I promise that I am into other cooking techniques that do not involve curing meats.   It is mere coincidence that my only two food posts thus far both entail preservation.  That will all change soon, so just bare with me.

Sometimes, when doing things “the old fashioned way”, despite the sense of accomplishment that you may feel, the end product might not justify the trouble that  you went through to get there.   I’m here to say that making your own bacon is not one of those cases.

Fresh Pork Belly

In Houston, it is difficult to procure quality, fresh pork belly. Don’t even think about finding it at Whole Foods or Central Market. A few ethnic markets carry it, but the product is less than stellar. I gave in and ordered mine from Niman Ranch, after begging the Jolie Vue lady to no avail. Not three days after I paid way too much to have a whole pork belly (all 14lbs of it) shipped to the house, I found another supplier, Olde World Farms from Montgomery, Texas (northwest of Houston). They sell beautiful, fatty, lovingly raised pigs. To my delight, restaurants haven’t spoken for all of their bellies, as in the case of Jolie Vue. Unfortunately, more pork belly than I knew what to do with, was already headed my way. Next time.

Upon arrival, I tore in and broke it down into more manageable bits. Hindsight being what it is, I should have sliced it into 4-5lb chunks instead of 1-2lb (when it comes off of the smoker it is easier to slice if it is in bigger pieces). My ultimate goal was to have a sweeter bacon than what is normally available at the market.

Following Michael Ruhlman’s recipe in Charcuterie:

Maple-Cured Smoked Bacon

2 oz/50 grams kosher salt (about a ¼ cup)
2 teaspoons/12 grams pink salt (I used Insta Cure #1)
¼ cup/50 grams maple sugar or packed dark brown sugar
¼ cup/60 milliliters maple syrup (I used Grade B because of the stronger maple flavor)

When curing meat, it is extremely important to be dead on with the measurements. I ended up throwing the first batch of cure in the trash because I started second guessing myself about how much pink salt I added. When in doubt, just start over. The nitrites in the pink salt keep the bad bacteria from finding a home and setting up shop while the meat is curing. I then combined all of the ingredients (EXCEPT THE MAPLE SYRUP) in a mixing bowl and stirred to combine, so they were evenly distributed. Then I added the maple syrup.

Next, the pork bellies got an even coating of the cure and were placed into a Ziploc bag—force as much air out as possible to ensure a snug fit around the meat. To keep the possibility of leakage down, I set the bags of pork bellies in a casserole dish. Into the refrigerator they went for a full seven days (turning the bellies every day to redistribute the juice that forms as a result of the curing process).

Out of the Cure

Once cured, I fired up the smoker and hot-smoked the bellies at around 225 degrees Fahrenheit for three hours. At home, I typically use a mixture of oak and maple woods for smoking meat, but the more delicate and floral apple wood is better suited for bacon, in my opinion. After they came off the smoker and had a chance to cool for a bit, it was easy to slide a hot knife under the rind for its removal (reserve that awesome skin for stocks, beans, or frying).

Fresh off the smoker

The result? Well, like I said at the beginning of this post, from here on out, I’m going to do my best to never run out of the homemade stuff. The gentle sweetness that the maple syrup adds is a perfect compliment to the apple wood smoke. The other convenience about making bacon at home is that even though it takes several days to come up with a finished product, a very small amount of time is spent actively preparing it. And because of the fat content, bacon freezes extremely well.

Ready for the Freezer

More to come.