Makin' Bacon

The time had come.  I had a beautiful pork belly on my hands from Miss Maggi and Michael Ruhlman's Charcuterie, some pink salt(nitrate/nitrite haters read Mr. Ruhlman's solid rant about the truth here - hint, you've been having them all along even if it says NO NITRATES) and Bruce Aidell's Complete Book of Pork.  The planets had aligned.

During my cooking day with Ali we had mixed up Ruhlman's basic cure for bacon and we popped it in a cambro and tucked it away in the fridge for a week to rest up, tighten up and exude away.

During the week I ordered some wood chip, more like sawdust from here.

On Sunday I pulled it out of its resting place, rinsed the cure off and patted it dry.

I filled a half steam table pan (one of those grocery store disposable aluminum pans) with some of the wood shavings,1 pint of hickory and 1 pint of cherry, lit a few briquettes in the chimney and laid them on the shavings.

The grate went on the porky goodness was nestled on top.  The vents on the top and bottom of the grill were open and I popped in a thermometer to ensure it hung in the 80-120F cold smoke sweet spot.

Husband and I continued our PURGE of the basement in anticipation of laying a new floor and periodically I would check the pig.  A few times I had to add a few more white ash briquettes and shuffle things around and once or twice I think the temp might have climbed to the high 130's, but generally over the 5 hour period it was pretty consistent.

Here she is in all her smoke lacquered, porky, piggy, beauty resting and waiting to be sliced and eaten.  I will NEVER go back again.  This was hands down one of the easiest, highest gratification projects I have tackled.  Go on, you know you want to make it.

Comments

[Dan]

Oh my. I want. Where do you get pork belly, though?

[Frog]

Bacon is one of the most rewarding things to make. As a matter of fact, my husband is picking up a belly from our local butcher today.

[Karan]

Store bacon just doesn't thrill me any more. I have a friend who makes his own bacon all the time and I live for invitations to his house because he adds his bacon to almost everything. I LOVE it.

[ChezChristine]

I'm making bacon too! But I'm trying to hot smoke it in a regular oven. Can't wait to taste the results.

[ChezChristine]

I'm making bacon too! But I'm trying to hot smoke it in a regular oven. Can't wait to taste the results.

[Steven Stier]

Smoking a pork meat really gives the meat a different taste. I actually love smoked pork. The taste is too great for me. You can also get other recipes on How to cook a pig. They had lot more ways on how to cook your pig.