Food Saver bag vs. ZipLock for brine pork belly ??

16 years ago

I know there is a long homemade sausage post on this forum but I want to talk bacon and pancetta.

I have a FoodSaver and wondered if I could use the foodsaver bag - just seal it no vacuum - to brine my pork bellies for bacon and pancetta. I know the 2 gallon ziplock bags are recommended in most books. The ziplocks do admit some small amount of air and the foodsaver bags are air-tight. Will this work?? Also will it work to just put the pork belly into a lock-n-lock container and just turn the container over every other day??

I am looking for alternatives to the ziplock bags. Ziplocks can and do leak. Foodsaver do not leak and lock-n-lock do not leak.

What do you guys think??

BTW I just got my copy of Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing and I am assembling the necessary 'stuff' to make my first pancetta. Link below to see what this book is all about.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sausage Book

Comments (3)

ksrogers
16 years ago
Instead of using the largest sized gallon Food Saver bag, suggest you use the roll material. The rolls are about 22 feet long by 11 inches wide. Because of the maximum width of 11 inches, you may be limited as to the width of the meat you want to brine. But keep in mind the length can be many feet long if need be. Some food Saver machines will allow an immediate seal, and will stop the vacuum process. Mine has a button to do a fast seal, but sometimes it will not function and will start pulling a vacuum no matter how I push the fast/quick seal button. Because I go through quite a lot of the rolls and prefer to make my own bag sizes, I also bought an impulse sealer. These are adjustable in their heating and I have even use them to make small bags out of some garden fabric thats used as row covers. These porous bags are placed over ripening fruits on the trees to block bugs a birds. The only concern would be that the bag would have to lay a bit flat with a liquid in it, and if the sealer starts a vacuum as well as a seal, you could pull in liquid. The main reason I use the vacuum canisters to brine is because it opens the pores in the meat and allows the air out, while pulling in the brine. If you do brine without the vacuum, be sure to give it at least another day or two in the fridge. The follwing link shows a big 6 quart container, that I prefer to use when doing my peppers in vinegar.
http://www.foodsaver.com/ProductDetails.aspx?productid=3661

They also have a taller, narrower one that I use for brining almost a half a whole, boneless pork loin. I think the following link is the biggest and tallest they sell, but you would have to call them to be sure.
http://www.foodsaver.com/ProductDetails.aspx?productid=2487

With my very high powered vacuum pump, I tried using one of the following, but every time a vacuum was pulled, they would crack.
http://www.foodsaver.com/ProductDetails.aspx?productid=3672

In any event, another option to get plenty of brine inside the cut or meat would be to use a meat pump. The site below also has, or had a 4 ounce version too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Meat pump
dgkritch
16 years ago
If it were me I'd use a hard container and flip once a day or so. I hate using plastic IF I can avoid it. Especially when it's just going to be thrown away later.

Just my opinion. :+)

Deanna
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dancinglemons
Original Author
16 years ago
Yes, I do use the roll of foodsaver bags. I like the rolls better than the pre-cut bags. My machine sometimes tries to vacuum when I only want a seal but I usually just pull the bag out and start over. Thanks for the info.

DL

Food Saver bag vs. ZipLock for brine pork belly ??

Comments (3)

ksrogers

dgkritch

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Food Saver bag vs. ZipLock for brine pork belly ??

Comments (3)

ksrogers

dgkritch

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