Homemade smoked bacon

BY: ANDREA ALDEN

You could, of course, go to a store and buy that soggy, watery, greasy, stained, unappetizing bacon that you normally eat for breakfast on the weekend. Or you could buy a piece of pork belly and wait 10 days to get your own homemade smoked bacon. Not only will it be the most delicious bacon you'll ever taste in this life, but you'll also know exactly what's in it and how it was made. Add to that the knowledge and deeper inner satisfaction that you made it yourself. Impress your friends and family with this amazing pork dish when you prepare it for them. When we made it, it was the longest 7 to 10 days of our lives. Not only was I waiting to cure the bacon, but I was also waiting for my husband, the baking baron, to return from skydiving with about a dozen of his friends. I stayed safely on the ground and played hostess at the event, which featured chicken curry with a beer can and these delicious burgers. But since we already had the smoker going to make the chicken, we thought this would be a great opportunity to smoke the bacon. I mean, the coal was already lit and glowing. Needless to say, the Baron survived his fall to Earth; According to him, it was the best thing he ever did. I, in turn, think that the best thing I ever made was this bacon.

INGREDIENTS

• 6.35 kg pork belly
• 1 bag of charcoal
• 1 bag of maple or applewood smoking chips
• 2 zip freezer bags, approx. 28 cm x 27 cm

Natural bacon

• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp sugar syrup
• 2 tbsp kosher salt
• 2 tbsp bone meal
• 2 tsp curing salt*

Maple bacon

• 6 tbsp kosher salt
• 3 tsp curing salt*
• 85 ml brown sugar
• 7 tbsp maple syrup

*You can also get curing salt from the butcher where you buy your meat. You may need to pre-order it by phone. You can also order your curing salt online from a specialist retailer or even via Amazon.

PREPARATION

1. Prepare your giant piece of pork belly, remove the skin and cut it in half. This should give you two portions of 3kg each. This also fits better in the large freezer bags with zip closures.
2. To make the pure bacon, combine the sugar, molasses, salt, bone meal and curing salt in a bowl. Place half of this mixture on the first pork belly and massage it into the meat. Turn the cured pork belly over and massage the rest of the cure into the meat. Make sure you brine the sides and ends too. (If you just want plain bacon, double the recipe in quantity and repeat this process.)
3. To make maple bacon, combine salt, brown sugar, pickling salt and maple syrup in a bowl. This results in a sticky substance, not like the pure curing mixture. Massage half of the mixture into one side of the second pork belly and the other half into the other side of that pork belly. (Double the recipe in quantity and repeat this process if making maple bacon only.)
4. Place both pork belly portions into the oversized freezer bags. Close them tightly and put them in the fridge.
5. Turn the bags of bacon daily for 5 to 7 days. You will observe fluid collecting in the bags. That's exactly what you want. The curing mixture draws the moisture out of the meat. This causes supermarket bacon to stretch and curl up. At the end of the curing time, the pork bellies should be firm.
6. When you are ready to cook the bacon, remove the pork bellies from the bags and discard the excess liquid. Rinse and dry the pork bellies and set aside until the grill is ready.
7. Preheat the grill to 95 °C and fill the Napoleon smoking pipe with smoking chips or preheat the Apollo smoker to 95 °C. Smoke the bacon for 3 to 6 hours, until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat registers 145°F.
8. Let the pork cool and cut into slices. Divide the slices into as many portions as you want family members to eat. Wrap the portions in aluminum foil or in smaller zip-top freezer bags. Freeze everything. Thaw each portion before frying.

Homemade smoked bacon will be the best bacon you've ever eaten. Unless you A) don't like bacon or B) have no taste. I mean, we gave samples to friends and family members - even though we were very sad when it was all gone - and they all couldn't believe it! What they had thought was bacon for years was not even third rate in comparison. At least that's what they said. Do it yourself. Try it. You will love it.

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