eat quaff laugh: Homemade Bacon And The Piper Street Food Co

Last Saturday I was lucky enough to attend a full day charcuterie course at the Piper Street Food Co in Kyneton, Victoria. Thanks so much to my family for the early Christmas present!

This was a jam-packed day of education, demonstration and hands-on skills celebrating all things piggy.

Damian, out instructor and also owner of the Piper Street Food Co, was a wealth of knowledge and a great storyteller. His background as a chef in Australia and around the world gave him great knowledge and experience in general cooking and his passion, Charcuterie.

Damian our enthusiastic instructor with a lovely pork shoulder

Charcuterie was originally created as a way to preserve meat without refrigeration so it could be enjoyed all year round. These days, it's more about tasting fantastic and using all parts of the animal, rather than keeping for the winter. Certainly the products that I made wouldn't last that long!

Mincing pork for the terrine

Over the course of the day, we made pork sausages, a green salt for confit duck, duck rillettes, a cure for our own bacon, quail galantine, Terrine de Campagne and a farm house pate. We were lucky enough to enjoy the quail galantine and terrine with some beautiful salad, fresh bread and wine for lunch.

The gorgeous Terrine de Campagne, served at lunch

The quail galantines, poached, then oven baked. Absolutely delicious!

The sausages we had to stuff and link ourselves and were then able to have them packed up to bring home. Likewise the bacon had to cure for a week before it could be cooked and eaten. Our warm duck rillettes were packed into bags and we were given our own green salt to use at our whim at home. With goody bags bursting at the seams, we really did get to take home a lot of amazing treats.

My sausages

Cooking the sausages on the BBQ

The day was tiring, but a lot of fun and I learnt so much. I have made pate and terrine before, but the recipes we used at Piper Street Food Co were quite different and a bit more rustic. Sometimes it's nice to have more simple processes without compromising the flavour. Every thing we made was absolutely delicious!

The homemade bacon was particularly special. I've wanted to make bacon before, but just haven't had the patience to make it one day, but then not be able to eat it for another week. I'm sharing the recipe with you, but credit obviously has to go to Piper Street Food Co. They have put a lot of work into perfecting the ratios of meat to salt and other flavours. The recipe makes a nice sized piece of bacon, but you could easily do the maths to alter the quantities depending on the size of your piece of meat. The small amount of sodium nitrate used acts as a preservative. You can find this in cooking supplies stores, like the Essential Ingredient in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra.

I urge you to give making your own bacon a go. It really is easy, you just have to be patient. If this post inspires you and you live in Melbourne, I'd definitely recommend the drive to Kyneton to complete the Charcuterie course. They also have other foodie related short courses, so check out their website www.piperstfoodco.com to see what else they have coming up.

I definitely think I'll be heading back again one day. Not only is there the lure of the cooking school, but they have a gorgeous bakery and cafe with a delicious array of homemade goods. What could be better than a drive to the country for some feasting?

Bacon Salt

500g boned pork belly

The pork belly to be made into bacon

70g salt
12g sodium nitrate
40g brown sugar
50g black pepper
4 cloves of garlic
4 sprigs of thyme

Place all the salt ingredients in a food processor or mortar and pestle and pulse until combined but not too wet.
Rub the salt into the meat and place in a bag or sealed container in the fridge for 7-10 days.
Every day, turn the meat and rub the salt mixture into it.

Pork belly with the curing salt

On the final day, rinse the salt off and pat dry.
Bake in a cool oven at 90 degrees for 45 minutes.
Set aside to cool, then slice and use as you wish.