Posted on 10/16/2010 9:07:52 AM PDT by JoeProBono
—Order five pounds of fresh pork belly from your grocery store, the pork guy at your farmers market, or from a local butcher shop.
—Buy a box of 2-gallon zip-top bags if you don’t have a container big enough to hold the belly.
—Mix the following together in a small bowl:
2 ounces (1/4 cup Morton or Diamond Crystal coarse kosher) salt
2 teaspoons pink curing salt #1 (I use this DQ Cure from Butcher-Packer, $2)
4 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper
4 bay leaves, crumbled
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 cup brown sugar or honey or maple syrup
5 cloves of garlic, smashed with the flat side of a chef’s knife
2 tablespoons juniper berries, lightly crushed (optional)
5 to 10 sprigs fresh thyme (optional)
—Put your belly in the zip-top bag or on a sheet tray or in a plastic container. Rub the salt and spice mixture all over the belly. Close the bag or cover it with plastic wrap, and stick it in the refrigerator for seven days (get your hands in there and give the spices another good rubbing around midway through).
—After seven days, take it out of the fridge, rinse off all the seasonings under cold water and pat it dry.
—Put it on a sheet tray and put it in the oven (put it on a rack on a sheet tray if you have one) and turn the oven on to 200 degrees F. (if you want to preheat the oven, that’s fine, too). Leave it in the oven for 90 minutes (or, if you want to measure the internal temperature, until it reaches 150 degrees F.).
—Let it cool and refrigerate it until you’re ready to cook it. But I know. You won’t be able to wait. So cut off a piece and cook it. Taste it, savor it. Congratulations! It’s bacon!
Notes: If you don’t have five pounds of belly, either guesstimate salt based on the above or, if you have a scale, multiply the weight of the belly in ounces or grams by .025 and that’s how many ounces or grams of salt you should use.
If for any reason you find your bacon to be too salty to eat (it happens, especially if you measure your salt by sight, which I sometimes do), simply blanch the bacon and dump the water before sautéing it.
Pink curing salt means “sodium nitrite,” not Himalayan pink salt. It’s what’s responsible for the bright color and piquant bacony flavor. You don’t have to use it, but your bacon will turn brown/gray when cooked (you’re cooking it well done, after all), and will taste like pleasantly seasoned spare ribs, porky rather than bacony.
If you have a smoker or a grill, you can smoke the bacon (strictly speaking, it needs to have the pink salt in the cure if you’re going to smoke because, in rare instances, botulism bacteria from spores on the garlic could grow; pink salt eliminates this possibility; but I never worry about this, you’re going to cook it again in any case).
You can also, instead of roasting it or smoking, hang it to dry, in the manner of pancetta.
There are plenty of reasons not to cure bacon: fear should not be among them.
Bacon is life itself: embrace it!
I see that my coffee is NOT involved anywhere, so the bacon shall be deemed safe.
Though I can magine somebody condensing the coffee down to a sludge to try an dflavor the bacon.
My sister and I have a solemn pact. If either of us is ever in the hospital and dying, we are sworn to supply whoever is terminal and under absurd hospital diet restrictions. I am pledged to bring her chocolate truffles, she is pledged to bring me bacon.
I will try this recipe.
Oooooooo...
Thank you Mr. Bono. I shall give this a try.
Will send this to grandson. He gave me some uncured bacon that basically tasted like fired ham.
thanks...
fired = fried
Need more coffee.
Tonight, a gruesome scene!
See it on “Who’s Bakin’ Kevin Bacon?!”
Coffee?
*perks up*
Try the following:
In 12 cup drip percolator pot, fill to 6 cup mark with water.
In filter, put 6 heaping scoops of coffee.
Medium roast works best, just make sure it’s a robust blend.
Found a maxwellhouse ‘medium roast’ that was rather anemic.
Put pinch of salt in filter, about as much as it would take to cover the surface of a dime with one even layer.
This keeps the coffee from tasting burned too quickly, it doesn’t age well brewed this way.
Brew, recirculate if need be, usually not.
Add sugar and dairy creamer.
Creamora and coffeemate are not recommended unless you like the heart racing that Ranger Pudding gives.
That, and the nondairy creamer will give you both a headache and a buzz with the coffee.
I usually put about 8 spoons of sugar in this stuff, it ends up being like Russian Kava, thick and sweet with that bitter overtone to it.
Oh, and I am NOT responsible for seeming demonic possession of the coffeepot, or the coffeepot ending up acting as if it has been damaged.
http://baconunderground.com/
LOTS OF BACON RECIPES HERE Would you believe bacon apple pie?
FoodTV’s Alton Brown uses a waffle iron to cook bacon: VillaWare V2002 UNO Belgian Waffler. Set the waffle maker to medium, slice the bacon in half, cook 2 ½ minutes then move them around a bit and cook 2 ½ minutes more.
HOW-TO VIDEO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-KzBVbwUdE
I’d be so buzzed from all that sugar, I wouldn’t even notice the coffee! LOL
ping
I have inspired madness.
It needs it to be rendered friendly to the drinkers face.
Otherwise, it’s like being mugged by coffee on crack.
Maple Glazed Donut w/ Bacon Bits topping.
Candy Bacon, Real Maple Glaze.
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