks David, I want to try this. Do you set it on a rack and leave it uncovered? Do you rinse it and put it in a container when it’s finished or leave it in open air? How long does it keep? :cowboy_hat_face:

(David Cooke) #52

Sorry, missed your post.
I used Google to start, and adjusted things until I felt I was doing it right (for me). One advice I saw was to rinse off the brine when it is finished, but as I don’t use curing salt or indeed anything else but salt, I don’t bother. I need salt! The bacon stays in the fridge as it won’t be completely dry unless you smoke or bake it.

(Raj Seth) #53

I just recently go a meat grinder and made my own breakfast sausage - no fillers - just 1lb pork shoulder, 1tsp each of crushed sage, salt & pepper. Seemed like too little seasoning. made patties and cooked on cast iron skillet - better taste than ANY sausage I have ever had.
If you don’t have a grinder, maybe you can have your butcher grind the pork shoulder for you.

(Windmill Tilter) #54

Nice. That’s definitely on my wish list. Which one did you get? Would you buy the same one again?

I’ve done this with regular ground pork from the grocery store with pretty good results too.

(Raj Seth) #55

I got the STX international Magnum 1800 - haven’t used it enough to recommend yet. No negative experience yet

(squirrel-kissing paper tamer) #56

Every time I see this pop up in the “latest” stream I lol. Yes, by now you should have definitely thrown away the bacon. :rofl:

(Marianne) #57

We love pork but haven’t had pulled pork since starting (Feb. 2019). I will have to give this a try.

(Ken) #58

A cusinart or other food processor works well to make small batches of.sausage. Just pulse it until it reaches the consistency you want. A low cost grinder can, or used to be found at Harbor Freight Tools.

(traci simpson) #59

So what’s the problem?

:+1:t4:

(traci simpson) #60

What he said!