formed bacon spice recipe?

[leechlake]

I know I see most everyone buys this from Curleys but if I run out or am too impatient to wait does anyone have suggestions on making this from scratch ?  I can wing it with Tenderquick, garlic, and various other spices.  I will smoke it, if you want to take a stab or guess at it would I include some liquid smoke?

 

[pikestabber]

What the heck. I'll take a crack at it... I would stick to maybe a 5 pound batch to start in case this...you know...doesn't taste good

Actually the base recipe is one I use for sausage that comes out pretty good, IMO. Maybe someone else more familiar with liquid smoke can tweak my amounts, but I know that even Curly's seasoning powder has a pretty strong liquid smoke aroma when you mix it in. I honestly don't care for the smell of liquid smoke, but I love the flavor after it cooks. Figure that one out... Hope this is worth a shot! Good luck.

VENISON BACON (TRIAL ONE)

• 3 lbs Venison
• 2 lbs fatty pork (or ground pork/pork sausage)
• 1 T paprika
• 1 T garlic powder
• 1 T onion powder
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp cayenne (optional)
• 2 T kosher salt + 1 tsp #1 Instacure, or 7.5 tsp of Tenderquick
• 2 tsp liquid smoke (5 tsp if you are not smoking it)
• 1 cup non-fat dried milk powder
• 1 cup Ice water

 

1. Cut the pork and venison into 1-2 inch cubes and grind through a medium plate on your meat grinder.

 

2. Sprinkle milk powder over meat mixture. Combine spices and the cure with ice water and mix well. Pour over meat and mix well by hand until thoroughly incorporated.

 

3. Grind mixture through the small plate. Form into 1# loaves and smoke...

 

4. Dry in smoker for 30 minutes (no smoke) at 130-140 degrees, damper wide open.

 

5. Add wood and smoke at 155-160 for 90 minutes, damper closed.

 

6. Bump heat to 175-180, no more smoke, and cook until they reach an internal temperature of 152-155 degrees F.

 

Edited November 16, 2015 by pikestabber

[leechlake]

Exactly what I'm looking for and looks like it will work.  Will start with a five pound batch and see how it goes  but just looking at the ingredients it looks like it should work great. 

[MossyMO64]

www.owensbbq.com/sausage-seasonings-jerky-mixes.html

Ground and Formed Bacon Recipe – 25 lb. batch

** These are only our recommendations for % of pork/venison, times, temps, and plate size for grinding **

- 12 ½ lbs. venison (red meat or poultry) and 12 ½ lbs. pork (Can also use 15 lbs. venison/beef and 10 lbs. pork)
- 1 package of Ground & Formed Bacon Seasoning

- 1 package of Maple Cure

- 1 ½ cups cold water

For a 12 ½ batch use 0.125 lb. (2 oz.) of Seasoning, 0.23 lb. (3.68 oz.) of Maple Cure, ¾ cup cold water.

 

Process:

·       Grind pork and venison or beef through a 3/16” plate twice.

·       Place meat in meat mixer or tote. Mix seasoning, water, and maple cure together then mix that into the meat mixture for 5-10 minutes. Meat will became tacky (sticky), mixing to this point is very important. 

·       Lay mixture in a pan lined with Saran Wrap, Cling Wrap, or Wax Paper (this makes the meat not stick to the pan while it is curing and much faster clean up).  Use hands to push meat down and form a nice firm texture – we like to have about 2 inches of meat in the pan. Cover with plastic and put in refrigerator overnight to cure.
 

Smoking:

·       Carefully turn pan upside down onto smokehouse racks so meat falls out of the pan.  Be sure the cling wrap is not on the meat going into the smoker.

·       Set Smokehouse temp at around 130° with the damper open and add meat with no smoke for 1 to 2 hours or until the meat is dry to the touch. 

·       Turn the Smokehouse temp up to 150°- 160° with the damper open and smoke for 2-3 hours or until the desired color.  

·       Once you have the color you are going for you can stop smoking and finish cooking.  Turn the Smokehouse up to 170° - 180° and cook until internal temp in 142°. Remove from smoker and let set for about 30 minutes and then refrigerate overnight to firm up.

·       Next day – slice, package, and freeze.

** Note: Product must be cooked before eating**

** Product can be cooked in the oven and adding liquid smoke instead of using a smoker for the smoke flavor. Add 5 teaspoons of liquid smoke to the mixture when mixing in seasoning, cure and water. Instead of using a smoker, cook in an oven at 200° until the internal temp reaches 142°.   Product MUST BE COOKED before eating.

[reinhard1]

Here is some I made awhile back.  I actually liked it the way it was and not fry'd.  So I use the seasoning [Curley's] in my summer sausage base all the time.  I do add extra garlic and mustard seeds and at times high temp cheese and jalapenos.  good luck.

[leechlake]

RH- I was telling my son "bacon boy" about the formed bacon this am.  He scoffed at the notion until I showed him the photos above from your sausage heaven page.  He said, "it even looks good for you"

[reinhard1]

I usually smoke mine, while you can do it in the oven using liquid smoke as a addition but I prefer to smoke it.  Ya, I was surprised how easy it was to do this.  No grinder or stuffer needed for this as well.  good luck.

[Boar]

cool! but it seems like its a spin off of the formed summer sausage. how dose it compare, taste texture ect..

[reinhard1]

I use the formed bacon seasoning as a base for my summer sausage and yes you can use it for the formed [instead of stuffed] summer sausage and you will love it.  It can also be fried up with eggs ect for breakfast.  The seasoning does give the final product that slight bacon taste.  I know some that make t his with all pork for example and fry it up, adding liquid smoke to it for the oven or none using the smoker.  Just depends how you like it.  Texture vary's on the amount of fat used.  I make it as summer using straight 80/20 lean ground beef [also add 1 cup of powdered milk per 5 pounds].  So you can form it as above, roll it up as logs, or stuff it into non edible collagen casings.  good luck.

[Boar]

ok cool, but sorry for being literal but u say as a base, u are adding other seasonings to it.?

[smurfy]

ok cool, but sorry for being literal but u say as a base, u are adding other seasonings to it.?

I think your just being a pain!!!!!!!!!!!

[leechlake]

little update.  I put this stuff on around 8am and left it for an hour at 140 and then smoked for two hours at 165 and then upped it to  180.  It's been 7.5 hours and it's been stuck at 135 or so for 2.5 hours.  It almost looks like it didn't dry enough and or the fat or water is keeping it at a "stall" like a pork shoulder will.  I'm going to bump it up a bit and see what happens but if it doesn't get there soon I've got to leave and I will just take it off and I will have to fry it before eating it. 

[leechlake]

after nearly 8 hours I couldn't get it above 135 so I took it off and cooled it.  I cut enough for my son for breakfast in the am.  It tastes good but the top of it is kind of hard and I had to use a bread knife to cut through  that "hardish" part.  I'm guessing I didn't cook it at 130 degrees at the beginning enough to dry it out and that what lead to it stalling, which lead me to keep it on so long and therefore the "crust" on the top of it. 

Thanks Pikestabber, that guess at the recipe I will surely do next time

[reinhard1]

Kris, I'm leaving for hunting in the morning and wont be back until Saturday afternoon but I would like to find out why it took so long in your smoker and the results you had so I'll come back on here to talk about it so it won't happen again.  good luck.

[leechlake]

thanks much, have fun.  I was looking at your Jayco photos on your page today, great camper and great spot.  Go get 'em!

[pikestabber]

after nearly 8 hours I couldn't get it above 135 so I took it off and cooled it.  I cut enough for my son for breakfast in the am.  It tastes good but the top of it is kind of hard and I had to use a bread knife to cut through  that "hardish" part.  I'm guessing I didn't cook it at 130 degrees at the beginning enough to dry it out and that what lead to it stalling, which lead me to keep it on so long and therefore the "crust" on the top of it. 

Thanks Pikestabber, that guess at the recipe I will surely do next time

Wow... I've never hit a stall like that with a ground meat product??? Any way you can test your thermometer...boil test and maybe an ice water test...to see if it needs re-calibration? That just seems like a crazy long time at those temps. I know I do 25# batches of 1# "bricks" of formed bacon and it takes on the order of 3.5 to 4.5 hours max which includes my drying time. We'll get this all figured out eventually!

Edited November 20, 2015 by pikestabber

[leechlake]

thanks pikestabber that was my other thought.  I didn't have my digital so I used that old school round one with the dial and the probe.  I'm going to test it in the oven and see if that's it.  Easy solution if that's it.

However, my son loves the "bacon".  Has all the flavor and he's been chowing it down so that part is a success but you know how it is when things don't go right .  Makes your gears grind in your head.  

I'm guessing that's it because it seems dry but once you cook it the fat comes out making it moist.

[leechlake]

temp gauge wasn't the problem, I tested it in the oven and it was pretty close to the temps I had the oven set to.  That would have been the easiest solution.

[pikestabber]

temp gauge wasn't the problem, I tested it in the oven and it was pretty close to the temps I had the oven set to.  That would have been the easiest solution.

Well, shoot. That burns that theory. Well, I guess the flavor working out is a good thing and now it's just a matter of tweaking things to get the consistency you want.

Here's an odd thing I've found with smoked products I've made. Whatever I have in excess, I vacuum seal and freeze. Without a doubt these products tend to be better and seemingly more moist AFTER they are frozen. I know that on the "molecular" level that cell walls explode when the are frozen, so that might account for some of the change, but even things like venison pastrami, venison bacon, and summer sausage are better (IMO) after they have been frozen and then thawed again. The flavors meld and mellow, the texture evens out... Call me crazy, but freeze a block or two and try it again in a week or two and see if you agree (or let me know if I have just inhaled too many smoker fumes over the years, lol).

[Boar]

Leechlake, are you using a propane smokin/cooking system? some time when a tank get low enough it just dosent have enough pressure to get a bigger flame but will burn for a couple hours or more on the the pressure thats left, if its low enough on fuel, I had this happen on a grill before, steaks dont seem to be getting done, but the burners are producing flame but pretty low. something to check.

[Jeff mcgoldrick]

Have you changed anything from your first attempt on venison bacon