What goes well with hearty breakfasts? Bacon.
What is essential in BLT sandwiches? Bacon.
What’s not the epitome of healthy but shamelessly and insanely good that a huge part of America’s population is simply infatuated with it? BACON.
Are you salivating yet?
And above all – what is better than bacon? Homemade bacon. No more of the store-bought and generic-brand kinds, which end up being expensive and rather unimpressive in the long run. No more meat commercially injected with needles as a poor attempt to imitate the smoky, sweet taste of artisan bacon. No more thin, wimpy slices that barely give the desired crunch after throwing onto the stovetop. We’re talking about the thick, juicy slices that in themselves are a delight to sensuously peel from the other thick, juicy slices, slap onto a sizzling pan, and watch as they go from pink to crispy brown under the skills of us bacon lovers. Not many stores can boast of selling bacon that delicious. However, your own kitchen (and grill) can now do so.
To make basic but top-notch bacon, you need only four ingredients (five if you count water): pink curing salt, kosher salt, pepper, and pork belly. One can make many different kinds of bacon – Canadian, Buckboard, American – and this recipe, which was modified from the recipes on AmazingRibs.com and Cool Material, is for the classic American bacon.
While we must admit that as college students, investing the time into creating bacon shouldn’t rank above midterms and nightly homework in priority, it’s a skill worth knowing, with a rewarding result that exceeds expectations.
AMERICAN BACON
Ingredients:
- 1 lb. pork belly
- 1 ½ tsp. of kosher salt
- ½ tsp. of pink curing salt
- 1 ½ tsp. of ground black pepper
- ¼ cup water
Directions:
- Purchase one pound of good-quality, fatty pork belly. To get good bacon, you obviously need good pork belly, just like if you want great steak, you need great beef. While lean pork belly might be healthier, we’re talking about honoring bacon and its characteristic fatty goodness. Make sure you talk to the butcher at the grocery store and explain that you want raw, fresh pork belly with the skin intact.
- Combine all of the ingredients except for the pork belly in a large Ziploc bag. Shake/squish the ingredients around until everything is thoroughly mixed.
- Place the pork belly into the Ziploc bag; remove as much air out of the bag as you can and lock. Start rubbing the cure mixture into the pork belly. Massage the meat and make sure to firmly coat all sides of the pork belly.
- Place the Ziplock-bagged pork belly into a pan to catch any liquid that might leak out, and store the meat in the freezer for seven days. Every day of the week, check on your pork belly and massage the liquid/cure again into the meat. Then, flip onto the other side and leave it until the next day to repeat.
- After 7 days of curing have passed, remove the meat from the freezer and throw away both the Ziploc bag and the leftover liquid. Rinse the meat under cold water to remove the cure on the surface. No worries – the cure that flavors the bacon should have already been absorbed and evenly distributed through the meat. If you do not rinse, the cure will continue to work and make the bacon much too salty. After rinsing, dry the belly with a paper towel.
- Prepare to smoke the bacon for the next 1.5 to 2 hours! Place the cured pork belly over a grill with hickory or other favorite woods and smoke over indirect heat at 225 degrees Fahrenheit until the bacon’s internal temperature reaches 150 degrees F (we advise you to use a food thermometer to ensure that you smoke it perfectly).
- After smoking, place the bacon onto a plate to cool before slicing the belly into thick, juicy slices.
- Wrap the bacon rashes in plastic wrap and store in the freezer for up to 2-3 months (two to three) or refrigerate for up to 2 weeks. Throw onto the stove pan or oven when desired and ta-da! You have homemade bacon!
National Bacon Day recently passed by (August 31), but this recipe could be useful for the 2014 holiday as your true testament of dedication and love for bacon. The results will be amazing. We know that life is hard enough without a week-long process to make bacon, but life generously gives back to those who put the time and energy into it – and this definitely applies to bacon. Well, we’ll stop with the philosophical talk, and end it with crossed fingers that someday, you will attempt this and be blown away. You’ll definitely be Facebooking, Tweeting, and Instagramming – if all three are still relevant by then – your masterpiece for days on end.