Homemade Bacon

Name: Homemade Bacon
Prep time: 3 h 30 min
Cook time: 3 h 30 min
Total time: 3 h 30 min
Yield: 10
Cuisine: Global
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon cumin seeds; 59 milliliters packed dark brown sugar; 59 milliliters honey (preferably chestnut honey); 59 milliliters kosher salt; 2 teaspoons pink curing salt; 2 kilograms pork belly, skin on; 2 Tbsps red pepper flakes; 2 Tbsps smoked sweet paprika

Homemade Bacon is a gluten free and dairy free main course. This recipe serves 10. One portion of this dish contains approximately 22g of protein, 121g of fat, and a total of 1231 calories. If you have kosher salt, brown sugar, pink curing salt, and a few other ingredients on hand, you can make it. To use up the kosher salt you could follow this main course with the Low Fat Crumbs Cake (Kosher-Dairy) as a dessert. From preparation to the plate, this recipe takes about 3 hours and 30 minutes.

Instructions

Rinse the pork belly and pat dry.

Ingredients you will need

Pork Belly

Transfer to a resealable 2-gallon plastic bag. To make the spice rub, mix the kosher salt, pink salt, brown sugar, honey, red pepper flakes, paprika and cumin in a bowl. Coat the pork belly all over with the mixture.

Ingredients you will need

Red Pepper Flakes

Brown Sugar

Salt

Pork Belly

Dry Seasoning Rub

Paprika

Cumin

Honey

Equipment you will use

Ziploc Bags

Bowl

Close the bag and refrigerate 7 to 10 days, flipping once a day, until the pork belly feels firm. It should take 7 days for a thin belly that is about 11/2 inches thick, longer for a belly that's 2 to 3 inches thick.

Ingredients you will need

Pork Belly

Remove the pork belly from the bag, rinse thoroughly and pat dry. Refrigerate the belly on a rack, uncovered, 48 hours.

Ingredients you will need

Pork Belly

Set up your smoker according to the manufacturer's instructions using applewood chips, and set to 200 degrees F. Smoke the pork belly 3 hours, or until the bacon reaches an internal temperature of 150 degrees F.

Ingredients you will need

Pork Belly

Bacon

French Fries

Remove the rind (optional), then slice and cook as desired. To store, wrap the bacon in plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 1 week or freeze up to 2 months.

Ingredients you will need

Bacon

Beef

Wrap

Equipment you will use

Plastic Wrap

Pink curing salt is a mix of salt and sodium nitrite. It keeps the meat pink and protects it from bacteria. You can find it at specialty food stores or online.

Ingredients you will need

Meat