Make'n Bacon

I put in a special request for pork belly at Central Market a week ago and to my delight received a call as I was leaving work yesterday, the belly was in! Without hesitation, I ran over to the market and made my way to the meat counter. On the phone, the butcher had told me they had 28 lbs. of belly. A local sushi restaurant had dibs on 20 lbs. Wow! Wish he had given me the name of that place. So he brought up the rest, and I selected 3lbs. from the thickest part of the belly(for roasting) and another 3 lbs. of thinner belly for making bacon. That left a perfect little 2lb. piece, hum...confit perhaps. At that moment he cut me off. "The guy's back here don't even know what price we are supposed to be selling this for, so I have made the decision to let you take it @ $2 a lb.." Oh...really? Well, like I needed much convincing. I took it all.

I am now a proud, first-time owner of pork belly, 8lbs. of pork belly! So what do I do now? Make smoked bacon of course. The recipe I chose was from Charcuterie. It is a basic rub of kosher salt, sugar, pink salt(a speciality salt used in curing to protect against bacteria growth), and maple syrup. A sweet rub works best if you plan on slicing strips or using the bacon for breakfast.

Basic Cure

8 oz. Kosher salt
4 oz. sugar
2 oz. pink salt

Mix the ingredients well and shake even in a pan large enough to hold the belly. Place the belly on top of the salt and press. Flip the belly and make sure all sides are coated. My belly is about 3 lbs.. This amount of rub will work for a belly between 3-5 lbs..

The belly is then placed in sealed container. A large freezer bag is perfect. The maple syrup can be added now, about 1/2 a cup will do. Then into the fridge for what will probably be a 7 day cure. Don't forget to flip the belly every other day to redistribute the cure. The bacon will be ready once it becomes firm. Can it really be this easy? We will see.