Makin' Bacon

I had a pork belly I got at Costco a few months ago and it's been sitting in the freezer, I either wanted to make porchetta or bacon. I've made porchetta before but never made bacon, so I thought I'd give it a try....plus we were getting low on bacon

I cut it in half and did half with a premade bacon cure and the other half I used pink curing salt, brown sugar herbs and spices (whatever I felt like).
I vaccume sealed them and flipped them each day while they were in the fridge for a total of 14 days.
I was a little worried about it being too salty so I rinsed the shit out of them and then put them in a water bath in the fridge over night.



Got some chunks of plumb, mesquite, and pecan in the egg at around 225deg.


Man the smell coming off the egg is amazing.
I threw some bacon wrapped jalapenos on there to go with dinner


After I pulled them off I let them sit out for an hour or so, because the last step before slicing was to wrap it good and tight and let it sit overnight in the fridge so all the smoke will stick.


Next day was slice day, luckily I have a meat slicer and it made quick work of them.


I pulled the skillet out and made sure they tasted as good as they smelled.....did not disappoint!

1 pound went to my neighbor for all the hot sauces he gives me and we made out with 7.5lbs.

 

Nicely done.

 

Holy crap this is the best post I’ve ever seen.

 

Damn, looks good! Send me some.

 

Nice. I love making bacon! It's in my blood (name)...

Have some curing in the fridge right now. Same Costco belly.

This batch I made: habanero reduced in maple, apple cinnamon nutmeg, peppered (dry), and plain salted (dry). All have dark brown sugar/kosher/Prague #1




Fecking love making my own bacon



Here's my previous batch


Also thanks for the reminder to flip my cure bags

 

Let me know how that pepper one turns out. My neighbors entire backyard is a pepper garden and he has a bunch of different varieties. I thought about doing doing a pepper infused one.

What are you smoking it on?

 

Will do. When I tasted the reduction it was amazing. Nice and sweet with a kick in the back of your throat. Only did 2lbs of that one just in case it's insane lol

 

This is really cool, never thought of doing that before. Thanks for sharing

 

Whoa, I have to try this.

 

I love making my own bacon. I’ve yet to invest in the meat slicer yet, but I keep looking at them.

 

We butchered 3 pigs this last winter and did several hams and quite a bit of bacon. If you really want to kick it up a notch, try it with your own organic home grown pork. Really awesome!
We’re trying a different pig variety this year, coony coonies. Small, grazers, really cute.

 

Man, that sounds awesome!
Would be really fun to have some pigs, but in this household, they would end up as pets!

 

I grew up raising hogs for 4H and FFA as a kid. I've tried several times to convince my wife into us raising a few (much less $$ than buying organic hogs butchered), but can't get her to do it.

 

Nicely done!

 

Try harder! lol, Maybe if she tried some of these bone out pork chops or the pulled pork shoulder, we’re doing tomorrow, she might, just maybe might, consider changing her mind?

Didja make the drive yet?

 

yea, the pet thing can be a little bit of a problem….
Nonetheless, mines all gone and I would love to try yours! It’s easy, fun and awesome to eat!