BACON Jerky???? Really?

dewnorth · Post by **dewnorth** » Fri Oct 16, 2009 7:52 pm

Not knowing anything about smoking meats (I wish I could phrase that another way) or making jerky, is it possible to make bacon, or something that resembles the taste of bacon, into something non-perishable? (But not the room temp bacon you can buy off the grocery store shelf. $$$)

How cool would that be! Or actually, NOT cool.

cullen · Post by **cullen** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 11:06 am

there are several websites that sell it so i don't see why not.

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 11:30 am

And laser cut meat business cards.
http://www.meatcards.com/

C.f.M. · Post by **C.f.M.** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 12:52 pm

Hm. Well, you can buy bacon in a can. I'm not really sure exactly what you mean by non-perishable, but cooked bacon in a plastic bag is alright for a few days, IMHE.

Didja not find anything when you googled "bacon jerky recipe?" I did.

I'm giving everyone bacon jam for Xmas.

Fire_Moose · Post by **Fire_Moose** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 1:14 pm

OH! I can;t wait for my bacon jam to get here!!!

dewnorth · Post by **dewnorth** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 1:56 pm

I really thought I'd hit on a new idea, since I'd never seen bacon jerky in any store or meat market. I did a search on ePlaya to see if I was being redundant. But for some reason, I never considered Googling bacon jerky.

The cooked, un-refrigerated bacon I've seen in stores says "refrigerate after opening" the plastic pack. That sounded too perishable for the playa if not all eaten right away, esp. given the hot conditions.

So I've turned the "new idea" light bulb off that hovers above my head. (It gets dimmer by the year anyways.) But more importantly, I know bacon jerky can be had. I did no cooking, no cooler at this burn, and it went pretty well for me, so I want to do that again in 2010.

Thanks folks.

Post by **Elderberry** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 2:06 pm

Bacon tartar--yummie.

JK

Post by **Elderberry** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 2:09 pm

dewnorth wrote: I did no cooking, no cooler at this burn, and it went pretty well for me, so I want to do that again in 2010.

This is beyond my ability to comprehend. Next you'll be saying you did without a shower too.

JK

dewnorth · Post by **dewnorth** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 4:53 pm

Busted!

TomServo · Post by **TomServo** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 9:14 pm

Beggin Strips? Never tried em myself, but my dog loved them!

I've made beef jerky before...and it seems possible, to make bacon jerky....though id use center cut bacon with less fat.

Its definitely perishable, but have you tried beef bacon? Can't seem to find it at my store these days..

Try cooking on the playa, or don't accept food from others. Unless your goal is to cook, pre-burn...its theraputic.

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Mon Oct 19, 2009 9:20 pm

I'm told the pre-cooked stuff keeps while cold.
Tasty.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 5:19 am

The precooked stuff in the BigBoxStore containers is really, really, REALLY dessicated and keeps for a REALLY long time. I usually bring a big pouch of it to hand around camp or use as bookmarks or tongue depressors as necessary. My homemade jerky gets refrigerated for safety's sake, but keeps (in an airtight bag) at room temp for weeks without issue. Part of the trick is to assure complete curing- Slicing thinly will help. I like Mister Yoshida's Terriyaki Marinade, sometimes adding garlic, pineapple juice and hot sauce (Gator Hammock!), and smoke with applewood chips in my Little Chief electric smoker that I got for two bucks at a church rummage sale. Salmon prepared and smoked this ways rocks too.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 5:21 am

gyre wrote:I'm told the pre-cooked stuff keeps while cold.
Tasty.

Hmmm... "pre-cooked" or "precooked" could prove to be a fatal matter of semantics!

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 12:24 pm

robotland wrote:
gyre wrote:I'm told the pre-cooked stuff keeps while cold.
Tasty.
Hmmm... "pre-cooked" or "precooked" could prove to be a fatal matter of semantics!

???

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Thu Oct 22, 2009 12:33 pm

Antim had Ready Crisp bacon on tthe playa, which is the most amazing thing to have out there.
Great, great stuff.
Definitely on the shopping list.
I can't find it as a name brand here.
Seems to be from SHK Foods out of Madison, Wi., (608) 232-5150
Can't confirm that.

It shows up as Fully Cooked here under Oscar Meyer and some other brands in refrigerated meats.
I find Ready Crisp as a descriptive term under other brands, may be the same or not.

Package says can be stored unrefrigerated below 75 F , in fridge or freezer.
After opening refrigerate and use in 14 days.
(omeyer package)

TandJ · Post by **TandJ** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 12:03 am

There was a real article in making your own home made jerky with a full ingredient list as well as a needed parts list.... it basically consists of a few air conditioner filters, some bungee cords and a box fan and the necessary food ingredients... It was printed in fhm magazine. I can try to find an issue or a posting regarding it if youd like. While I did not try the method i have had the jerky made from trying it... a roommate made some because he wanted to prove me wrong and it was actually quite good....

Post by **AntiM** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 9:42 am

Gyre missed the best part about the bacon I had: no nitrates. Naturally cured with sea salt and celery juice. We got it on a one time sale at the commissary on base, bought enough packs (with coupons yet) to last a few years.

Fire_Moose · Post by **Fire_Moose** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 10:05 am

I like my bacon with extra nitrates and MSG

why arn't my images working?!?!!?

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 10:07 am

maybe because they don't end in

mpg

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 10:18 am

AntiM wrote:Gyre missed the best part about the bacon I had: no nitrates. Naturally cured with sea salt and celery juice. We got it on a one time sale at the commissary on base, bought enough packs (with coupons yet) to last a few years.

Is there any info on the package that would help us find it?
It's amazing stuff to have out there and not have to cook.
I think the bacon you brought was much better than anything I've found so far.

Is it maybe the SHK?

Oh, and thanks for the bacon!
That cold bacon was the best treat out there!

Post by **AntiM** » Wed Oct 28, 2009 11:29 am

Fire_Moose wrote:I like my bacon with extra nitrates and MSG

why arn't my images working?!?!!?

That's a url. Run it through photobucket or imageshack.

Here and there · Post by **Here and there** » Wed Nov 04, 2009 4:53 pm

dewnorth wrote:Not knowing anything about smoking meats (I wish I could phrase that another way) or making jerky, is it possible to make bacon, or something that resembles the taste of bacon, into something non-perishable?

If you're just looking for the bacon flavor ... how about holding onto the fat, after you fry the stuff crisp? Put it into a pot, keep it warm but not hot so that the solids have a chance to sink to the bottom, and then spoon it out, giving yourself a clarified fat that should keep and carry much of the flavor of the bacon. You then use the fat to cook your food in, during the week.

Usually, rendered fats will keep far better than uncooked ones, especially when made clear. I'm tempted to suggest storing the bacon in the clarified fat - that's more or less how a confit works - but am a little nervous about that, because I don't know what the botulin risk would be. Very low, I'm guessing, because of the nitrates in the bacon, the relative dryness of the fried meat working in our favor. For comparison's sake, the goose in confit is not dry or salted or smoked at all, or preserved by much of anything other than its encasement in clear fat, and that process works fine - but this is a novelty, so I get a little nervous at the thought of recommending it, without doing some serious fact checking, first.

Hmmm ... I think khelea is preserved in much this way. If you do go with the confit idea - preserving the bacon in its own rendered fat - then what you might want to do is, instead of frying it completely crisp, just cook it until done, but still soft. Pour the fat on top, adding rendered lard if there isn't enough fat to completely submerge the bacon - but I imagine there should be. Picture filling a crock with bacon strips encased in fat.

Whenever you want the bacon, warm the crock up to melt the fat, extract what you want, along with a small amout of fat, and then gently simmer the meat in its own fat for a minute or two before letting the crock cool and the fat solidify. This is why you don't fry the bacon completely crisp - you don't want it to burn when you do those brief simmerings. You take the extracted bacon, and the extracted fat - a tablespoon or two should be plenty, I imagine - and finish frying the bacon crisp on the spot.

This would be something akin to what is done with other meats stored with fat, sometimes ones much more rapidly perishable than bacon, so I'm guessing that this will work.

mojo · Post by **mojo** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 12:34 pm

Gyre - I googled "Ready Crisp Bacon" and found the same one with no nitrates has been carried by Costco. Call your local store and check - maybe?????[/img]

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 3:10 pm

Thanks.
I'll look.
A definite winner on the playa.

mudpuppy000 · Post by **mudpuppy000** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 4:56 pm

looks like hormel and oscar meyer sell some... I'm going to have to look for some in a local store. :) MmMmMmM!

http://shop.netgrocer.com/shop.aspx?&si ... bacon&ns=1

Here and there · Post by **Here and there** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 9:39 pm

Fire_Moose wrote:I like my bacon with extra nitrates and MSG

why arn't my images working?!?!!?

Problem fixed, without the need to set up or use an Imageshack or a Photobucket account. The short form is that by including everything from the question mark onward in the image url, you were linking to somewhere the image appeared instead of linking to the image, itself. A real image url ends at the .jpg.

Also, you need to link back to Flickr, since that's where that image is hosted, or Flickr is going to get really annoyed when they find out. But this is getting us off subject, so I set up a discussion about the problem here, where I go into more detail and answer all of your questions on this point, I hope - at least as well as I can answer them.

BACON Jerky???? Really?

BACON Jerky???? Really?

My bad!

Re: My bad!

Busted

Re: BACON Jerky???? Really?