Homemade Smoked & Cured Bacon Recipe
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Category: |
Category: |
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Ingredients: |
Ingredients: One 5 pound (or more) slab of pork belly (see notes below)
The cure:
Kosher salt
Fresh ground black pepper
Brown sugar
Pink salt, (Sodium Nitrite) sometimes called "prom powder". It is intentionally colored pink so you will not confuse it with regular table salt. (See notes below on nitrites)
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Directions: |
Directions:About the Port Bellies….
Try to get a Heritage Hog like a Berkshire. The Heritage breed of hog is known for superior flavor and lean pork bellies. Get the your butcher or meatpacking company to remove the skin. Whole Foods sometimes carries pork bellies. If they don't have it in stock they can order it for you and you will get a good quality belly.
About Nitrite’s….
Pink Salt of Prom Powder is a curing salt that has sodium nitrite in it . Don't get your panties in a wad about sodium nitrite. It is a compound that occurs naturally in many foods. It is used as a preservative and is responsible for the natural brown color that occurs in cured meats. Some people with argue with you to the end of the world. Your choice but I personally do not have an issue with it. I will post a brining solution for curing bacon that uses celery juice in place of Sodium Nitrite. Celery juice is a natural curing agent. Look under Marinades.
Mix your cure together in equal parts and thoroughly cover and massage the cure into your bacon slab including the sides. Place the slab into a heavy duty Ziploc baggie. You're going to cure your pork belly in the refrigerator for five days turning it over once every day. What will happen is the salt will pull out the juices in the pork belly and mixed with the cure to create a brine. This brine will further cure the pork belly and give it is wonderful flavor and color.
You're going to place your pork belly in a smoker (if you can use an indirect smoker for best results) and maintain your temperature at 125°. Warning: do not let your temperature rise above 145°. You're smoking not cooking! You'll need to smoke your pork belly for about 4 to 5 hours depending on your circumstances. I like pecan wood or hickory wood for smoking. By the way the FDA recommends an internal temperature of 145°. I don't necessarily agree with that but that's your call. When you smoke the pork belly/bacon everything will be just fine trust me on this. You'll know when the bacon is done when it has a beautiful caramelized color and has an internal temperature of around 125° to 145°. Remember, you're not cooking this bacon you're smoking it. A cook it at breakfast or dinner or whenever you choose to use it. Some people have a tendency to get the temperature up way too high and they end up with a cooked pork belly is good for nothing. We're making smoked, raw bacon not a main course.
When done put the bacon on a wire rack because you don't want the bottom to get soggy and let it cool to room temperature. You want you're Bacon to firm up so that you can carve it into slabs for refrigeration.
The beauty of doing this is that you can cut your bacon into thick pieces which I love to cook.. Believe me this is well worth the effort and actually it's not really a big effort at all.
Many places carry the curing salt that you're looking for. Cabela's, your meatpacking company where you buy your pork belly all carry this stuff. You will be amazed at the quality and the wonderful flavor you'll get from this minimal amount of effort. Bacon is very expensive but it's a lot cheaper when you do it yourself. Try buying 4 or 5 slabs at a time and make bacon for every body in your family or for your friends. Remember that you can freeze bacon and it will last a very long time in the freezer. Just make sure and use a good shrink wrap machine to store your bacon.
Here's an interesting note. You can actually eat the bacon when it comes out of the smoker. Remember this Bacon is fully cured. This is what our ancestors carried all across United States hanging from the back of a chuck Wagon.
And considering the quality of bacon you get today since FDA is allowing bacon companies to infuse bacon with water (liquid smoke) to add weight so they can charge you more for inferior product this is the only way to go. Here's another FYI moment. Most bacon never sees the inside of a smoker! Yep, that's right! They use artificial flavorings and liquid smoke to flavor their bacon. The bottom line is bacon is going to Hell-in-a- hand-basket so make your own. I promise you that you will not ever in your wildest dreams be disappointed and you will probably never eat another piece of bacon that you bought from your local grocery store or wherever. |
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Number Of
Servings: |
Number Of
Servings:25-50 |
Preparation
Time: |
Preparation
Time:1 week |
Personal
Notes: |
Personal
Notes: You know the old saying "If you build it they will come"? well "if you make it they will never eat regular bacon again"! Yes...It's that good. Have fun with they brine solution. Red pepper flakes, juniper berries, vanilla cane sugar and more can be used in the brine solution to create wonderful variations. Also pay attention to the different type of wood you use for smoking. Have fun and enjoy!!
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