Homemade Bacon
Time to make: Approximately 7 days and 5-6 hours.
I will be breaking down the steps required to make your own homemade bacon.
There are two flavor styles and then a general process that you can follow.
Requirements:
- A smoker/grill capable of smoking
- An oven if you do not want smoked bacon
- Skinless Pork belly (7-12 lbs)
- Cure #1, Pink Curing salt
- Vacuum sealer (for ease unless you want to leave it uncovered in a fridge)
- Meat probe/thermometer
- Wire rack for cooling/drying
- Slicing knife
Flavor style 1 (Savory):
Salty/Italian (Please note that the ingredients are BY WEIGHT)
2% salt (Kosher or Sea salt is fine)
0.25% Cure #1 (Pink curing salt)
1% Brown Sugar
0.5% Black pepper (freshly ground or cracked)
0.25% Garlic Powder
Flavor style 2 (Sweet):
This is not by weight but instead by measurement. Meant for an 8-9 lb pork belly.
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Sea Salt
1/2 cup maple syrup (or syrup of choice)
1/2 cup Ponzu sauce
1/4 tsp cure #1 (Pink curing salt)
Alternatively, all seasonings can be swapped or rotated with whatever you want. The most essential ingredient is the Pink Curing salt. You need this to create a properly preserved bacon that can allow it to be stored for longer. You can make this without it but it does not hold up quite well.
Steps for seasoning:
- Prepare all of these ingredients into a single bowl and mix them all together.
- Prepare a vacuum bag that is large enough to hold the entire slab of pork belly and then leave an extra 3-4 inches.
- If using the sweet approach, place the pork belly into the bag first and then drop the seasoning into the bag. This approach is better since the seasoning will be quite runny.
- If using the savory approach, seasoning liberally and pat the seasoning into the meat. This will ensure the seasoning penetrates the meat.
- Vacuum seal both as tightly as possible.
- Place the slab(s) into your fridge and wait an entire week. That's right. You will have to wait 7 whole days for this to have the best result!
Steps for cooking:
Once a week has gone by you can finally prepare for the cooking stage.
- Remove the slab(s) from their vacuum sealed package.
- THOROUGHLY rinse it under some cool water. You want to remove as much salt as you can or else it will be entirely too salty to consume. Trust me...
- Pat the belly dry and allow it to fully air dry. Feel free to throw it back into the fridge at this time if you'd like. You can optionally put the slab on top of a wire rack to allow all sides to dry.
- If you are using a smoker/grill. Prepare it to 225-275 degrees. You don't want any higher but you can go as low as 180 if you really want. I prefer 225-250 to account for any fluctuations in temperature (opening grill, humidity, etc...). Fuel your pellet grill or stick burner with hickory or any wood that pairs nicely with pork.
- Once the grill has reached your desired temperature, place the pork belly inside your grill.
- If you have a meat probe, meater (brand), or similar, now is the time to put it inside the belly. If you don't then check once an hour to see where the temperature is.
- The goal is to cook this pork belly to 160-165. No more or less. We do not want the slab to reach a higher internal temperature as this will potentially ruin the end product.
- Now let the grill and the meat do its' thing. Once your internal temperature has reached 160-165, pull the meat off of the grill and let it rest on a counter on top of a wire rack. Throw it in a fridge if you want to expedite the process.
- Once cooled. slice as thin or thick as you'd like! Once sliced and completed, feel free to fry, cook or do whatever you'd like with your bacon. Since it's cooked all the way through you may also consume it straight up if you'd like.
- If you are using an oven, do the same process but just in your oven.
As with all of my recipes, this is just a general guide and not the end-all recipe. If you have a better or more intriguing way of doing this process that suits your needs, definitely feel free to do it that way or even share it with me!