OMG, Real Homemade Bacon!

Double posting tonight, because the bacon simply must be shared. It is that superbly glorious. You may recall from my post last week that I was curing some pork bellies for bacon, and let me tell you, that was one of the best decisions I've ever made. I fried some up for dinner tonight (yes, I ate a dinner of bacon and nothing else), and it was just SO good.

Fresh off the smoker on Saturday. 

Just sliced. If it weren't in beautiful, giant chunks, you'd think it were store-bought by the appearances.

Bobby, the maple cure, didn't get as much maple flavor as I'd hoped at first - it was subtle, but it built up with each bite. He tasted like candy, let me tell you. Petrino, with the garlic in the cure, was perfectly salty but not overly so. Considering that this was a short cure - just two and a half days, plus three hours soaking (Bobby was soaked in brown sugar and water, Petrino was repeatedly rinsed and soaked in clear water), plus drying in the fridge overnight - I'm blown away by how absolutely perfect it was.

A bit of each was for dinner tonight. I like mine slightly undercooked, and definitely not burnt.

I will never buy bacon at a store again if I can help it. I'll just make huge batches while I visit down here, then freeze them for use throughout the year.

A Precursor to Bacon

The fireplace/smoker is very, very close to complete. The handle is going on in a couple of days, and the metal cap to go over the top will be fabricated in the next week or so. Tomorrow will be a cleanup day, and preparing for my birthday/PhD shindig on Saturday.

I earned a trowel of my own for all my work in this. So... tired...

However, finishing up stone work was not the end of my evening. Yesterday, I acquired half a pork belly from a lovely butcher in Hoover, but I had a difficult time finding pink salt to cure it with. I ended up using celery salt instead, which has plenty of nitrates in it that convert to sodium nitrite - which was exactly what I needed to keep the pork belly nice and pink, not to mention botulism-free.

NOM.

It took a while to break down, because this is the first time I've had to skin a pork belly. I consulted my friend George, whose PhD is in Food Science, for advice on a rapid cure, since it's already Wednesday evening and the bacon's going on to smoke on Saturday.

Vegetarians, I don't know how you do it.

After a bit of chat, I decided to do skin-off and smaller chunks for maximum absorption. A 6.8 pound pork belly yielded a bunch of skin, plus two separate portions. Having my own silly sense of humor, the 2.2 pound batch that I added maple syrup and brown sugar to was named "Bobby", while the 2.3 pound batch has salt, garlic powder, and black pepper, and is named "Petrino".

I also bagged up the skin, which I'm going to use to make cracklins. After a little research, I've decided to use the oven-and-fry technique posted here. Whether or not they'll be snacks for the party or if they'll be our Friday night noms has yet to be seen.

Bobby, Petrino, and Wilbur's Skin. A pork belly destined for MY belly.

For the record, Bobby got 1c maple syrup, about 1c brown sugar (1.5c loose pack), 3/4 c kosher salt, and 1 oz celery salt for about 2.2 pounds of belly meat. Petrino got 1 oz celery salt, 3/4c kosher salt, 1/4c garlic powder, and 1/4c black pepper for around 2.3 pounds. I'm really interested to see how it turns out. I've never made my own bacon before, and I don't know anyone else who has, either.

More updates to come on Saturday!