Welcome to the blog that will change your life.

What?? Yep. It’s true. Making your own bacon is easy and EVEN better than what you get in the store.

I always tell people, “All you need are 3 ingredients and a shelf in your fridge.”

This recipe for making your own bacon is fantastically easy. I call this process a “partial cure” because you only need a week, unlike country ham which takes months and months. You will need pork belly (obviously) - a slab of it. Do not get it pre-sliced. You need the slab. And the good news is most farmers have slabs of pork belly in 1-2 pound sections. You will slice it at the end but only at the end. You’ll also need a pan big enough for the belly to relax in for a week and the rub. Here’s the recipe:

1/2 cup coarse salt (I use a coarse Kosher salt)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

Mix these spices in a small bowl and rub all over your pork belly. Place the belly in the pan and the pan in the fridge for 3 days. Then flip the belly and let it relax for 3 more days. If possible you want the belly to do so uncovered because you want it to dry and cure. If that completely freaks you out okay, cover it with plastic wrap. But I’m telling you uncovered is the best.

After 6 days in the salt mix take it out of the fridge and wash, then pat dry. Now you need to brush with 1-2 tablespoons of bourbon which will help dry and cure the belly. (If you’re completely against bourbon you can skip that one step but rinse, dry and place back in the fridge). Place the belly on a roasting rack in a pan and back in the fridge for 1 day. (Or any other rack over pan to allow the belly to continue drying and curing.)

Okay, here’s the part where you need to make some choices. At this point you can smoke the belly with cherry, apple or other fruit wood or (if you don’t have a smoker) bake in the oven. Some people (including us sometimes) smoke halfway and then bake in the oven (the smoked flavor might be too intense for some folks). However you wanna cook the belly into bacon, do so low and slow until the internal temperature is 150 degrees. (I recommend 225 degrees.)

After the smoking/baking process let it cool so you can handle it better. Now you can slice or dice that belly however you want! I generally slice half of the belly and put in the fridge for us to use and then wrap and freeze the other half to use later.

Okay here are my tips and recommendations for you. Please don’t skip this part!

1. Get 1-2 pounds of pork belly, not 10 pounds. If you get the entire slab it will be hard to accommodate in a residential kitchen. (Now our chefs do the whole slab all the time but they’ve got the commercial kitchens with huge fridges and smokers.)
2. I believe the woods listed above work well with bacon. Barry used a hickory wood once and it was way too smoky for my taste. So go milder. The flavor will be there!
3. I can’t reiterate strongly enough not to slice the belly before rubbing and smoking. That will ruin your life. Please don’t.
4. When the belly/bacon is at 150 degrees it’s just like you buy it at the grocery store. So just like the bacon you get at the store you need to cook this before you eat it. It will cook faster and with less intensity though. Be kind to it!
5. This belly/bacon is much more flavorful and intense than what you buy at the store. When I have store bought bacon Barry and Marshall will each eat three slices, no problem. Pork belly you make at home into bacon is much stronger. They always have one slice only and are completely satisfied. Which means it’s even more economic for you and your family!
6. This bacon has no nitrates or nitrites. No MSG. No craziness. If you get bacon from a farmer who has raised his/her pigs on pasture pork belly is nutritious and a great source of Omega-3s and vitamin D.
7. Do not complain about the belly being fatty. It’s a pig’s belly. And I don’t know how you’re doing these days but my belly is a little fatty, too.
8. Don’t limit this to breakfast. This bacon is great in pork belly tacos, Asian noodle dishes, stir fry’s, risotto and anywhere else you need the equivalent of pixie dust in your life.

That’s it! Makin’ bacon people. It will change your life.

Okay, let me know how it goes! Hashtag us on Instagram so we can see your loveliness.

Aliceson