Homemade Bacon. Yay Homemade Bacon!

Do I really have to write anything here? It’s homemade bacon. What could be cooler? Go get yourself a pork belly from Costco or your local butcher shop and get started. I buy the whole pork belly (skinless) at costco which are usually in the 8-10 lb range. I like to cut them into thirds and freeze them separately. So with one of those thirds we’ll make about 3 lbs of bacon for this recipe. It’s Bacon!.

This recipe does call for Prague Powder, which is pink curing salt. It’s available on amazon but isn’t always carried at grocery stores. You can make bacon without it but the prague powder helps with curing and making the bacon safer to eat after some time in the fridge.

Mmmmm, bacon.

What you’ll need sucka -

3 lbs skinless pork belly

2 tbsp kosher salt

1 tsp pink curing salt (prague powder).

2-3 tbsp honey (enough to cover the belly with a think coat all around)

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tsp cumin

2 tsp chili powder

1 large ziplock bag

Rub the honey all over the belly. Combine the rest of the seasonings into a bowl, then add them to the belly. Then put the belly into the ziplock and squeeze out as much air as possible. Throw it in the fridge. Now, every day for the next 7 days you need to flip the bacon. As the bacon cures in the fridge the salt will draw out some moisture. So be sure the ziplock is shut tight and not leaking. It’s not a bad idea to place it on a baking dish just in case. If you’ve got a vacuum sealer you’re ahead of the game for this and in life.

After a week pull the belly out and put it in the smoker. If you don’t have a smoker it’s easy to smoke with any grill. If I don’t have a video up when you read this (just getting this started) just google it. There are a million videos on youtube that will show you how to do it. It’s super easy. Get the temp up to about 225. Smoke the belly fat side up until it reaches an internal temperature of pretty much anywhere between 150 and 180. 150 will give you chewy bacon, 180 will be very tender. Any higher than that and it may start to fall apart. I think the magic number is closer to 165. That way it’s tender but still has a nice chew. Once you’ve pulled the bacon out let it rest, then throw it in the fridge. After it cools it will be much easier to slice. Then just slice it to whatever thickness you desire and cook it the way you normally cook bacon. It’s already fully cooked and safe to eat, but now your giving it that crispy texture that makes it bacon.

Hey guess what, if you made it this far you just made bacon, at home. Bacon! That’s friggin rad. Take pics, post them on your social media. You will become the hero to everyone you know except your weird vegan friends. Now just have fun with it. Make the mother of all BLT’s, or bacon tacos (i know a recipe), or have breakfast for dinner with the thickest slices of bacon the world has ever known. This is your time.