HOMEMADE BACON (DRY CURED AND AIR DRIED)

[Suzanimal]

Back in the day, people knew how to do cool things.

Well, I think they’re cool.

Well, really, I can’t be the only one in the world that thinks it’s exceptionally cool to cure pork belly and have it hanging in your kitchen.

A few weeks ago, we butchered our pigs, and have been enjoying the fruit of our labors. And man, oh man, oh man, ohhh man, is it delicious. And just a few days ago, we were finally able to consume our much awaited bacon and pork cheeks. For the past two weeks, it’d been curing in our refrigerator – slowly leeching itself of water and stabilizing for long term storage.

The process was simple. But new to me.

Because I’m from this day and age, when doing cool things like curing pork belly and having it hang in your kitchen is not common knowledge.

Luckily, I’m not afraid to learn new things. Nor am I afraid to try them. Some of the greatest experiences in my life have come from trying new things.

And thus, I learned. And tried. And succeeded! Thanks in part to this wonderful post from Reformation Acres and also in part to the wonderful Farmstead Meatsmith and his beautiful wife, Lauren, who has been helping assure me along my way. Because to learn cool things you need help. And I’ve been blessed with the most wonderful bacon-loving helpers an ‘ol farmgirl could ask for.

HOMEMADE BACON (DRY CURED AND AIR DRIED)

You will need:

- Fresh pork belly from the best quality hog you can find (if you can’t grow your own pigs yet, try and find a local pork farmer! or talk to a high-quality local butcher).

– Dehydrated whole cane sugar, about 6 cups

– Coarse sea salt, about 6 cups

– Large, plastic bin

1. Combine the sugar and salt. Generously rub the flesh side of the pork belly with the mixture.

2. Rub the sugar and salt into the flesh some more.

3. Did I mention you need to rub the ‘ol pork belly down with the sugar and salt? The sides too. Make sure to get any pockets or under bits of fat – anywhere where water could accumulate. All of it, man.

4. Stack the pork belly slab (or slabs) into the large plastic bin. Stick in the refrigerator and forget about it until the next day. Dump the accumulated liquid out of the plastic bin and rerub the flesh with the sugar and salt. Stack it all back in the tub and stick it in the fridge again.

5. The next day, dump out any accumulated liquid and rub the sugar and salt mixture on any part of the pork belly where the salt and sugar has been completely dissolved. A thin layer will do. Repeat this process every day until liquid stops accumulating in the bin. Ours took about 10 days.

6. Rinse the pork belly under water, using your fingertips to scrub off any remaining sugar and salt. Pat dry.

7. Voila! Cured bacon. We ran meat hooks through ours and hung it up in the kitchen.

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[Root]

Nice!! I've been thinking about making my own bacon lately.

I made some maple glazed bacon last night. I ATE IT ALL!



3T pure maple syrup
2t dijon mustard
1T brown sugar

Mix together, coat bacon. Cooked in oven at 350F until done. Flipped once to coat the otherside.

[Suzanimal]

My son made chocolate covered bacon, it was awesome.

[dannno]

This is my favorite kind of bacon:



I usually just throw it in a cast iron skillet and put it in the oven at about 300+ degrees while I take a shower in the morning. By the time I'm out and dry and ready to start cooking the rest of my breakfast, the bacon is about done and I don't have to flip it or watch it or do anything. I also find I can get a more consistent texture, I like it just barely crunchy on the outside but not dry through, still juicy in the middle.

I really like wrapping things in bacon... You can also make a bacon weave:



You can dump a bunch of scrambled eggs on the weave and get a sort of bacon omelet type thing.

Grilling bacon can also come out pretty well, I will do that when I'm making bacon burgers.

[FindLiberty]

Looks good - Might be fun to fry/microwave between two bowls for a nice basket effect.

He said "That's sure a lot of bacon cookin' there in that weave!"
JUST THEN, A THREE LEGGED PIG RUNS THROUGH THE KITCHEN.
He asks "why does that Pig only have three legs?"
She says that they had a fire and the pig woke everybody up and then went back and brought the dog out.
He said "but why does the Pig only have three legs?"
She said well another time my son was playing on the ice and it broke and he fell in and the Pig ran to the barn and got a rope and saved him.
Again he asked "why does the Pig only have three legs?"
After all the Pig did for us, it didn't seem right to eat him all at once.

[Natural Citizen]

You can also make a bacon weave:

That looks like a giant pain in the ass.

[dannno]

That looks like a giant pain in the ass.

You sound really lazy.. it takes less than a minute and you can double the amount of bacon you can cook in your pan.

[Natural Citizen]

You sound really lazy.. it takes less than a minute and you can double the amount of bacon you can cook in your pan.

No way that takes less than a minute. I don't believe it. I'd have to see it.

[specsaregood]

This is my favorite kind of bacon:

fwiw: not that I am a stickler for these things; but IIRC a lot of times the black forest bacons have gluten in them.