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Nothing beats bacon … except maybe your own homemade bacon! Can you make bacon yourself in your own home? You bet! By making it yourself, you get to decide what goes into it, what to flavor it with, and whether and how long to smoke it. You can also avoid any chemicals or additives that you don’t want.
Is it easy to make bacon? While the process is a long one, it is not hard to make bacon at home. Making bacon is a hobby that not many people do, but the rewards are worth every yummy bite.
What is pork belly? Pork belly comes from the belly of the pig (hence the name!). It is fatty and boneless and usually cut in a large whole piece. It has a slab of meat along the length with a thick layer of fat running along the top. There is also fat marbled throughout. Because we all know that fat is flavor, pork belly is a very tasty part of the pig. To make bacon, the fatty outer layer is stripped off and the remaining pork is cured, sometimes smoked, and then sliced into what we call bacon.
Finding pork belly is not as easy as it used to be. You will have the best luck sourcing it from a local butcher. Sometimes you can get it from a grocery store. If they don’t carry it normally, ask if you can have it ordered. There are also online sources for pork belly.
The main process of making bacon is the curing step. After that, it is up to you to decide if you want to smoke your bacon or not. It is not needed for preservation, but it does add flavor. If you decide to smoke your bacon, you can choose what type of hardwood to use (applewood and hickory are popular choices) and how long to smoke it.
This recipe is simple and straightforward. There are ways to add additional flavor to your bacon, from smoking, to adding a black pepper rub, to adding spices. But this is a great starting point for your bacon making adventure.
3 pounds pork belly
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons coarse kosher salt
1-1/4 teaspoons ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon curing salt (if desired)
Wash the pork belly and pat dry using paper towels. In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar, salts, and pepper. Using your hands, rub the seasoning mixture over all sides of the pork belly. Massage the curing mixture into the meat. Place the whole pork belly into a large plastic bag and seal it shut. Place the bag on a large sheet pan and place in the refrigerator. It will stay in the refrigerator for 10 to 14 days. Turn the bag once or twice a day to ensure even curing. After the 14 days of curing time, remove the pork belly from the bag and discard the curing mixture. Rinse the pork belly well and pat dry with paper towels.
To smoke the pork belly, place it on a rack and let it dry for two hours. It will form a pellicle, which is a thin layer of proteins on the surface of the meat. This allows the smoke to better adhere to the surface of the meat, making the bacon more flavorful. Smoke the bacon in a smoker at 200 degrees F until it reaches an internal temperature of 150 degrees F. You can smoke the bacon from two to 24 hours. The longer you smoke it, the more intense the smoke flavor.
Once your bacon is cured and smoked (if desired), you can slice it up for frying. You have the option of slicing the whole slab all at once or only slicing off what you need. Unsliced bacon will last a bit longer in the refrigerator than sliced bacon. Freeze your bacon if you want to keep it longer than one week.
Curing salt, also called Prague powder, is used in curing meats. It changes the color of the meat, making it more pinkish, and extending its shelf life. Curing salts are usually a mixture of table salt (sodium chloride) and sodium nitrite.
The pink color of curing salts is added, typically to keep them being confused with common table salt and is sometimes called “pink salt.” But don’t confuse this curing salt with the popular Himalayan pink salt. That special salt gets its color from trace minerals.
Prague powder, another name for curing salt, comes in two varieties: Prague Powder #1 and Prague Powder #2. The formula dubbed #1 contains table salt and sodium nitrite. It is used for meat requiring a short cure, such as bacon. The #2 variety also adds in potassium nitrate and is used for meats needing a longer cure time, like salami and country ham. A third type of curing salt, saltpetre, is composed of potassium nitrate and has been used for centuries as a curing agent. It isn’t used as much anymore, as it is not as consistent as the Prague powders.