Home-made bacon
Home-made bacon
Curing bacon doesn't require special skills, you just need to be patient — the process takes about 10 days. Cam uses pork belly from a speciality meat supplier, but any kind is fine, as long as it is extra fatty. "The more fat, the more flavor," he says.
Ingredients
- 2.5 kg Pork belly skin on
- 0.25 cup Kosher salt flake salt, non-iodised
- 2 tsp Pink curing salt Dunninghams DMD Cure Honeydew
- .25 cup Dark brown sugar
- .25 cuo Honey
- 2 tbsp Red pepper flakes
- 2 tbsp Smoked sweet paprika
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds
Instructions
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Rinse the pork belly and pat dry. Transfer to a large resealable Glad zip slide plastic bag.
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To make the spice rub, mix the kosher salt, pink salt, brown sugar, honey, red pepper flakes, paprika and cumin in a bowl. Coat the pork belly all over with the mixture.
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Close the bag and refrigerate 7 to 10 days, flipping once a day, until the pork belly feels firm. It should take 7 days for a thin belly that is about 11/2 inches thick, longer for a belly that's 2 to 3 inches thick.
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Remove the pork belly from the bag, rinse thoroughly and pat dry. Refrigerate the belly on a rack, uncovered, 48 hours.
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Set up your smoker according to the manufacturer's instructions using your preferred chips, and set to 95 degrees C. Smoke the pork belly 3 hours, or until the bacon reaches an internal temperature of 65 degrees C.
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Remove the rind (optional), then slice and cook as desired. To store, wrap the bacon in plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 1 week or freeze up to 2 months.
Recipe Notes
Pink curing salt is a mix of salt and sodium nitrite. It keeps the meat pink and protects it from bacteria. You can find it at specialty food stores or online.
I use Dunnginhams DMD Cure Honeydew
If you don't have a smoker, you can cook the pork belly in a 95 degrees C oven until it registers 65 degrees C on a meat thermometer. (Times will vary; check after about 2 hours.)