As you saw in my last post, I've had a great time lately with my new smoker. This past weekend was the best however, as I've upped my manliness by learning how to cure and smoke Bacon.
For the prep, I ordered a simple curing kit complete with everything you need from BaconKit.com. I cured the pork belly in my refrigerator for one week using the included plastic bag and curing mixture (salt and sugar).
From www.baconkit.com - "baconkit + pork = homemade bacon! It’s that easy. The kit contains everything you need to make 5 lbs of delicious homemade bacon. The only fresh ingredient you need to purchase is pork belly which can be obtained easily at most supermarkets and butchers. If you need help finding it please check here or email us and we’ll be happy to help. The kit was in fact as easy to use as advertised. I was away in Phoenix, AZ last week for a trade show and was curing the bacon while I was away.
As you can see from the photos below, cured bacon is darker than fresh pork belly. The last thing to do was get it in the smoker and cook it at 200 degrees to an internal temperature of 140 degrees.
After smoking, I rested the bacon in the refrigerator as instructed. After 30m, I sliced some, cut off the skin and fried it up. The result was fantastic.
Fresh 5.2lb Pork Belly
After 1w of curing
Pork Belly hitting the grill with a 6lb Rib Roast
After 2h of smoke
Smoked and rested
Sliced & Ready to Fry
Fry it up
Yum!
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