Sunday, January 23, 2011

Smokin' a pig...

Well, recently I got it in my head that I should try something new and make my own bacon. Those of you who know me well, know that I am prone to do things like this.
Anyway, I went to our local Asian market, and got myself a slab of pork belly.

Pork belly. Not really a lot more I can say there.

You may notice from the photo that it still has skin on it. I decided that the skin had to go, so I went about cutting it off. In doing so, I learned something. Pigs have really, really tough skins. Like, bulletproof tough. I honestly don't know how anyone can kill a pig, that's how tough we are talking here. Anyway, I eventually got it off.

Let's go throw the ol' pigskin around!

I then rubbed the pieces with my salt mixture and got them in the bags, ready to go.

Pork belly in Ziplocs.

Now the really hard part. I had to put these bags in the fridge, and turn them over once a day. For an entire week, I had to do that. I almost didn't make it. It took at least 15 seconds each morning, turning the bags over.

Then, after a week, I had to take the slabs out, rinse them, and let them dry. I put them back in the fridge overnight and called it good.

At this point, I could have fried and eaten it, but what fun would that be? I figured, I've already come this far, let's go the whole hog. Ha ha, lord I'm funny.

So, I decided to smoke them. I put them on my grill and wrapped some apple chips in aluminum foil. Then I put those on the burner, set it fairly low, and three and a half hours later, I got:

BACON!!!


We have fried some up, and it came out pretty good for being my first try. I am definitely going to try it again, but I am going to change a few things. First, I will leave the skin on. I can take it off after I smoke it if need be. Next, I would soak it for a half hour or so and then let it dry after it cures, because it is a little bit salty for me. Amy disagrees with this. Last, I might need to invest in an actual smoker and try to get some cooler smoke on it. I had it about 20° hotter than I wanted it, and it cooked it a little more than I'd hoped. But all in all, for a first go, it didn't come out half bad. And we are having BLT's tonight.

With that, take it easy, all.

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