Dry Cured Bacon

Search

Random Recipe

Lacto Fermented Vegetables

Lacto-Fermenation is one of the oldest food preservation methods still regularly used. It is not Witchcraft or Sorcery and it's effective tasty and pretty much bullet proof. If it tastes good, then it's good. Plus the resultant pickles have the benefit of home made probiotics. Lacto-Fermentation has nothing to do with dairy products, the lacto refers to lactic acid. All fruits and vegetables have beneficial bacteria such as Lactobacillus on the surface. In an anaerobic (oxygen-free) environment, these bacteria convert sugars into lactic acid, which inhibits harmful bacteria and acts as a preservative. It's also what gives fermented foods their characteristic sour flavour. The earliest record of fermentation dates back as far as 6000 B.C. in the Fertile Crescent -and nearly every civilization since has included at least one fermented food in its culinary heritage. From Korean kimchi and Indian chutneys to the ubiquitous sauerkraut.

This recipe uses immature marrow as it's been quite a year for marrow in the Yorkshire area, but the season is coming to an end and you might find yourself with quite a number of small marrows which either are unlikely to ripen, or you've simply had you fill of their fully grow kin! But be adventurous, almost any vegetable can be Lacto-Fermented.

Ingredients:-

8 small Marrows thinly sliced into rounds

¼ of a medium sized red onion thinly sliced

3 garlic gloves smashed

2 teaspoons of grated ginger

About a pint of water

3 tablespoons of Sea Salt. Table salt will do but the anti-caking agents will result in a cloudy solution before the process is completed.

½ teaspoon ground turmeric

Large airtight jar

Method:-

(1) Thinly slice the Marrow into rounds (Use a mandolin to get a nice even slice, but don't slice the ends off your fingers! Or in my case the palm of your hand – Don't ask...).

(2) Add the Marrow rounds to a large jar or split between smaller jars.

(3) Add the red onion, garlic and ginger.

(4) Make the salt water brine by mixing ½ cup of warm water with the salt and stir until the salt has dissolved.

(5) Add the remaining water to the salt water once the salt has dissolved. Add the turmeric and mix well.

(6) Pour the brine into the jar with the Marrow etc. There should be enough to submerge the Marrow under the brine. If not, make more brine and add it to the jar.

(7) Seal the jar and store in a cool, dry place away from direct sunlight for 3-7 days.

(8) Once the brine is cloudy, try a Marrow to see if it's ready. It should be sour and smell like pickles.

(9) Provided that the contents are submerged your pickle will last for months. Although this is unlikely unless your really don't like pickles. If this is the case you might ask yourself why you made them in the first place!

On Facebook

Details: Written by Tony Carson; Category: Recipes; Created: 11 November 2021

Dry Cured Bacon recipe, eat well on universal credit

I chose Pork Loin for this as the belly Pork available at the moment is very fatty and doesn’t look overly appealing. So the end result will be Back Bacon. You need to be pretty precise when using Saltpetre so I reduced to weight to almost exactly 1Kg by taking the rind off and cutting a couple of steaks from one end so that we’ll be able to cut even rasters when it has cured.

Rub ingredients:-

22.5g of Pink Salt
22.5g of Sugar
2G of Saltpetre
1 Tsp of Smoked Paprika
1 Tsp of mixed Herbs
1 Tsp of fresh ground Black Pepper.

Method:-

(1) Trim the Pork Loin to as near to 1Kg as possible.
(2) Mix the rub ingredients in a bowl.
(3) Apply the rub evenly over the entire surface.
(4) Place in a tub in the fridge loosely covered.
(5) Turn daily for 3 weeks.

As the meat cures it will loose about 10% of the water content. This accumulates in the tub and will naturally evaporate in the fridge.

See you all in 3 weeks, hopefully with some outstanding Bacon!

Social Links

Translate

GTranslatemultilingual websitetranslation delivery network