Posted on 04/08/2014 12:13:00 PM PDT by don-o
MILWAUKEE (AP) — A virus never before seen in the U.S. has killed millions of baby pigs in less than a year, and with little known about how it spreads or how to stop it, it's threatening pork production and pushing up prices by 10 percent or more.
(Excerpt) Read more at bigstory.ap.org ...
I buy that bacon from our butcher. They call it Platter Bacon. Man is it good! I only allow us 1 lb a month though because of the price.
For those of you who love bacon, I highly recommend getting your hands on a good quantity of curing salt (with both sodium nitrate *and* sodium nitrite), and MAKE YOUR OWN!
It is likely ten times better than any packaged store bought you have ever had.
1 Pork Belly
Large zip lock bag
Cure Mix (pink salt)
Here is the standard ratio, quantities can change depending on how much pork belly you want to make, scale up or down accordingly.
Salt 3 tbsp – sea salt, kosher salt are preferable
Sugar 1.5 tbsp – brown sugar, or maple sugar if you have it
Pink Salt 5 grams – Insta Cure #2
Mix the cure mix. Put pork belly in ziplock bag with several tbsp cure mix and rub it down completely. Seal the bag, wrap it in another plastic bag like a grocery bag,
and place it in the fridge. After a few days there will be a juice/liquid forming, this is the brine solution. Be sure to the flip the bag at least once to get even distribution. It will take about 7-10 days to cure.
After a week or more, take the pork belly out of the bag and rinse it in the sink under cold water. It is now cured.
Preheat oven for 200F. Place the pork belly on the top rack, with a tray underneath to collect any dripping. It will take about 2 hours; this simulates the smoking/ cooking of the pork belly and makes it bacon. The internal temperature should get to 150F, but I have found this is not completely necessary after 2 hours it should be done.
Let the bacon cool at room temperature for about half an hour.
Now cut off the pork belly skin, while the meat is still warm. It should come off easily, but may not.
Freeze it so that it cuts easier with a meat slicer.
...and for a mid-day snack.... BACON, a whole damned plate!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK5Gf2CS6u8
I love pigs. They have a special magic that can turn slop that nobody else would eat, into BACON!
Bacon! Oh, Bacon! My heart’s delight.
My food by day, my dreams by night.
Once the nation's largest pork producer, Smithfield, sold out to a Chinese owner last year, that signaled the beginning of the end of low pork prices in America. This is just one way to make it look accidental.
That’s ok, the tofu substitute is healthier anyway.
That. Is. Crazy. Talk.
And unAmerican as all get out.
Was a very mean joke
Joke? About bacon? It is impossibility. Any attempt is doomed to fail. It cannot be done.
/johnny
*...came from China, but they don’t know how it got into the country or spread to 27 states since last May.*
hmmm... I wonder where it could have come from? I mean, we don’t have Chinese spys walking around our farms in the heart of America, do we?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3136479/posts
WOW! I had not seen that. Thanks for posting.
Pecans have gone through the roof too, supposedly because of demand from china.
There’s a hell of a lot of misinformation and fear-mongering in that article, more than is normal even for the mainstream media. Is the author significantly invested in pork futures, or financially linked with parties that are?
“A virus never before seen in the U.S. has killed millions of baby pigs in less than a year, and with little known about how it spreads or how to stop it, it’s threatening pork production”
Bullpuckey. PEDV is a corona virus (much like some of the strains of common cold that afflict humans). It’s not airborne, and it’s not a f***ing mystery how it’s transmitted despite what that author would like you to believe. Where the flying hell do they come up with this?
It’s a virus that’s been around for a while, spotted back in Europe in the 70’s, and there’s not all that much mysterious or apocalyptic about it. There are vaccines available, despite what the article claimed, if I recall somewhere in the range of a million+ doses have been distributed recently, and we’re already looking at getting the next generation of vaccines into circulation.
Again, does this author have a personal financial interest in publishing a story that is equivalent to so much pig manure?
LOL!
Ordered a case of canned Bacon this AM.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.