bacon

[nativeMama]

Trying to figure away to store bacon. I tried the canning bacon for y2k, so I know how NOT to store bacon! I was thinking that if I were to fry or bake the bacon, then dehyrate it I should beable to vacuum pack it in a glass jar and keep it in the pantry. Anybody wanna weigh in on that idea?

[ma & pa steel]

That may work, you may not even have to cook it first, I know jerky is dried raw meat. I don't know which would be better, if you cooked it first how would you reconstitute it? I'm getting visions of soggy bacon LOL. (I LOVE bacon!!!!)

[nativeMama]

I was thinking more for a condiment than for a protein source. like a topping for cassoroles. Wonder if you could use it dry? I think I might try it.

[ma & pa steel]

I don't see why not, it would be like the bottled bacon bits I imagine

[grace]

You could probaly dry it like bacon bits. I know the precooked bacon in the store is vac sealed.

Kim

[Guest Guest]

Costco sells this brand and it is very good.

 

http://products.peapod.com/15450.html

 

good on the shelf says 6 months but after a year it was just as good.

[Guest Guest]

so none of these recipes work?

 

 

 

Canning Bacon

 

 

 

I tried it and it works...Something to remember when using this recipe: keep the grease off everything! You will have trouble getting the lids to seal if you allow thegrease to splatter on the jar rims or on the lids and rings. Do everything slowly and carefully to keep everything clean. One more thing....this is not a USDA approved method, can bacon at your own risk.

 

 

 

You will need:

# 1 Pound of bacon for each quart jar

 

# Parchment paper

 

# Roasting pan or other pan for the oven

 

# Quart jars, lids, rings and Pressure Cooker

 

Procedure:

# Boil jars, lids and rings for 10 minutes, keep simmering.

 

# Get water in Pressure Cooker boiling

 

# Trim long sheets of parchment paper so that they will fit, rolled up in a quart jar. The paper should not be any wider than the jars are tall from their bottom to their necks.

 

# Lay strips of bacon on a baking pan or roasting pan and pre-cook in a 350* F oven until they are about 2/3 their original length, but do not cook them until they are crisp. If they are crisp when they are placed in the jars, they will crumble.

 

# After pre-cooking, place the strips of bacon, still limp, on a sheet of trimmed parchment parchment paper. Roll the paper and bacon up and insert this roll into a hot, sterilized quart jar.

 

# Pour the grease from the bacon into the jar, do not fill more than 2/3 full of grease.

 

# Process at 10 pounds pressure for 1 1/2 hours. Higher elevations should use 11 pounds pressure.

 

# To cook: Open sealed jar, unroll paper and remove bacon. Cook bacon in a skillet until crisp.

 

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/9684/bacon.html

 

 

 

CANNING BACON

 

I got these methods from another board. I would be interested to know what the canners out there

think about them. Please share your own ideas about methods and techniques. What would life be like

without bacon for breakfast? ;-)

 

#1

 

I decided to try canning bacon just for grins. We eat a lot of bacon as flavorings in foods (i.e. fried

rice, quiches, etc).

 

I bought 16 lbs El Cheapo bacon for $0.99/lb. I boiled the lot of it, then hot packed it into clean pint

jars. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt per jar, then poured clean boiling water into the jars (I didn't use the

water I had boiled the bacon in...too fatty). Pressure canned it at 10 lbs. pressure for 75 minutes.

Looks like it turned out just fine. When the jars cooled, there was a ring of white fat (lard) around the

top, which can easily be discarded when the jar is opened. 16 pounds of bacon yielded exactly 16

pints. The stuff probably won't be suitable for merely eating (in other words, I'm not going to remove it

from the jar, fry it up and eat if for Sunday breakfast), but once fried up and added to casserols, etc.,

it oughta be just fine.

 

With so much bacon in my large pot, it took about 45 minutes before I felt it was sufficiently cooked

(half that time was just heating the water, I think). Since I'm used to the appearance of fried bacon, I

had to shake off the feeling that I was hot-packing raw bacon in the jars...it's limp and slippery! I

stuffed bacon into pint jars until I had about 3/4" headroom. I added the salt, then added the boiling

water, leaving 1/2" of headroom.

 

Interesting thing; the next day, when the jars had cooled, there was a solid ring of lard, ranging from

1/4" to 3/4", on the inside of each jar. It reminded me of a paraffin seal, it was so complete...and

that's inside the jar, the outside is of course sealed with the canning lid.

 

 

#2

 

I can my bacon raw in quart canning jars. first I buy parchment paper and lay bacon slices on the

paper and begin to roll in a pin wheel just keep adding bacon and parchment until you reach the size

roll you want put in jar. lup on lid and pressure can for 90 minutes. the lard for bacon helps to seal

everything and all you hae to do is finish browning the bacon when you open the jars for fresh bacon

taste. Plus you get the lard for free to fry with.

 

Can the bacon rolled in parchment papar at the proper weight guage for your area for 90 minutes. I

trim the bacon and parchment paper to fir my wide mouth quart jars. the bacon ends up cooked and

only need be fried to crisp it for eating. We use this for regular breakfast bacon in my house and it is

delicious. my bacon is brown sugar cured right from the pig, but store bought will work just the same.

 

If you live in an area that has a spanish or mecixan food section in your store you will find the

parchment paper there. it is often used to wrap tamales instead of corn husks

 

I tried it without the parchment paper and I did not like the way it looked or turned out. I feel that it

overcooked without the parchment paper. I know what you are saying about the money situation... we

live on a small SSD check and I do everything on a shoe string at my house too. However the

parchment paper is relatively cheap and worth the few dollars you spend to buy it.

 

#3

 

"Canning beanie weanies, bacon, & hot dogs"

 

For beanie weanies-I used pork & beans (on sale, cheap)and weiners (sliced in rounds-also on sale).

After mixing the beans & weiners together I added some tomato soup & barbeque sauce to provide

more liquid for the canning process. I canned them in pints at 10# for 1 hour and 15 minutes. (They

look good in the jar, but I haven't tasted them yet.)

 

For bacon-I precooked the bacon slices in the oven. Cook only long enough to shorten the length

some (makes them fit better in the jar). Don't allow the bacon to crisp (will crumble when trying to

roll). After precooking, I placed the slices on some paper I got from the bakery (they use it on cookie

sheets). Just lay the slices out on the paper then roll it up. When finished rolling, place in a wide

mouth quart jar, adding some of the grease that has cooked out. I put 1 pound of bacon to each jar.

Process at 10 pounds for 1 1/2 hours. To cook: Unroll paper containing bacon, cook in skillet to crisp

it.

 

For weiners--snip the ends off of the weiners, cut each weiner in half. I put them in 1/2 pint jars,

standing on end. Seemes like they mush up if they are allowed to can laying down. I tried 2 different

sauces for them. First, I squirted a little BBQ sauce in the jar & then finished filling the jar with boiling

water. Second, I added some instant beef bouillon & then finished it off with the boiling water.

Personally, we preferred the BBQ flavor better. Process 1/2 pints at 10# for 1 hour. I did the cheap

weiners and Oscar Mayer weiners. The Oscar Mayer weiners held their shape & tasted better than the

other kind. Enjoy and happy canning.

 

From ll4e

 

To Pickle Cured Bacon

 

Ingredients

 

(1 servings)

 

100 lb Bacon **

8 lb Salt, kosher

3 lb Brown sugar

3 oz Salt peter

4 ga Water, spring

 

Instructions

 

** sides of bacon from fresh killed country hogs.

"Rare Old Recipes on the Fine Art of Curing Meats"

Lay the sides of bacon on a board and rub lightly with fine salt. Let stand for 48 hours.

Mix the next three ingredients thoroughly and dissolve in the water. Bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes. Skim and let cool. Place bacon in a clean oak barrel and pour the liquid over the meat. Place a heavy weight on bacon to keep it under the brine. Bacon prepared like this will keep about one year. Have sections of bacon smoked at smoke house as needed.

 

http://recipes.chef2chef.net/recipe-archive/3/A03113.shtml

 

 

 

[nosleepinghere]

I remember my grandparents did a lot of meat curing. They used the curing salt, put the hams in a tow sack and hung them by a rope from the rafters in what they called the “smoke house”. I guess then you could slice off strips for bacon? Have no idea how long the meat lasted this way. I should have paid more attention but that was 40 years ago. Also mamaw was very adept at picking greens. She knew about 20 different kinds. The only ones I can recognize is the polk and lambs quarter. I’ve cooked this up before and it freezes well. If anyone knows anything about meat curing or picking greens I’d appreciate the info.

[Guest Guest]

Granny,

 

I went to Thomas Jefferson's house a decade ago and fell in love with the smoke house!

 

Yes you could take a slice of meat off to eat. I started researching smoke houses because I want one.. and before you smoke meat it needs to be brined.

 

well that is about all I know.