BLT Challenge | The Bacon

This is my fourth batch of bacon. I’m indebted to Kevin Weeks of Seriously Good for posting about Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn a couple of years ago.  I’ve greatly enjoyed making my own sausages, pate, peperone, and bacon.

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Brown sugar, kosher salt, and pink salt.

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My husband and I prefer the more savory pancetta seasonings for our bacon rather than sweeter maple type. There are juniper berries, black peppercorns and bay leaves in the processor. I ground the pepper in a mill last year, and even though it was a Magnum, it took forever. I figure as long as the peppercorns are cracked it’ll be ok.

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As I’m curing 36 lbs. of pork belly this time, it takes 30 cloves of garlic.

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All buzzed up and ready to go.

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Lovely Niman Ranch pork bellies.

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My husband experimented with lots of thyme from the garden for one belly.

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I lurve the full width meat/produce drawer in the bottom of my Viking fridge. I fit four pork bellies in there!

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After ten days curing it’s a beautiful color. Washing off the spices is the worst part of the whole process. I felt I was wallowing in raw pig juice. I washed down the kitchen with Lysol in a 10’ radius around the sink after I was finished and then took a shower.

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Drying in the fridge overnight with a garbage bag drip-guard. I’ve learned that if I want to feel flush enough to give away some of this awesome bacon, I need to make a lot of it.

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Hot smoking with hickory chunks in the Weber Smoky Mountain Smoker Cooker (or the “Bullet”).

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My husband fried some of the smoked pig skin for a snack.

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My husband slices while I vacuum seal.

It keeps very well in the freezer.