I know fetishizing bacon is so 2007. You won’t catch me sporting an “I <3 Bacon” t-shirt or getting a hog tattooed on my arm. But I’ve had a revelation, and I must share it.
I didn’t ‘get’ the deal about bacon until I made it from scratch this year, in 2011. Now when I wake up on Sunday mornings after drinking a few too many Lone Stars, the first thought that pops into my head is “BACON!” It’s the only thing that revives me. I jump out of bed and make some sort of breakfast incorporating crispy bacon, and the world is made right. It’s so much smokier and more flavorful than the stuff from the store. Now I need homemade bacon in my fridge at all times.
You can make bacon too. It’s not hard. It involves 1. curing 2. waiting, and 3. smoking (in that order). The only special item you need is pink salt. No, not Himalayan pink salt like I thought at first. It’s salt with nitrates added to it. You’ll also need kosher salt, sugar, and a 2 to 5 pound slab of pork belly. You might as well start with good pork. I recently toured Richardson’s Farm with Slow Food Austin and came home with 12 pounds of pastured pork belly. Here are the pigs Richardson’s, doing their pig stuff.
I used to be strict about bacon directions, diligently following a recipe to flavor and cure the belly, placing it in the fridge, and religiously rubbing it and turning it every other day. On the seventh day, I smoked it. It was much like God creating the world. Now I just sort of wing it.
The first step is assembling a basic dry cure using Michael Ruhlman’s and Brian Polcyn’s recipe from Charcuterie.
- 1 pound/450 grams kosher salt
- 8 ounces/225 grams sugar
- 2 ounces/50 grams pink salt (sodium nitrite)
I combine and mix everything in bowl, and then store it in a jar or other airtight container. Then I rub a healthy handful into all sides of the meat. Since I like a savory bacon, I add flavorings like garlic, rosemary, red chili flakes, or garlic. Sweet bacon fans can experiment with brown sugar or molasses. You can get creative, but I usually use whatever I have on hand.
Next I place the belly in a 1 or 2 gallon ziplock bag for at least a week. Since I cure my bacon with sodium nitrate, which is an antimicrobial, I have no problem leaving it in the fridge until I find some time/work up the energy to smoke it.
We don’t use any fancy wood chips to smoke as fallen wood from the backyard works perfectly. We place the pork belly in a cast iron skillet and place it in the grill, making sure the fire doesn’t exceed 225 degrees. We sprinkle it with water when it gets too hot. The longer you can smoke the bacon the better, but even smoking for 1 or 2 hours will make it taste good. If you’re motivated, you can experiment with different smoking techniques. We once added pipe tobacco to the smoke, and it imparted truly excellent flavor.
So now you know. Grab yourself a slab of pork belly and get curing and smoking, and then wrap it up in plastic wrap and store it in the fridge. When the need for bacon strikes, carve off a few thick slices, fry it up in the skillet, and you too will vow never to get the store-bought, vacuum-sealed stuff again.
15 comments :
Where to do you get your pink salt? Bacon is definitely on my list of things to make in the future.
Believe it or not, I found it at the Fiesta on 38th St. and it was very cheap! Academy might have it now that its close to hunting season again. Callahan’s didn’t have it last I checked.
I need a smoker because this looks incredible!
You don’t necessarily need a smoker. You could easily smoke bacon using a small kettle grill. Just make sure the temperature never gets too hot by sprinkling with water when necessary. I’m sure there’s lots of info out there about smoking without a smoker.
I have a Cameron’s smoke box I can use on my stove top and oven. If I set the oven for 220, I should be good, right? Also, does that count as hot or cold smoking? I have a lot to learn about the differences. Is the sodium nitrate necessary for small batches?
Hi Maven,
I’ve never used a smoke box, but it sounds like it would be fine. Just keep the heat as low as possible so the bacon can smoke for as long as possible without drying out. Bacon is probably a good place to start smoking because it seems difficult to dry it out. Its all about experimentation! Most home cooks can only hot smoke because it takes lots of expensive, professional equipment to cold smoke. Hot smoking always ends up cooking the meat a bit, while cold smoking doesn’t cook the food or dry it out but still imparts the smokey flavor (think smoked salmon). If you’ve never cured meat before, I would start with the sodium nitrate to be safe. Its an antimicrobial and you will be leaving meat in the fridge for a week or more and then smoking it at a low temperature. Actually, Michael Ruhlman says if you’re going to smoke, you need the pink salt as a precaution against botulism. Also, your bacon will also turn out gray (and won’t taste bacony) if you don’t use it. Good luck curing/smoking!
That looks so amazingly good! How long does your bacon keep for?
I’ve read that it keeps in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, but I’ve kept it in there for a month and it was fine. No difference in taste. Bacon also freezes very well, but I recommend slicing it beforehand and then wrapping it tightly in plastic wrap.
Do you mean Himalayan pink salt? I’ve been seeing that around in specialty food shops and have always heard it’s amazing, but haven’t bought it before. I never know what to do with specialty salts, but this post is amazing!
I would never have even considered homemade bacon before. Very inspiring post! I’m sure it tastes 100 x better than store-bought too. So creative. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Laura- no, it is NOT Himalayan pink salt. I thought that too at first. It is a special salt treated with nitrate made specifically for curing meat, and its used extensively in charcuterie. It is dyed pink as a precaution, so you don’t confuse it with regular salt. If you can get your hands on some pink salt, you should give homemade bacon a try!
Very awesome; I love the adjuncts to the smoking process, I’ve never played with that before. I’ll have to get a little more creative with the next batch. Pipe tobacco? Wow!
The nitrate salt is not actually critical to the process, by the way. I’ve made bacon several times and never used any, and it always turns out fantastic. I even left a couple of pieces of curing side pork on the fridge for over three weeks, with no nitrate salt, and it was perfectly fine when I finally got around to dealing with it. It did need a little soaking before I smoked it to get the saltiness under control. It always tastes plenty “bacon-y”, but there is some greyness to some of the meat without the nitrates. The regular canning salt seems to do an excellent job of keeping the unwanted critters at bay.
Also, I have built my own cold smoking setup for the price of an old 55 gallon drum and an hour of my time, so that can be done, too, but lately, I’ve been just using the little aluminum “little chief” smokers from the sporting goods store, and they work fine.
Too bad each pig only has so much belly meat…
Did you use the whole cure for your 12 lbs. of pork belly? I’m going to make some bacon and I wanted to see just how much pink salt I need to buy per pound of meat.
No, I didn’t cure 12 lbs. at a time. I’ve only cured about 5 lbs. at a time because I can’t eat bacon that fast and would rather not freeze it if I don’t have to. I also like experimenting with different flavors. I use the recipe in the post to make a dry cure and then generously rub enough into all sides of the meat. I store the extra in a jar for future meat-curing projects. I don’t think the amount of pink salt you use needs to be exact when making bacon. I really recommend getting Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn if you’re going to be curing meat often!
I smoked bacon the last time I made it for 5 hours with hickory and I thought it was too smoky. Although if you give it a rinse under cold water before cooking that tames the smokiness
If you can’t find pink salt locally you can order it on-line at numerous sites. It’s also known as Prague Powder #1. One source is http://www.americanspice.com/
Cure and simple: How to make your own bacon and charcuterie | Grist May 4, 2012 5:37PM
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