Smokin’ with the Dutchess – Make Your Own Bacon
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It’s been a little while, but the Hanneke Eerden (AKA: The Dutchess) is back with another fantastic BBQ Smoker inspired post! Check this one out, folks. But be warned… you’re gonna have a hankerin’ for makin’ bacon after reading this!
Let’s see what The Dutchess has made for us today…
Bacon. It’s just good. What more can I say…I’m a bacon fan! And who isn’t…but listen…have you ever tried to make your own bacon? Do you actually know how easy it is?
Until about 2 years ago, I thought making your own bacon was too difficult to mess with. Then, I read an article from Noskos about how he made his own bacon. After reading that, I instantly knew that THAT was it! Ha!
Making your own bacon, say that out loud, it will make you smile for sure!
There are many different flavor profiles you can play with when using a BBQ smoker or smoking meats on a Weber Kettle, like mine. You can play around with the wood for smoking for example, to add whatever flavor profile you want to the meat. Or play around with the product that you use for curing. So far I’ve only used “pink salt” for curing, but if you check the internet, you’ll find other products with different flavor profiles.
There are also some good books on curing bacon and other meats that you might want to check out…
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The Complete Book of Butchering, Smoking, Curing, and Sausage Making: How to Harvest Your Livestock & Wild Game 12 total customer reviews... |
Make Your Own Bacon… It’s Easy!
Did I already mention how easy it is to make your own bacon? In fact, all you need is pork belly, pink salt, some wood and coals and a smoker (or a Weber kettle grill
The whole process takes 8-10 days. And 10 days is the max, because otherwise it’s not “food safe” anymore. So I always stick to 8 or 9 days, just to be sure.
First you start with buying a nice piece of pork belly, this piece is 1.5 lbs:
Then you apply the pink salt (or use another product, then read the instructions on how to use it carefully) and sugar. Pink Salt is also known as Instacure #1, and yes it’s pink!
You use it as a dry cure or you can also use it in a brine. Rub the meat with the sugar and salt. Put it in a large freezer bag (note: there will be a lot of juice coming from the meat so make sure it won’t leak into your fridge) and store it in the fridge for 7 days. Turn the pork belly around in the bag each day to be sure the cure gets all over.
After day 7 rinse the meat and pat it dry. Now you need to place it back in the fridge, on a rack, to dry. This process only takes about 3 days, so don’ let it sit past then!
On Bacon Day (wow!), you prepare your BBQ smoker or kettle grill for indirect cooking. Choose the type of wood you want to use. This time I choose almond wood that has been soaked in Whiskey, given to me by Baxter’s Original, no surprise for a BarBQBoozer, huh?!
It’s important to keep the temperature looowww…. The maximum temperature should be about 200F. That’s low for a Weber kettle grill, so it took some time for me to reach the right temperature. Due to the lovely (not) weather (hail, storm, rain, thunder) I was forced to hurry before that dreadful weather would spoil my bacon.
So, this time I did put the pork belly on the grill when the temperature was about 275F…a bit high I admit, but I had to choose, bacon or not….Not a tough choice!
When the bacon has reached an internal temperature of 150F it’s done! Oh my, can you imagine that smell? It’s unbelievably delicious, I tell you!
The upper layer (skin) can be removed as soon as the bacon has cooled off, cool enough to handle and slice.
What I do is slice the whole bacon, wrap the pieces separately in foil and then store it in a freezer bag in the freezer.
This way you can get as many slices from the freezer as you need. If you don’t pack them separately, they will be frozen into one big block of bacon! Hey, nothing wrong with that, but… sometimes you need less!
If you want to try this, please don’t hesitate, you won’t be sorry!! If you’re already familiar with making bacon and you have ideas for me, please let me know!
As always ~Bon Appetit! And be sure to check out the other BBQ Recipes in the Smokin’ with the Dutchess series!
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Comments on Smokin’ with the Dutchess – Make Your Own Bacon
Nice!!! supernice!!! Dutchess
: -))
Nice!!! supernice!! Dutchess
)
thanks Nora!!