Home-Cured Bacon

Gwen felt that we should take our relationship with bacon to the next level.  So we set out to make bacon at home from raw pork belly.

Yield: 2 lbs. bacon

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. slab bacon (no skin)
• Curing salt
• Maple sage flavoring (if desired).
• We bought this as a kit from Sur la Table.  Might try our own seasoning next time.

Directions

Full disclosure: We used a kit from Sur la Table to do this.  A kit is a convenient way to do this the first time, but don't feel obligated to do that -- I suspect we'll just buy ingredients ourselves for future batches.

1. Place the slab bacon into a large zip-top bag.  Add the curing salt (the container should tell you the ratio) and the flavoring (if desired).  Shake it up to coat the outside of the pork.
2. Place the bag in the refrigerator for 1 week, turning daily.  This gives the salt time to pull the moisture out of the bacon.
3. Remove the bacon from the zip-top bag and rinse under cold water to remove excess salt.  Pat dry with paper towels.
4. Place the bacon on a wire rack on a baking sheet.  Bake at 200°F until a thermometer reaches a temperature of 140°F.  (About 2 hours)
• This spring we're going to try this on the smoker instead of an oven.  Yum.
5. Return the bacon to the refrigerator until ready to use.  (I wrapped it in aluminum foil)
6. When ready to cook the bacon, use a chef knife to slice.  You can choose whatever thickness you'd like!
7. Cook the bacon as usual: cast iron skillet with a bacon press.
8. Enjoy the bacon!