Ya ya ya, you can buy bacon, but you're not a real man till you've made your own.
It's done a few easy steps.
1. Buy a massive slab of pork belly - tell the butcher to take the skin off, and that you're gonna make bacon.
2. Put in a big sealable zip lock bag, this is where you add your flavours so you can get quite inventive. I love brown sugar, maple sugar and bacon cure (follow the guidelines on the packet, or ask the butcher to provide the right amount for your meat), make sure it's rubbed really well into the meat. Want beer flavoured bacon? Add a small amount of strong beer into the bag, but not too much you don't want to wash off any of the cure. Perhaps slightly over cure might be a good plan.
3. Store in the fridge for 7 days, turning each day. Let the suspense build, tell stories of your prowess to all.
4. After 7 days remove from the fridge and marvel at your skills, you've made bacon. Wash off the cure etc.
5. Don't eat it yet! you need to smoke it first for maximum flavour.
6. Smoke it in your BBQ with indirect heat for a few hours, check on it to make sure you're smoking it, not full on cooking it - you're imparting flavour here not cooking it... (If you don't know how to get your smoker set up, check back soon for the smokebark guide!!!)
7. Slice it, fry it up and eat it!!! (Slices much better if you chill it first).
Have you made bacon, how did you find it? Comments are open below...
