Cured Bacon
“I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage with my books, my family and a few old friends, dining on simple bacon, and letting the world roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most splendid post, which any human power can give.”
--Thomas Jefferson
Like many people I know, I really enjoy eating bacon. However, I had never tried to make bacon before. I looked for a simple dry curing method and started with that. The most difficult part about this is finding curing salt in San Francisco. It is not available at most grocery stores, but a lot of butchers carry it. I happened to locate some at a store in the Ferry Building called Village Market.
You may or may not know that bacon comes from the fatty stomach section of the pig commonly called the pork belly. I got a piece of delicious pork belly with the bone in from 4505 Meats.
Last week, I took it out of the bag so I could start the curing process.
I applied and rubbed in pink curing salt. I tried to spread it over the entire pork belly as much as I could.
After that, I put a generous portion of regular salt and rubbed that into the meat.
Finally, I topped it with honey and surrounded the meat with that.
I stuck it back in the fridge and labeled the date I started the cure. The meat was leeching liquid, but this is supposed to be normal. I flipped the bag over every so often. It should be turned everyday. Finally, today, I pulled it out of the fridge.
I cut the belly off the bone.
I started cutting bacon slices off, and it looked pretty good.
I fried it up and tasted it. It was delicious. I was really happy how this turned out. What's even better is that I will get to use this later. If there is anything I would change, I would smoke the bacon after the cure, but unfortunately, I did not have time tonight. It leaves me with something else to try next time.
Mmmm... bacon.
Related Items:
Instacure #1 for Slow Cooking Meats 1 pound
Whole Beast Butchery: The Complete Visual Guide to Beef, Lamb, and Pork
blog comments powered by Disqus