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TitleIndoor Smokehouse
Ingredients1/4 cup BLACK tea, preferably Lapsang Souchong tea leaves (finely ground)—from about 10 tea bags, or 1/2 cup loose tea leaves ground to a powder in a spice grinder)

1/2 cup apple juice (or my preference, apple cider vinegar)
MethodTransfer meat from refrigerator to freezer for 45 minutes. Adjust one oven rack to lowest position and second rack to upper-middle position (at least 5 inches below broiler). Place baking stone on lower rack; heat oven to 500 degrees. Sprinkle ground tea evenly over bottom of rimmed baking sheet (for easier cleanup, line the sheet with heavy duty foil, first!); set wire rack on sheet. Place meat on rack and cover with heavy-duty foil, crimping edges tightly to seal. Roast directly on stone for 30 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 250 degrees, leaving oven door open for 1 minute to cool. While oven is open, carefully open one corner of foil and pour apple juice into bottom of baking sheet; reseal foil. Continue cooking …

With or without the smoking/flavoring ingredients, for the home-made bacon, the same process should be followed: very cold meat should be placed on a rack over a baking sheet and ‘shocked’ at a high temperature, and then slowly baked until an internal temperature of about 80 degrees F is reached (about an hour total). Let rest on rack until room temperature.

I like to divide the meat into 1/2 to 1 lb pieces at this point. For the easiest slicing, partially freeze in an airtight bag (or better yet, freeze, then partially thaw).

Remember, this meat is now in the state that you would buy bacon at the grocer's - it still needs to be fully cooked when you're ready to serve smile.
Posted byLinda
Posted onSunday 20 April 2008 - 13:36:40