Fatback Joe
Babbling Farker
I recently bought a 330 lb Berkshire pig and had room for everything except the head. The friend I bought it from said he would hold the head for me until I was ready. Heads eat up a lot of freezer space so I took it from him as soon as I would have time to mess with it. I had not done the old face bacon thing in a while so I figured what the fark.......and also figured it was time for a new post on the subject. :biggrin1:
Pondering the process for a bit. LOL
I usually start from the back side of the head but it was still a bit frozen, so went with plan B. Stood it up and made a slit down the chin and started working back from there.
Worked down through the jowls and just kind of followed the bone. I wasn't worried about getting too close as I was going to use the head/meat for something else anyhow.
Came down each site towards the snout.
Wound up with this......
Trimmed and cleaned it up bit more and hit it with a simple cure of sea salt, brown sugar, and cure #1.
Bagged that up and into the fridge for a week. Out of the cure and into the smoker for a little cold smoke.
Out of the smoke and tied up for some quality sous vide time.
Poured a little bourbon in with it and into the sous vide at 160 for 12 hours. Colored up nicely in the bath.
Ice bath and a fresh bag and into the fridge. Came out much prettier than it started out.
Finally time to crack this thing open and see how she looked.
Broke it down into manageable chunks to wrap and freeze. Have 9 1/2 pounds of this stuff.
Slice a few pieces off, ate a couple and tossed a couple in the oven to see how it cooked up while clean up was under way.
Looks suspiciously like bacon. :biggrin1:
Fun little project and I like being able to use up all of the pig. With 9 1/2 pounds of it, I think I am set for a bit. Next head it will be back to guanciale. :becky:
Pondering the process for a bit. LOL
I usually start from the back side of the head but it was still a bit frozen, so went with plan B. Stood it up and made a slit down the chin and started working back from there.
Worked down through the jowls and just kind of followed the bone. I wasn't worried about getting too close as I was going to use the head/meat for something else anyhow.
Came down each site towards the snout.
Wound up with this......
Trimmed and cleaned it up bit more and hit it with a simple cure of sea salt, brown sugar, and cure #1.
Bagged that up and into the fridge for a week. Out of the cure and into the smoker for a little cold smoke.
Out of the smoke and tied up for some quality sous vide time.
Poured a little bourbon in with it and into the sous vide at 160 for 12 hours. Colored up nicely in the bath.
Ice bath and a fresh bag and into the fridge. Came out much prettier than it started out.
Finally time to crack this thing open and see how she looked.
Broke it down into manageable chunks to wrap and freeze. Have 9 1/2 pounds of this stuff.
Slice a few pieces off, ate a couple and tossed a couple in the oven to see how it cooked up while clean up was under way.
Looks suspiciously like bacon. :biggrin1:
Fun little project and I like being able to use up all of the pig. With 9 1/2 pounds of it, I think I am set for a bit. Next head it will be back to guanciale. :becky:
