Look for pork belly that has about a 1:1 ratio of muscle to fat. Remove it from the the container or bag, rinse thoroughly, and pat dry with paper towels. Proceed to smoking (see below).
Bacon makers in Scandinavia add juniper berries and other aromatic spices. If you dont own a smoker and dont want to buy one, you can actually make a smoker out of your propane grill. All rights reserved.
Remove the pork belly from the bag, rinse thoroughly and pat dry. Transfer to a resealable 2-gallon plastic bag. A general rule is to cure your bacon 7 days for every inch of thickness.
Refrigerate it for 5 days. After the cure, the pork belly needs to be rinsed and returned to the fridge to develop a sticky skin called a pellicle.
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Full disclosurehere. 2022 Barbecue! Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl until they are uniformly combined. You can find it at specialty food stores or online. It has been updated to reflect the superiority in the flavor of the final product when using Prague Powder #1.
Allow the pork belly to cure for approximately 7 days. Site by Being Wicked, Episode 208: The Best BBQ You've Never Heard Of, Episode 304: Killer Barbecue-Hold the Meat, Episode 402: Rolled, Stuffed, and Grilled, Episode 105: How to Smoke When You Don't Have a Smoker, Episode 110: Yum KippersFish Gets Smoked, Episode 111: Smoking the CompetitionOur Tailgating Show, Episode 112: You Can Smoke What?! The bacon will take 20 to 25 minutes to cook. Without the pellicle, you wont get the bronzed surface that makes bacon look so darn irresistible. After 5-10 days curing, thoroughly rinse the salt/sugar brine off of the pork belly. Carefully pour the rest of the dry mixture across the top of the meat and press it in uniformly all around, using your hands to thoroughly massage the cure mix into every nook and cranny of your pork belly. *Other flavor ideas for your bacon include Asian-Style Bacon (Chinese 5-spice powder, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, honey, powdered ginger, powdered garlic), Maple Bacon (dark maple syrup and brown sugar) and many more. Thoroughly and evenly rub down all sides of the pork belly with the dry rub.
For smoking fuel, use hickory, apple, or cherry, or other preferred hardwood (or blend of woods). If you hit the 7 day mark, you can test your bacon by slicing through the middle to be sure the pork belly is pink all of the way through with no gray left at all. If you can get pork belly from a heritage breed like Berkshire, Duroc, or Kurobuta, it will have a richer, meatier, more distinctive flavor than conventional pork bellies.
Set up your smoker according to the manufacturers instructions and preheat it to 175 degrees. Subscribe to our email newsletter to get a FREE Meat Temperature Guide and never miss a new recipe or deal! You can use a large sharp knife or, for perfectly uniform/professional slices use a.
Cure the bacon for 5 days, turning it over each day.
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Cut your pork belly into a nice square, bacon-like block. This helps form a pelliclean exterior skin that feels papery and dry and just a touch tackyfor the smoke to adhere to.
If you have a large piece of meat, I recommend dividing the pork belly into smaller portions so it is easier to handle in the cure. The bottom of a pork belly usually comes with skin (rind), which will be tougher than the rest of the bacon.
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Sure, you can crisp it in a cast iron skillet (start with a cold skillet to minimize shrinkage). You can get pork belly with skin (sometimes called the rind) or without. We aim to provide a wide range of injection molding services and products ranging from complete molding project management customized to your needs.
As soon as you get your pork belly home, start the cure because raw pork fat goes rancid after just 4 or 5 days.
I dont think Ive ever cooked anything that made me as excited as this homemade smoked bacon. If it isnt pink through, put it back in the cure for another day and test again.
Subscribe to receive our FREE weekly newsletter, The BBQ Beat, and never miss a new recipe! To make the spice rub, mix the kosher salt, pink salt, brown sugar, honey, red pepper flakes, paprika and cumin in a bowl.
The goal here is to get your pork to an internal temperature of 155 degrees F. You want to keep the temperatures low during this smoke so you cook the pork through and add all the smoky flavor without rendering any of the fat in the belly. Susie Bulloch founded Hey Grill Hey in 2015 with one desire: To help people make better BBQ. Flip the bacon over, redistribute the liquid that will have formed (if it's in a ziplock bag simply turn the bag over and give it a massage), and refrigerate for another 5 days. Refrigerated, the bacon will keep for at least 5 days; frozen, it will keep for several months. You need to leave your bacon in the fridge for 12-24 hours; I usually leave mine overnight. Furnel, Inc. has been successfully implementing this policy through honesty, integrity, and continuous improvement.
Ask your butcher to remove the skin but save it for you so you can make fried pork rinds, chicharrones, or cracklins, if you like.
If you are buying from a butcher, see if you can get them to remove the skin from the belly for you. (optional and amount according to personal preference), **REFER TO BLOG POST FOR A COMPREHENSIVE TUTORIAL AND STEP-BY-STEP PROCESS**, **You can vary the flavors according to your preferences (see Recipe Notes) but. All Rights Reserved, ne serving of arugula, two servings of butter lettuce, and four servings of celery or beets all have more nitrite than 467. I like to use apple wood to smoke my bacon, but maple and hickory are also awesome choices. This air drying time in the fridge will help the smoke really cling to the meat by creating that tacky exterior. If you want that smoky, American bacon taste, but dont have access to a smoker, you can cheat by using a natural liquid smoke during oven-roasting. (The pan will catch any potential leaks.) Your email address will not be published. The technique and skills you learn will bring your backyard cookouts to a new level.
Transfer it to a colander and rinse both sides well with cold water. Place the dish in the refrigerator for 5-10 days, until the meat feels firm throughout, with no soft spots. I usually portion mine off so they can easily fit in a gallon sized zip top bag. Basically, frying and eating nitrite-cured bacon presents the perfect scenario for nitrosamines to enter your system. Think of it as brine.
Start at one corner and use a sharp, slender knife to separate the skin from the meat, angling the knife blade toward the skin. Check out some of our popular recipes here on Hey Grill Hey!
Fire up your favorite pellet grill and keep the temperature as low as possible (I was smoking around 165 degrees F). If you're not going to use it within 2 weeks you can freeze it for up to 3 months. Its supposed to. Whole Foods will sell you pork bellies by the pound, which may be easier to handle for home smokers.
(See the USDA Food Safety website for guidelines on safe handling of bacon.).
Fry and eat if you like. Save the fat for up to a month and use it to fry.
(It also blocks the absorption of the cure and smoke flavors.)
Follow through steps below or watch my video for a full tutorial for smoking on a gas grill. This recipe gives you the choice to use a smoker or to gently roast the bacon in the oven. At this point if you like you can rub it down with some cracked peppercorns and, if you want it sweeter, some brown sugar, honey or maple syrup. Making homemade bacon is a several day process, but it is totally worth it. When youre ready to make your bacon, place the pork belly in a plastic bag with the cure and seal the bag tightly. Copyright 2022 Small Footprint Family |.
Small bottles of liquid smoke can be found near the barbecue sauce on grocery store shelves. Vegetarian Paleo Gluten Free AIP GAPS Keto Whole30. But I like to cook my bacon on the grill (direct grilling over medium-high flame).
We offer full engineering support and work with the best and most updated software programs for design SolidWorks and Mastercam. If youre used to soft, thin-sliced supermarket bacon, wait until you sink your teeth into a 1/4- to 1/2-inch-thick slice.
Next, it is time to make the cure. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Next, blot the belly dry and place it, uncovered, on a wire rack on a baking sheet on the bottom shelf of your refrigerator. I always recommend ThermoWorks thermometers because they are insanely accurate and very durable. As the cure dehydrates the bacon, liquid will gather in the bag. Some organic un-cured bacon brands use celery juice in lieu of pink salt, but celery juice can often contain even more naturally-occurring sodium nitrite than the curing salt! While botulism is usually related to improper canning procedures, food-borne botulism also occurs in meats that have been improperly cured.
Ready to put this bacon to good use? If youre using a charcoal smoker, the temperature will fluctuate between 160 and 180 degrees. But many experts agree there is no need to do this. To store, wrap the bacon in plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 1 week or freeze up to 2 months. Proceed to smoking. Bacon Wrapped Brats with Beer Cheese Sauce. If youve got the patience, chill the bacon completely before slicing. **This post was originally published in August 2015. Mix the wet ingredients (if using) in a separate bowl until they are uniformly combined. RealPlans customizable meal planning app makes getting a delicious, whole food dinner on the table a snapwhether you're Paleo, vegetarian or something in between! Turn the bacon over every day, and slosh the brine around it. (We use and love the. 1/4 cup honey (preferably chestnut honey), If you don't have a smoker, you can cook the pork belly in a 200 degrees F oven until it registers 150 degrees F on a meat thermometer.
Get Raichlen's list of 35 must visit restaurants plus weekly recipes and tips straight from Steven Raichlen! Making your own bacon is very easy and affordable, especially because fresh pork belly is a relatively cheap cut of meat.
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See the recipe for specific measurements.
Place all the dry cure ingredients in bowl and stir to thoroughly combine them. Coat the pork belly all over with the mixture.
(5 days is a good average for a thin belly about 1-1/2 inches thick, but check to be sure.
Homemade bacon will keep for a week in the refrigerator and several months in the freezer.
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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. After curing, almost all commercial bacon in the United States is smoked, whereas bacon in other countries is cured, but not smoked. And your bacon will taste much better than anything youve purchased in a package. A comprehensive tutorial with step-by-step pictures on how to make your own AMAZING bacon using either the wet brine or the dry cure method! Use hard-to-slice pieces in pots of beans or soup.
(Times will vary; check after about 2 hours. By the way, a full pork belly weighs 10 to 12 pounds. course or Kosher grain, NOT refined table salt, coconut sugar, honey, or pure Grade B maple syrup. *, Brown Sugar Glaze (for Ham, Veggies & More) . It is hard to resist slicing pieces off right away, so definitely cut off a few pieces and fry them up. But the home cook can better control the variables and handling procedures involved in curing bacon, and can get those assurances without the addition of nitrites. One of the benefits of making your own bacon is that you can slice it as thick as you like.
Dawn is the creator of Small Footprint Family, and the author of the critically acclaimed. First, you need to pick up a piece of pork belly.
After 10 days the pork belly will have become quite firm and stiff.
I mean, its bacon.
The smoking time will range between 2 to 3 hoursyoure looking for an internal temperature of 150 degrees.
With a long, very sharp knife, slice your bacon across the grain, thin or thick, as desired. Read the ingredient list on the label carefully to make sure it contains all natural ingredients. It is essential that the pink curing salt is evenly distributed across the whole pork belly. Better yet, ask your butcher to skin it for you. At home, youll have to work a bit harder. OPTIONAL: Use only if not using a smoker.
The texture should also feel like a well done steak when it is done curing. You can also bake or indirect grill the bacon on a wire rack over a foil-lined rimmed baking sheeta great way to prepare it for a crowd. There was an error submitting your subscription. Set up your smoker according to the manufacturer's instructions using applewood chips, and set to 200 degrees F. Smoke the pork belly 3 hours, or until the bacon reaches an internal temperature of 150 degrees F. Remove the rind (optional), then slice and cook as desired.
I like to place my pork belly on a wire cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet before returning to the fridge.
This wont help migraine sufferers much.
All rights reserved. It can also be used to give flavor to beans or greens. Pat the bacon dry with a clean towel and set it on a rack over a baking pan. Remove the pork belly from the brine and thoroughly rinse it off.
Close the bag and refrigerate 7 to 10 days, flipping once a day, until the pork belly feels firm. Now its smoke time!
This is very important.
Commercial smokehouses remove it using a slicing machine.
This means from organic hogs (or hogs raised humanely without hormones or antibiotics). You can make Maple Bacon following the same recipe steps above, but using the following ingredients for the cure: I'd like to receive the free email course.
Thickness will vary, but lately Costco has been stocking beautiful, already skinned slabs of pork belly.
Bible.
Your email address will not be published. It keeps the meat pink and protects it from bacteria.
Place it in a ziplock bag or container (like a casserole dish), with the fatty layer side down, and cover it with plastic wrap.
This post may contain affiliate links. With bacon,the smoking stepis more about adding flavor than it is about preserving the meat. Preheat your smoker to 175-180 degrees F (do not exceed 200 F).
It is the perfect mixture of sweet and salty and it just screams breakfast. But the fact that I bought a giant slab of pork belly and turned it into beautifully seasoned and smoked homemade bacon made me near giddy. (This sets the flavor and texture.) The recipe remains the same. Venture out of your comfort zone and try something new. Place the cured pork belly on the grill grates of the smoker, close the lid, and smoke for about 6 hours or until the internal temperature is up to 155 degrees F. Invest in a GOOD quality thermometer! Slice off the ends of the cold bacon, which may be very dark and more salty than the innards. Place the wet pork belly into the dish and press it into the salt/sugar mix. If you feel intimidated, come try a piece of my homemade bacon.
Direct grill it over a medium flame on both sides (start belly side down) until crisp and golden brown to make browniescrackling crisp bits of skin to fold into pulled pork. So, if you have time and some space in the fridge, you can enjoy the wholesome, chemical-free goodness of homemade bacon right from your own kitchen! At Furnel, Inc. we understand that your projects deserve significant time and dedication to meet our highest standard of quality and commitment. 50 Ways to Love Your Mother contains 50 simple steps you can take today that will not only go easy on the planet, but your wallet, too.
Please try again.
Or from a heritage breed like Berkshire, Duroc, or Kurobuta.
Once the pork is smoked, you are ready to slice and fry it up! ), There is one main concern when curing and preserving meat, and that is botulism.
If you go to the time and trouble of curing and smoking your own bacon, start by procuring a pork belly worthy of your efforts. For the cost of a full brisket, you'll get annual access to an exclusive BBQ community, Pitmaster Classes, discounts, and much much more! Let the bacon cool to room temperature on a wire rack over a baking sheet, tightly wrap in plastic wrap, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. watch my video for a full tutorial for smoking on a gas grill. If you're using a grill, set up it up for 2-zone cooking and smoke the bacon over indirect heat at 175-180 degrees F (don't exceed 200 F) for about 3 hours or until the internal temperature of the bacon reaches 150 degrees F. To slice the bacon, slice it across the grain.
Here's how to cure bacon at home.
It will make all the difference in the finished product if you have an accurate temperature reading.
Which is awesome enough. Refrigerate the belly on a rack, uncovered, 48 hours.
To freeze the bacon: You can either use a vacuum sealer like.
It can be a bit of a nasty job to remove this skin yourself, and it also increases your cure time since it is typically not removed until after the time spent in the cure. I hope you give them a try!
You can achieve a wide, subtle range of flavors by varying the source and proportions of these ingredients: white sugar or brown sugar, maple sugar, or even freeze-dried cane sugar juice. Ground or cracked black pepper or hot pepper flakes.
We recommend using a. Im not going to pretend that I am the first person to attempt to make bacon, I did a lot of reading on proper cure times, ratios of curing salt to bacon thickness, etc. And when you make it yourself, you get total control over the quality of the meat and the ingredients it is cured with!
For the smoker version, hickory, cherry or applewood chips will give you the best flavor.
When shopping, choose a fresh, unfrozen, unsliced, organic or pasture-raised pork belly from your butcher or local farm that is between 12 inches (35 cm) thick and 68 inches (15-20 cm) across.
The peppered cure is a little more sophisticated with some added spice.
*Important Note: If you're using more than one slab of bacon do not overlap the slabs while they're curing, let them cure in a single layer. Each has a richer, meatier, more distinctive flavor than industrial pork bellies. If you're following the recipe to use a 5 pound pork belly and plan on using the wet cure method with ziplock bags you can cut the pork belly in half and divide the brine equally between the two bags. Finally after all of that waiting, it is time to eat that glorious, salty sweet piece of meat heaven.
The Grill Squad is our exclusive membership program that will transform bland cookouts into booming barbecues that you'll remember for a lifetime.
If Tenderquick is still your preferred method, you can plan to use 1 Tablespoon of Tenderquick per pound of bacon you are curing.
Making your own Homemade Smoked Bacon is a bit of a process, but it's 100% worth the effort. To prevent this, commercially preserved meats contain sodium nitrite (sometimes called pink salt), which acts both as a preservative and a color fixer.
In a glass dish, use your very clean or gloved hands to slather the meat all over with the wet ingredients (if using) until thoroughly coated everywhere.
I did, however, create these two awesome cure recipes from all of the knowledge I gleaned from those who have made bacon before me. With the temperature of your smoker holding steady around 165 degrees F, it will take around 6 hours for the meat to fully smoke.
Place one half of the dry cure mixture in the bottom of the glass dish. Fry bacon pieces/slicesin a skillet, or crisp themin the oven.
Itll make the job much easier when the meat is cold.
Some people say you should let the slab of bacon air dry for up to 24 hours before you smoke it.
The 10 Best Seed Companies for Heirloom and Non-GMO Seeds, Why You Need a Water Filter (And How to Choose the Right One), How to Make Thieves Oil: A Safe, Natural Disinfectant & Health Aid, The Complete Guide to Sugar and Sugar Substitutes, Why Disposable Diapers are Dirty and Dangerous. But the main concern with sodium nitrite (or even high levels of naturally-occurring nitrites from celery juice) is that when it is exposed to high heat in the presence of protein (like a piece of fried, nitrite-cured bacon), proteins in the meat bond with the sodium nitrite to produce toxic nitrosaminesand certain nitrosamines have been proven to be deadly carcinogens.
Extreme Smoking, Episode 208: Rise and Smoke: Breakfast Hits the Smoker.
Cut bacon into cubes to make. The recipe notes contain the ingredients for the maple cure.
The longer you cure it, the saltier it will be.). So, heres how to cure bacon at home, (and have it taste even better than store-bought!
As the cure dehydrates the bacon, liquid will accumulate in the dish. Place the belly in a large, sturdy, resealable plastic bag in a foil pan or roasting pan on the bottom shelf of your refrigerator. There are two cures in the recipe card below.
A temperature of 350 to 375 degrees works best.
And that is what you are going to do with your pork belly to make it into bacon.
Arrange the belly on a rimmed baking sheet. Anthony's Organic Cane Sugar, 3lbs, Granulated, Gluten Free & Non GMO, The Spice Way Juniper Berries - Whole berries, Redmond Real Salt - Ancient Fine Sea Salt, Unrefined Mineral Salt, 16 Ounce Pouch (1 Pack), McCormick Fine Ground Black Pepper (Organic, Non-GMO, Kosher), 12 oz.
Place the bag in the refrigerator and allow it to cure. Making your own homemade Smoked Bacon is a bit of a process, but its 100% worth the effort.
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You can use a meat slicer if youve got one, but I just used a really sharp knife and went to work!
I like to mix the cure ingredients by handespecially when using brown sugar, so you can break up any lumps with your fingers. Im going to detail my steps for you here so you can follow along and venture into beautiful, homemade smoked bacon territory.
Let dry for at least 4 hours or as long as overnight, turning once or twice. It will develop a, Let the bacon cool to room temperature on a wire rack over a baking pan, tightly wrap in parchment paper, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. Discovery, Inc. or its subsidiaries and affiliates. Make sure you flip your pork belly over in the cure and massage once a day.
Just leave plenty of open grate space so you can move the bacon if you need to dodge flare-ups. After 7 days the pork belly will have firmed up. To date she has created over 550 recipes that millions of people cook every month, making Hey Grill Hey a name synonymous with amazing BBQ. Rinse the pork belly and pat dry. Use your imagination!
If using an electric or gas smoker, you can set it right at 175 degrees.
Get it FREE when you sign up for the Seasonal Harvest newsletter! Rinse it and pat it dry. (This sets the flavor and texture.). Unfortunately, the sodium nitrite (or naturally-occurring nitrites from celery) is necessary in a large industrial setting, where many different people, machines and industrial processes are involved in getting the meat from the feedlot to the store, free of botulism and other harmful bacteria. If you eat a lot of pork, then you should know how important it is to get it from pigs that havent been tortured in industrial feedlots, fattened on GMO soy and corn, shot up with pharmaceuticals and antibiotics, and then processed with chemical additives and nitrites. **A one-gallon bag will hold a 3-pound pork belly.
This removes excess salt.
Use up any excess mixture in the dish to make sure both sides are thoroughly coated. This is what gives store-bought bacon that bright red color. ), Sign up for the Food Network Shopping Newsletter Privacy Policy, Doritos Launches New Tangy Tamarind Flavor, Ghetto Gastro x Fly By Jing Collab Promises to Light Your Sweet Tooth on Fire, Panda Express Burritos Are Going Viral on TikTok Heres Where to Get Them, Recipes That Are Basically Made for Instagram + TikTok, The Chewy Snacks Restaurant Chefs Swear By, 8 Best Cutting Boards, Tested by Food Network Kitchen, The 7 Best Pizza Ovens, According to Pizza Experts, We Tried the Blackstone Griddle You've Seen All Over TikTok, 9 Best Reusable Water Bottles, According to Food Network Kitchen, 5 Best Vacuum Sealers, Tested by Food Network Kitchen, 10 Best Lunch Boxes for Elementary School Students.
Allow the bacon to air-dry uncovered in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Susie and her husband Todd run a family business that includes a line of signature BBQ rubs, sauces, and gadgets. Im here to walk you step-by-step through making your own smoked bacon from scratch that is way better than anything youll get at the store.
Note: you can also cure bacon in a brine, which well discuss in a future blog post. Or deep fry it in oil to make chicharrones (pork cracklings). This means you need to buy pork from organic sourcesor better yet, from a farm that raises their pigs naturally on pasture and forage. The process of curing anything simply means using salt to draw the moisture out, so that the food lasts longer.
We recently updated it with more information and helpful tips. These experts argue that in leaving it wet the smoke actually sticks to the bacon better than if it's dry.
Depending on your smoker, youll use chunks, chips, sawdust or pellets. Season and rub it on both sides with the cure as described in the recipe.
At this point if you like you can rub it down with some cracked peppercorns and, if you want it sweeter, some brown sugar, honey or maple syrup. Its supposed to.
Itll pluck up your courage.
The basic ingredients are salt and sugar and optional curing salt (sodium nitrite) and pepper. You can also vacuum seal the bag to remove all the air if you have this available. Note: Do not discard the pork skin.
Sodium nitrite is toxic in high quantities, and has been linked to migraines in some people.
Pink curing salt is a mix of salt and sodium nitrite.
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It is amazing on BLTs and cheeseburgers.
Get refreshing new ideas to save money and live greener and healthier every day.Join Small Footprint Family on your favorite social network! When you cure your own bacon, you control the quality of the meat and the ingredients it is cured with!
This recipe was originally written using Morton's Tenderquick as a cure.
To store the bacon: If you plan on using the bacon within 2 weeks, wrap it in several layers of plastic wrap followed by an outer layer of foil and keep it refrigerated.