Friday, January 8, 2010

THE NEED FOR A CURE

I am completely obsessed with the idea of curing my own bacon, so I've been doing some research on the subject. After reading several articles about making bacon, I've combined and compared the different techniques, and come up with these steps to follow:
  • Buy a pork belly, with skin on, that weighs about 5 pounds. You want the back portion of the belly if possible, as it should be meatier than the front end.
  • Generously rub equal parts Kosher Salt, Sugar, and Maple Syrup(optional) into all sides of the belly, along with any other spices or flavoring you want...I'm thinking some Sambal Oelek or Sriracha would be amazing....
  • Put the belly in a ziploc bag, put it in the fridge, and flip it over every 2 days for seven days.
  • On the seventh day, rinse and dry the meat.
  • Place the meat on a wire rack, and refrigerate, uncovered for 12-24 hours.
  • Smoke, skin side up, at 200 degrees until the internal temperature hits 150 degrees, about 3 hours.
  • Remove the skin, leaving as much fat intact as possible.
  • Either slice the bacon and cook it, or cut it into manageable chunks to be frozen and sliced later.
  • Bacon can be stored in the fridge for about 7 days, and will last in the freezer for about 3 months.
It looks like it is going to take around 8 1/2 days to cure the pork... If I start tonight, I just might be in hog heaven on Sunday morning....Time to go talk to a butcher and get this little piggy home!!!

1 comment:

mitchellsbrain said...

Let me know how it goes. I'm interested in making my own bacon. I love that you have a blog.