Smoking Bacon
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Hang the flitch in a dry place, away from rain.
Ensure the smoke comes from wood, not peat or coal.
Lay the flitch on the floor and cover the flesh side with bran or sawdust. Rub the bran or sawdust into the flesh side to form a crust.
Smoke
In a box or chest, layer wood ashes at the bottom, then place the flitch inside. Cover the flitch with more ashes, then add another flitch if desired, covering it with 6-8 inches of ashes.
Keep the box in a dry place and dry any damp ashes before replacing them.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Bacon flitch
- Forms the meat that is cured and smoked, providing the main body of the dish.
- Bran or fine sawdust
- Coats the flesh side to form a crust during smoking.
The step that matters
Keep the ashes dry. Damp ashes can spoil the meat and produce poor smoke, so dry any damp ashes before replacing them and keep the box in a dry place.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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