i make bacon at home quite a bit.
i even have about 20lb of pork belly in the freezer right now waiting to cure (can't find the ingredients locally anymore)
here's how i do it:
The ingredients:
morton tender quick
whatever other seasonings you want.
I typically roll with brown sugar, maple syrup, and some black pepper.
but even just pepper works really well
1 tablespoon of tenderquick for every pound of meat.
add in whatever else you want.
mix the cure well.
rub it all over the belly, try to get it as even as possible.
if your belly has skin, leave it on. if it has nipples, twist them a few times for good luck.
but the belly in a large zip-loc bag, squeeze out the air, and place it in the fridge.
flip it over once per day, for 7 days.
after 7 days, it should be cured. poke it to make sure the whole thing is firm.
If there are soft spots, leave it in the fridge for another day.
take it out of the bag and give it a thorough rince in cold water to get off all the cure.
cut off TWO small slices. fry them up in a hot pan so you can check how salty your bacon will be.
I always cut two because the end slice will always be saltier than the inside slices.
If the bacon is too salty, rinse it some more - or even soak it on cold water for 20 minutes.
To smoke, i technically hot smoke - but i try to keep it as cool as possible.
I always start without charcoal. I place the wood directly in the chimney and get it burning. Once it's engulfed and starting to burn down, i throw it in a spare kettle to get rid of the open flame and leave a smoldering piece of wood.
I typically use apple/cherry or maple, but hickory makes some nice bacon too.
the first burning chunks of wood will only smoke for an hour or less, so i put them in a basket and drop a few pieces of lump on top of them with a few more chunks of fresh wood.
make sure the fire is choked properly, you don't want any open flames.
if you're using kingsford, try to preheat it, or pre-light it. You don't want the white borax shit-smoke of kingsford affecting your precious bacon.
that stuff may not affect ribs and pulled pork, but bacon is more sensitive
smoke to an internal temp of 145, try to keep the smoker as close to 145 as possible (i usually do the first hour or two at 120 if using fruitwood. if using hickory, use a shorter smoke)
try not to render any of the fat out of the belly.
when you're done, bag it (fresh bag) and toss it in the fridge.
I try to wait at least a day before slicing, this will let the smoke distribute (so i've read).
if you don't have a meat slicer, put the belly on a cutting board and put a 2nd cutting board directly on top of the belly to serve as you're slicing guide.
use the longest sharpest knife you have - a 12" non serrated slicing knife works perfectly.
you can peel the skin off prior to slicing, or leave it on (it makes a nice crunch after frying - plus having bacon with nipples is pretty awesome)
