I mean come on, it’s bacon. You want a good reason to hate on Joos, Mooslims and vegetarians/vegans? They don’t eat pork, which means they don’t eat bacon. In this two part series, we’ll go through the process of creating two glorious versions of pork belly, smoked bacon and Pancetta.

Today we do bacon. To start with, we need some fresh pork belly (also called pork sides). We have Cash & Carry here, which carries good quality products at reasonable prices. What you want to look for when making bacon, is a slab that is 2/3 meat to 1/3 fat. I find half bellies work best for me.

What we need next is to calculate the proper amount of Cure #1 (pink salt), salt and sugar. Cure #1 contains 6.25% of Nitrite, with the rest being Sodium Chloride. The FDA guidelines for Cure #1 & 2 is 1.1gm per pound. This is approximately 1tsp per five pounds of meat. A great way to figure out your quantities is to use a cure calculator. The best one I know of is the one on the Digging Dogs Farm website. Do yourself a favor and purchase a decent scale that will do small quantities. This is the one I use:

AMIR Digital Mini Scale, 200g

Buy the 100gm calibration weight too.

A note on Sodium Nitrite and Nitrate:

Unless you’re eating quantities of cured meats on a regular basis, you may rest easy when it comes to the bogeyman that is Nitrites/Nitrates.

“According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), your daily intake of sodium nitrate shouldn’t be more than 3.7 milligrams per kilo of body weight.”

For someone weighing 150 pounds, that equates to .25gm. A five pound slab of bacon contains .34gm of pure Nitrite.

Sodium Nitrite is commonly known as Cure #1 and is typically used for meats that only undergo short term curing, usually two weeks or less. Sodium Nitrate, known as Cure #2 is used for longer curing meats such as salami. The Sodium Nitrate breaks down over time and converts to Sodium Nitrite, basically making it a time release source of Sodium Nitrite.

Celery juice “substitute”. Yeah, the naturally occurring Sodium Nitrate in celery is chemically converted to Sodium Nitrite, or left as Nitrate. You’re using the same chemical to cure your meat. This is known as “marketing”. To stay  within FDA guidelines, the same quantities of both are used, regardless of source.

Okay, we used the calculator, we measure out our curing mix, now we need to add other flavorings, if you so choose. You can use whatever strikes your fancy. I’ve found what works well for me is to add a good amount of black pepper, granulated garlic and ground bay leaves. Mix this all up with your cure and rub it evenly over your rinsed, and dried belly. Rub it in good. At this point, we need to wrap it and let it rest. You can buy 2 gallon zip lock bags, which work very well, or if you have a vacuum sealer that can do large bags, it’s a great option. I think the vacuum sealing results in better penetration of the cure. Next, into the refrigerator for 10-14 days. I like two weeks. I think it produces good flavor and you know your cure has penetrated all the way through. Every couple of days, flip the package over and rub the meat. Liquid will appear in the first few days and then most of it will gradually reabsorb.

After we’re done curing our belly, it’s time to prep for smoking. Rinse all of the cure and flavorings off the belly and dry it well. Now it needs to go back on a rack in the fridge for 2-4 days. This will allow the surface to dry and form a pellicle, which is a slighty sticky surface the smoke will adhere to. This is also where you can add things like black pepper to turn it into pepper bacon just before smoking.

Cold smoking versus hot smoking:

Cold smoking will give you a product with a nice flavor and a finer crisp texture when the bacon is cooked. The bacon will still be raw when it’s done smoking. If you’re going to cold smoke, follow the directions on your smoker. Not all of them are capable of cold smoking. I have a quality electric smoker which allows me to control the conditions quite well, but it does put out a lot of smoke in the beginning, so I’ve had to develop process where I don’t over smoke the bacon, which will result in a product that smells like a campfire. The timing for cold smoking also varies widely. Some are capable of cold smoking for several days. In my situation, it’s about 4-6 hours or else there will be too much smoke.

Hot smoking is a fine alternative. You will need a temperature probe for your bacon. ThermoWorks and Maverick both make quality probes.

Follow the directions for your smoker. It should take about four hours at 200 degrees to reach an internal temperature of 150. Don’t get the smoker too hot, or you will start to render out the fat, which is not at all what we want. With hot smoking, the bacon will be fully cooked when it’s done smoking. I most definitely recommend slicing a piece off the end when you bring it inside and stuffing it into your maw for one of the finest bites of porcine known to man.

Wood choice is up to you. I find a combination of hickory and cherry, or apple gives me the best results. And for those of you who don’t like smoked meats, or don’t have a smoker, bacon doesn’t have to be smoked at all if you so choose. Once you’ve let it dry in the fridge for a few days, slice it up.

Once the bacon is done, let it rest in the fridge uncovered  for up to a week to allow the smoke to penetrate.

On to processing. I cut the bacon into four squares and throw them into the freezer. You want the meat close to freezing for slicing. I cut them into pieces because I have a small slicer and it’s easier for packaging. I would recommend buying a slicer better than my cheap Cabela’s pos. I’ll be upgrading in the not too distant future. Cut the bacon to the thickness you like and then package it up. I do eight ounce packages.

From here, the rest is up to you. I actually don’t eat a lot of bacon as just bacon. More often than not, it’s an ingredient in another dish. As for cooking slices, the best method is on a rack in a 325 degree oven. The way I typically do it is to lay it in a cold skillet and turn the heat onto medium. I keep an eye on it and turn it frequently. Dry on paper towels and enjoy! In our next episode, we will explore making that delectable Italian style bacon known as Pancetta.

Thanks for looking.