Stop eating store bought bacon!

[marshall]

Awesome! Take some pics, and tell us how you liked it

[rickgregory]

Before you smoke it and after you wash off the cure, slice a bit off and fry it up. Taste it. If it's too salty, pop the belly in water for 8-24 hours to desalinate a bit.

[snookduff]

I have some curing in the fridge right now. I can’t wait to smoke it on Tuesday and try it. It’s my first time making it.

update: Just smoked mine and all I can say is "OMG!!!". The maple bacon is so good words can’t describe.

[DreamOn]

Smoking my own is SO much better. It doesn’t initially look cheaper, comparing the cheapest brand at the grocery store vs the cost of my finished product... but it tastes much better AND mine has more meat on it. The grocery store stuff is a lot of fat and water/ shrinks 50% in the pan whereas mine being much meatier doesn’t shrink much. So a better deal all around looking at the after cooking volume 🙂. I usually cut a whole pork belly in 1/2. I do half maple and half savory 😋

[Foehn Watts]

You mentioned some " . . . some other slightly off tastes going on. . . . " which brought back a memory: Many, many years ago, I had some dry-cured, smoked bacon and tried to microwave it: my gawd it was nasty and dead tasting. BUT I when I tried frying some (I really love bacon and don't want to waste it), it was absolutely delicious, no bad flavor at all.

[Foehn Watts]

I can find porkbelly in the local Asian Markets BUT it does NOT look like the stuff posted above! I want somma that stuff!

[rickgregory]

That's the other thing, Joe... the ability to tailor the flavor the way you want.

[JoeSousa]

I have been making my own bacon for a few years now and have bought commercial bacon a couple times since then. There really is no comparison. I like my bacon thick too so I love slicing some nice, thick slices on my slicer. Even the thick cut commercial bacon is too thin for me now.

Earlier this week I tried some Nueske's bacon which is another popular "artisinal" bacon producer along the lines of Bentons, Nodine's, etc. Compared to standard grocery store fare it was good but still couldn't hold a candle to homemade. The smoke and sweet just didn't balance right and there were some other slightly off tastes going on.

And I think I am down to 4 pounds of homemade bacon in the freezer so time to make a Costco run this weekend for some bellies.

[marshall]

Ill be down that way this summer , ill have to pick some stuff up!

[grantgallagher]

Store bacon uses prague 1 and 2 plus cold smoking. The meathead method uses only prague 1 which has sodium nitrite but not nitrate. Although I dont profess to fully understand the chemical reaction differences here, those are the main reasons it will not get as crispy.

[rickgregory]

So... Jealous...

[klflowers]

Bentons is excellent. I am just over an hour away - haven't been up there in awhile, but this thread has reminded me to make a trip up there...

[rickgregory]

Something else to contrast this with would be a good artisanal bacon like Bentons which is surprising affordable ($8/lb plus shipping). Smoked in a traditional smoke shack, it's pretty awesome stuff... and very smoky. I don't try to replicate it at home, but it's a good way to experience what you can do at a scale not achievable at home but still with traditional methods.

Video about them here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUE2v2lPQeQ and here https://vimeo.com/29677209, site here https://bentonscountryhams2.com

I type this having just cooked breakfast with my own bacon... mmm....

PS: Their hams are amazing.

[Smokerstoker]

Although thinking about it- the Prague powder probably doesn't have much to do with it.

[Smokerstoker]

Commercial bacon uses Prague powder #2 and Prague powder #1 is recommended for homemade. That and the cold smoke makes it crispier.

https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/pork-recipes/how-make-smoked-bacon-home