Name:

Bacon

Description

Homemade pork belly that is cured and smoked. This is just the basic recipe, but we found the most basic was the best, and most versatile for all other foods you are using. ***IMPORTANT***: This recipe is for 1/4 of a pork belly (about 2.5lbs of pork). I recommend getting ~10lbs of pork belly from Costco, and making this 4 times. Cut the pork belly into 4 sections, cutting against the grain (parallel cuts) for each division.

Ingredients
2.5lbs pork belly (no skin)
A heaping 1/2 teaspoon Prague Powder #1 (DO NOT USE PRAGUE POWDER #2 or PINK HIMALAYAN SALT)
4-5 Teaspoons kosher salt (adjust for salt preference)
4 Teaspoons black pepper
5 Tablespoons dark brown sugar
2/3 cup warm water (filtered if you can)
1 Gallon freezer ziploc bag

Instructions
Place all of the seasonings into the ziploc bag, and mix them up
Place the pork belly into the bag, and close
Flip it a few times for a couple of minutes, then place in fridge on a baking sheet to prevent leaks
Cure for 10 days, flipping the pork belly every 24 hours
Make sure the surface of the pork belly is getting hit with the cure. No overlapping or folding can happen, or else the cure will fail
After 10 days, remove the pork belly from the bag.
Discard the bag and the cure.
Wash the pork belly, removing all the particles from the meat
Make sure the bacon isn't showing any signs of rot. If it smells bad, or has discolorations, don't risk it, just throw it out. Botulism CANNOT be cooked out.
Set up smoker at 225-250 with any choice of wood. (I use apple)
Smoke until bacon reaches 150
Let the bacon rest, and then you can slice it up, or leave it unsliced. Unsliced will last longer in the freezer
--COOKING THE BACON--
I found cooking the bacon in the oven at 350 on a wire rack (on top of a baking sheet) was the best way to go, due to having thicker slices.
Cook until the bacon looks right (about 15+ minutes)

Length

Calories

Servings

Date Created

Created By

John

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