Saturday 13 September 2008

Making Bacon


Well. Last week I was minding my own business when Elle changed my life. She posted about making home-cured bacon. The recipe she posted from Saveur was very easy and I actually had all the ingredients in the house. So it was the work of a moment to stick a bit of pork belly into the cure and stick it in the fridge. The piece of pork belly I had was even exactly the right weight! The only variation I made to the recipe was to use fennel pollen instead of fennel seed and caraway seed.

So - a week on and today I got to finish the recipe off. Definitely worthwhile! When I fried some it gave off a huge amount of lard, but it was delicious. Sweet, just the right amount of saltiness and with a really rich, bacony flavour. And frankly, I'd much rather my bacon gave off lard than grey water like so much supermarket bacon does. It wasn't as pink as store-bought, because I didn't add any saltpetre or nitrite or whatever it is, but it still cooked to a very appetising colour.

I now have a bag of bacon bones and rind to add to my next lentil soup, and 2 breakfasts-worth of lovely thick bacon rashers. And it gives me a nice warm glow to be all pioneer-y.

15 comments:

kat said...

We so need to try this too, its just amazing looking!

NKP said...

You are amazing! I read this article but then filed it away. Congrats for having the courage to cure your own bacon. I bet it will be out of this world.

HH said...

Wow! That is impressive! I will have to give that a go!

Esi said...

I saw the same post and printed out the recipe too, but I haven't tried it yet. It looks easy and soo good!

Ryan said...

That looks like mighty tasty bacon!!

I think the nitrite added in store bought stuff is for preserving and colour fixing - it is a white-yellow powder, but its preserving keeps the shop bacon pinker for longer I believe!

Sarah Caron said...

Wild! You cured your own bacon? Wow! It's not something I've tried ... or thought of trying. Where did you locate the pork belly to purchase?

Teresa Cordero Cordell said...

Foodycat, you are amazing indeed. Making your own bacon, wow. Now I'm going to feel so guilty when ever I go shopping for some. Congratulations, you really are a pioneer woman.

Alicia Foodycat said...

Sarah, pork belly is really easily available in the UK. Any butcher carries it! This was from Costco though.

Just Cook It said...

Awesome. Can't wait to try this.

Natalie Que said...

This is a GREAT idea, I never even thought of it! I might have to give it a try!

Elle said...

Yay--I'm so glad you liked it! it looks delicious, too with the scoring across the top. And yeah, we felt pioneer-y, too, lol!

Jude said...

Was that a Costco piece of pork?

Looks amazing!

Jude said...

Doh!

Sorry. Just read properly . . .

Leslie said...

Who would have thought you could make you own bacon at home!!
And yes,,please pleaseleave a comment on my pay it forward post..I would be more than happy to ship overseas!!

puppymomma said...

Wow! Bacon! That is so awesome! I never would have thought that we could just make it! It looks really good, too.

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