Makin Bacon

[ecowper]

Picked up a 9.8 lb pork belly at Costco yesterday .... $2.79/lb is hard to argue with. Separated into 4 chunks, 2 of 2 lbs and 2 of almost 3 lbs. 2 will have the simple bacon cure, 1 has the maple bacon cure and the 4th is being saved until Jordan let's me know which recipe she thinks sounds good.

[scottranda]

Nice! You're on to bacon!

[Steve B]

Everything is better with bacon. Keep the pics coming.

[ecowper]

Looking forward to this. And at the Costco price, I can make my own bacon for about $3.00/lb, not counting my own labor. Quality bacon at the butcher shop is $8.00/lb.

[RonB]

Keep us posted.

[richinlbrg]

ALL RIGHT, ecowper !!!

Please keep us updated! Still waiting to do my first.

[Punk Rock Warlord]

The Costco pork belly is so easy to work with. I still have two slabs in the freezer... Good luck.

[ecowper]

I do love Costco for that. That prom belly didn't need anything but a quick rinse and to be sliced into reasonable size slabs

[Reds Fan 5]

Costco also sometimes carries 5lb pork belly packaged in five 1lb slabs. Saves some time if you want to try different cures. Really becoming a fan of Costco's meat dept.

[ecowper]

Reds Fan 5 .... I didn't see that, I would have considered grabbing that. Was the price pretty close to the full pork belly? Cause for $2.79/lb I can carve into 1 lb slabs myself, know what I mean?

But yeah, I love Costco's meat Dept. Fantastic ribs, always. Full packers, full pork bellies .... Love the pork butts, too. I can get a whole pork loin or beef tenderloin anytime. Or order a rib roast with as many bones as I want.

[Huskee]

Noice, way to go! You'll have to email me a piece of that.

[HorseDoctor]

I'm betting the maple wins! If so, try basting a bit with more maple syrup or crumble some brown sugar on it as it smokes.

FWIW: Once you decide which is your favorite, half of that slab will fit in a 2 gallon ZipLock bag for curing.

Enjoy!!!!

[Thunder77]

I thought the simple bacon was very good. My favorite so far is the Asian bacon recipe. I found the maple a bit sweet for my taste. If I make it again, I am cutting back on the syrup. YMMV Enjoy!

[ecowper]

Thunder77 I was thinking the same thing about the maple bacon. Karyn is really the only one of the family that I think will like it.

[Spinaker]

Those bellies make great bacon. Your really going to enjoy that one.