The results of the Great Bacon Project of 2012 are in, and mouths are watering. It turns out making your own bacon is easy as pie and the product is far, far superior to what’s found at the grocery store.
So here’s what it boils down to: Buy pork belly, cover it in equal parts sugar and salt, let it sit for a week while pouring off the fluid that accumulates and adding a little more sugar and salt each day, rinse it and slice it thin. I smoked mine for an hour or so over mesquite wood, too, but it was good even before that. You can also add in whatever spices you so desire. The garlic-infused stuff I cured came out the most fragrant.
Everyone who dined on it this morning agreed this project was well worth the effort, and I made three pounds of bacon for around nine bucks. Works for me.
This article appears in Feb 23-29, 2012.
Good tish Adam. Funny how once you start to attempt things such as this you realize how much better and cheap it can be. ie: making own mayo, bacon, salad dressings.
PS: Belly recipes will be sent, I just noticed the request