Bacon is Healthy. Okay, Not Really. But It's Delicious.

We love bacon in this house, but we don’t eat it very often. I generally don’t feel guilty about most foods, but bacon is not one of them. The fat and salt is enough to induce heart palpitations just thinking about it. When I do buy it, it’s always from the deli counter so I don’t buy more than I need. Those deli guys must think I'm crazy buying two strips of bacon at a time.

Having said that, I must confess that we've already had bacon 3 times in the last 6 days. But before you do that disappointed health freak face, let me explain. We weren't just eating any old bacon. We were reaping the fruits of my labor, if you will. That's right, I made bacon! I'll say it was one of the most satisfying moments when I sat down to breakfast this past weekend and enjoyed my own delicious bacon.



You’re probably wondering why I would want to make bacon? I guess that’s just how I roll. I’m all about demystifying and doing it myself. Many commercial bacons are so salty that one bite is enough to send my blood pressure sky high. The thing I like about this bacon is that it didn't feel like eating a salt lick. Maple and brown sugar gave it a hint of sweetness and helped to cut the saltiness. I also used fresh cracked black pepper to give it a little subtle heat.



Seriously, it was easy. All you have to do is cure it for a week, then hot smoke it for an hour or two. The only difficult thing about it is the waiting. So no, I won’t be making this on a weekly basis, but it is a nice touch if we are having visitors or going to a special function.

This recipe I used comes from Charcuterie (see the right side bar). According to the authors, you can use whatever seasonings you like because it’s the cure and smoke that give bacon its wonderful taste. So if you don’t want to use maple but prefer to use cloves or bay leaves or whatever else tickles your fancy, then by all means. The original recipe calls for 5 pounds of pork belly. As big of a fan of bacon as I am, I thought that might just be a wee bit much. So I only started with 2 ½ pounds. However, after the smoking, there was a 20% weight loss (the bacon, not me)! After giving some to my neighbor for letting me use his smoker (thanks again, Dennis!), I was left with only about a pound. Even though that will stretch for 4 or even 5 uses, for the amount of waiting and daydreaming that goes into the process, I want the yield to be a bit more. Next time, I’m going for gold and making all 5 pounds. It freezes beautifully, so none of it will go to waste.



Note: if you want to do the whole 5 pounds, just double the recipe.

Maple Bacon (adapted from Charcuterie)
yields approximately 2 pounds

• 1 oz kosher salt
• 1 tsp pink salt (1/4 oz or 6 grams if you’re doing it by weight, which you should be)
• 1 tbs black peppercorns, coarsely ground
• 1 tbs whole allspice, coarsely ground
• 2 packed tbs light brown sugar (the original recipe calls for dark brown)
• 2 tbs maple syrup
• 2 ½ pound slab of pork belly (original recipe says skin on, but I did it with skin removed)

Start by combining all of the dry ingredients. You want to make sure the pink salt is evenly distributed. Add the maple syrup and stir to make a paste. Rub the paste over the entire surface of the pork.

Place the pork in a Ziploc bag large enough to hold it or in a non-reactive container that is just slightly bigger than the pork. During the curing process, liquid will be released and it will work to cure the meat. Keep the meat in the fridge, turning every other day to expose both sides to the brine. It should take about 7 days to cure. It’s ready if you touch the meat and it’s firm. Make sure you’re checking the actual meat and not the fat, because the fat doesn’t get firm.

Once you’ve determined the meat is cured, rinse it well under cold water. You want to get rid of the residual salt. Most of the spices will wash off too, and that’s okay. Their flavor will already be in the meat. Pat the meat dry and air-dry it in the fridge for at least overnight. When you air-dry it in the fridge, it needs to rest on a rack, uncovered, above a container that will catch any juices and allow air to circulate. The next day, hot-smoke the meat to an internal temperature of 150º. For me, this took less than 2 hours (I think) at 275º (the original recipe didn’t specify a smoking temperature). I expected it to take like 3 hours, but when I checked it a little after 2 hours, it was at like 160+. Yikes!!! Yet, the bacon turned out fine.

Once you remove the bacon from the smoker, let it cool a bit. If you started with skin-on pork belly, you should remove the skin before the bacon cools completely. I started with skinless, and the fat caramelized very nicely, so I think I’ll use skinless the next time as well. Do not try to slice the bacon into strips before it is completely cooled to refrigerator temperature. An extra half hour in the freezer might make it even easier. Unless you have Morimoto-sharp knives, you will just end up “squishing” the fat and the slices will be sloppy and too thick. Trust me on this. Once it’s cool enough to slice, you still have to fry it to get it crispy.


If you found this process interesting, you may enjoy making your own Canadian bacon. It’s just as easy as bacon, but requires only 2 days curing. It’s also a lot less fatty because it’s done with pork loin.

Isaan-style Sausages

It has come to my attention that I’m a dork. Apparently I can do things like determine protein kinetics on a nanosecond time scale, but I’m unable to tell my left from my right. In my previous post, I kept referring to my left side bar when everything is really in the right side bar. So for the person(s) who found it totally annoying that I kept saying left when I should have been saying right:

Check out Charcuterie in the right side bar! Check out the Foodie Blogroll in the right side bar!

Did that make ya’ll feel better? Now on to more important (and less embarrassing) matters...

I made another sausage! This time I made a fragrant, garlicky, spicy sausage using the “Thai trinity” (lemongrass, galangal and kaffir lime leaves) as the flavor base. The only thing that was missing was the sour component characteristic of this type of sausage. It is achieved by fermenting the sausage at room temperature for 1 to several days (see note). Wasn’t quite ready to go there, but soon, I promise! Even without the sourness, this fresh sausage turned out very tasty. Good thing too; I made 5 pounds of it!

Isaan-style Sausages

15 kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped
3 stalks lemon grass, finely minced
1 tbs minced galangal
2 heads garlic (about 20 or so cloves), minced
Fresh bird’s eye chillies, to taste (start with 5 then go up from there)
1 bunch cilantro, minced
4.5 pounds boneless pork shoulder, diced
1/2 pound pork (back) fat, diced
2 cups cooked, cold sticky rice, kernels separated (other long-grain rice will work)
1 ¼ oz kosher salt (more or less to taste)
1 cup very cold water

Note: If you have the nerve to try fermenting the sausage, you'll need to add 1/4 tsp of pink salt per kilogram (approx 2.2 lbs) of sausage. Hang the sausage for 1 to several days at room temperature (approx 70 degrees is optimal). Keep it out of direct sunlight. A cool basement is probably the best choice if you have one. Test the level of sourness by cooking a small piece bit every day. Once you determine the sausage is sour enough, freeze whatever you don't plan to eat right away.

Season the diced meat and fat with the lime leaves, lemongrass, galangal, garlic, chillies and cilantro. Stick the meat in the freezer for about an hour. The meat should be well chilled, just starting to freeze. Your grinding equipment should be well chilled as well. I like using the coarse die for sausage. It leaves the texture just course enough to know you're eating real meat. Grind the meat into a bowl set on ice. To the ground meat, add the salt and water. Mix well. Lastly add the rice and mix again. Take a small portion to cook to determine if it’s seasoned properly (put the rest in the fridge while doing this). If it’s all good, then stuff the sausage into hog casings and enjoy! It's great served as a snack with ginger matchsticks, fresh roasted peanuts, and chillies. Being the simple person I am, I like to eat mine with sticky rice. I bet it would be yummy as a base for fried rice or noodles too. Remember, freeze whatever you can’t eat within two or three days.

Here are some other sausage recipes on my list that you may like to try: Burnt Lumpia's Longanisa and Mrs. Marv's Thai-spiced chicken sausage.

Homemade is Better Made!

As I’ve said before, I’m intrigued by the idea of making my own cured meats. I feel like it’s really becoming a lost art. Maybe it’s because people think it’s hard or requires expensive equipment. That’s what I thought. Or maybe it’s because people think that they could just as well buy ham and salami at the market, so why bother? What I’m finding is that it’s neither hard nor expensive, and when everything turns out right, it’s better than what I can get at the market. I also like the idea of seeing the process through. Pick out the ingredients, watch the transformation and enjoy the taste. It really is quite rewarding.

For my first attempt at curing, I chose to do Canadian bacon, the recipe for which I adapted from Charcuterie (see the left side bar). It really is so easy. The only special things you’ll need is pink salt (aka Prague powder #1 or Instacure #1 or sodium nitrite curing salt) and a smoker, although the smoker is not really necessary. Roasting in a oven should work just fine. I don’t have a smoker, but my neighbor allowed me to use his (thanks Dennis!).


The results were far better than I expected. I was afraid the pork would be too salty or dry, but the brine salted the meat perfectly and the pink salt gave the finished product a wonderful pink color. Without it, I think the color would have been grey. The texture was right on and it wasn’t dry at all. Smoking the pork gave it the extra touch, as you can imagine.

Canadian bacon
Adapted from Charcuterie
Brine:

• 2 quarts water
• 6 oz kosher salt
• 4 oz sugar
• 0.75 oz pink salt* (see note)
• 1 tbs coriander seeds
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed
• 1 ½ lbs trimmed pork loin

*Note: There seems to be a lot of controversy over pink salt. In some recipes, it’s required as it neutralizes the toxins given off by the botulism bacteria. For this recipe, I think it’s mostly used to give the meat a nice pink color after it’s been cooked. I recommend using it, but use only as directed. Consumed in large amounts, it can be harmful. You’ll probably need to order it online unless you’re lucky enough to know someone who has access to it.

In a large (non-reactive) pot heat the water with the other brine ingredients until all the salt and sugar is dissolved. Allow to cool to room temp before sticking it in the fridge to chill. When it’s completely chilled, add the pork loin. Make sure it’s completely submerged. Let the pork loin brine for 48 hours. I actually left it in for like 60 hours because I forgot about it and it still turned out fine. After that time, remove it from the brine and pat it dry. Let it sit in the fridge, uncovered, for 12 to 24 hours. It’s best if you can suspend it on a rack over a tray to let it drip and allow air to circulate around it. Hot smoke the pork loin at 200ºF until it reaches an internal temperature of 150º. This took me about 3.5 hours. If you don’t have a smoker, you can roast the pork in the oven and I’m sure the result will still be tasty. According to the recipe, the Canadian bacon can be kept for up to 10 days after it's cooked, but I'm sure it will be gone well before that time!


Before I "sign-off" I want to direct your attention to the Foodie Blogroll icon in the left side bar. I just joined because I like the idea of having so many food blogs at my fingertips! It's also a great way to network. I encourage you to take a gander.