Home production of meat

 During challenging times, reestablishing community becomes vital due to the economic impact of a potential trade war. The economy was already declining before the Whitehouse's actions exacerbated the situation. 

Lessons our grandparents knew well taught us that we should have been paying closer attention. Now is the time to rebuild those skills, and believe me, it is never too late to learn to be more self-reliant or bring the community together, and in these times, it becomes a necessity. 

This discussion will focus on home meat production, specifically the process of making bacon and sausages. It is quite simple, and truthfully, you don't need the commercial equipment we have to begin producing a great-quality product in your own home. 

When curing hams, bacon, or smoked sausage with nitrates, you must ensure exact weight measurements of nitrates. The exact measurement can be calculated online, as it can be fatal if you use too much. You do not even have to use nitrates. However, I recommend you do as it reduces or prevents bacterial contamination as many sausage and bacon recipes are smoked at low temperatures and do take time to cure. We will post some good how-to videos on the YouTube channel very soon, so stay tuned. 

Here is a simple bacon cure that you can do at home: 

Here are the ingredients needed: 
 

2 oz. Kosher salt (about 1/4 cup) 

2 tsp. Cure #1 (aka pink salt, InstaCure #1, Prague Powder #1) 

1/4 C. Maple sugar or packed brown sugar or  

1/4 C. Maple syrup 
 

5 lb. fresh pork belly 

I also like to add a jar of sweetened applesauce or apple butter to the cure, which gives your bacon a wonderful apple pie aroma and flavour. 

You need to let the cure take effect. So, seal the pork belly up in a zip lock bag with the cure for ten days in the fridge, making sure you turn it every day and massage it into the meat for seven to ten days. Once that is done, remove it and rinse the cured belly. Let it dry in the fridge. Now, at this point, if you do not want to smoke or do not own a smoker, you do not have to. Your product will taste just as good cooked up without the smoking process.  

 

 

Take our word for it; you will never buy store-bought bacon again, and everyone will love its flavour. You yourself will be able to take pride in the fact you learned how to do it for yourself and saved money! 

 

Karen, Chef Erich, and I are Happy to share some helpful and budget-friendly recipes with you. We are also Happy that you are Joining us on this adventure. 

 

 

Not surprisingly, today's business is high-caliber in Alberta, as seen on https://highcaliberproducts.com/. They have everything you need to begin making high-quality meat products. They also have sausage-making classes, which I highly recommend, along with Arron McLaughlin, my instructor when I took meat cutting at Olds College.