Artisan Cuisine: Love bacon? Then why not cure your own?

Who doesn’t love bacon? I’ve heard it’s the hardest thing for previously meat-eating vegetarians to give up.

I eat it, but I don’t eat the stuff from the store any longer. I make my own. Once I learned how easy it was and adaptable to my personal tastes, I knew I would always keep some on hand in my freezer.

The hardest part in making bacon is finding curing salt and ordering pork belly from your local meat department. Yeah, not all that difficult when you consider Pa Ingalls had to catch and slaughter his own pig first.

Having access to a smoker will give you smoked bacon, but you don’t need it. You can cook it in your home oven just as easily. You can order pork belly at your grocery store in the meat department.  A 4- to 5-pound rectangular slab is plenty for starting out.

Try the basic recipe or try adding herbs and spices that you enjoy to make it even more unique.   If you have concerns about using the small amount of curing salt due to nitrites, rest assured that you do not consume many more nitrites in bacon than you do from celery or other vegetables in your diet. There are many debates out there about this in home bacon making. I will refer to Michael Ruhlman, an author I admire and respect who addresses this issue quite nicely here at this link: ruhlman.com/2011/05/the-no-nitrites-added-hoax/

It is his basic dry cure that I start with, adding my own herbs and spices to flavor my bacon.

Cured Bacon Recipe

Dry Cure Mixture (will be more than you’ll need, but can be saved for future use):

1 pound/450 grams kosher salt

8 ounces/225 grams sugar

2 ounces/50 grams pink salt (can be ordered online at www.thespicehouse.com/spices/

curing-salt)

Optional ingredients: Black pepper, Dijon mustard, garlic, maple syrup, orange zest, thyme or sage.

Weigh your pork belly and measure out 5 percent dry cure mixture and coat all sides of the pork belly. If you don’t have a scale, just make sure you cover the entire piece of pork belly with a thick layer of cure. Put into a covered container and refrigerate. Every day turn it over and rub the mixture around to help the liquids drain from the meat. Do this for seven days.

Rinse it well, pat dry and bake it on a rack in the oven at 200 degrees till the inside of the meat reaches at least 150 degrees (about 90 minutes). Let it cool down, then cook some up or freeze it in manageable amounts.

As for making smoked bacon, for those lucky enough to have smokers, here’s another link: modifiedmom.wordpress.com/2011/02/23/bacon-modified-from-charcuterie-by-michael-ruhlman-and-brian-polcyn/

Anne Boulley is a local chef and culinary instructor with a passion for artisan foods. Her cooking classes and services are offered via her website, www.thegourmetguide.com