I made homemade bacon in the oven for the first time. I've had quite a lot of free time to myself recently and will have a lot of it coming up pretty soon. I'm hoping I can find a job really fast or else I'll be bored out of my mind. 🙁
Anyways... The first step to making homemade bacon is to find a good butcher. I went to the butcher where I live in Fargo, ND on University Drive. It's a little nice meat place called Prime Cut Meats. The guy there was very nice. Ask for a pork belly loin. The total cost for 4 pounds of pork belly was $17.00. I didn't think that was bad considering the cheapest pound of bacon I've seen here runs anywhere from 3.50 to $5.00 a pound.
If you ever watch Alton Brown on Food Network, he had an episode all about making bacon. I used his brine for this and let it soak in it for 3 days. That's right, 3 days.
After the pork belly has brined in it's juices for 3 days it's time to smoke it. I used apple wood chips.
The temperature of the pork has to get to 150 degrees. I'm not sure if our smoker is cooking things properly but I set mine to 200 degrees and let it smoke for 2 hours. That's how long it took to get done. I'm sure there's other types of brines out there to try for making homemade bacon, and different wood chips to try. It's all a matter of time before I try out a different recipe. I'd try making my own again. Too bad my nose is clogged up right now cause I have a cold. I couldn't really smell the bacon's wonderful goodness. 🙁
Scrap Iron Chef's Homemade Bacon Recipe
PrintHomemade Bacon
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1 cup salt
8 ounces molasses
½ gallon (2 quarts) water
½ gallon (2 quarts) apple cider
2 tablespoons course ground black pepper
1 (5 pound) piece raw pork belly from the loin-end
Instructions
In a large non-reactive pot, bring half the water, 1 cup of sugar, salt, and 8 ounces molasses to a boil. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Pour into a large container with the remaining water, and the apple cider. Place in the refrigerator and cool to 40 degrees F.
Press the black pepper into the pork belly. Once the brine has cooled place the peppered pork belly into the mixture until completely submerged. Refrigerate for three days.
After three days have passed, remove the pork from the brine and pat dry with paper towels. Lay on a rack over a sheet pan and place in front of a fan for 1 hour to form a pellicle. Lay the pork in the protein box of a cold smoker and smoke for 4 to 6 hours. Chill the meat in the freezer for 1 hour to stiffen for easy slicing into strips of bacon. Slice what you need and keep the remainder in a freezer safe bag in the refrigerator or freezer.
Place the strips of bacon onto a sheet pan fitted with a rack and place into a cold oven. Turn the oven to 400 degrees F and cook for about 12 to 15 minutes, depending on how crispy you like your bacon. Remove from rack and drain on paper towels. Enjoy.
Notes
Not a WW recipe
Directions
In a large non-reactive pot, bring half the water, 1 cup of sugar, salt, and 8 ounces molasses to a boil. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Pour into a large container with the remaining water, and the apple cider. Place in the refrigerator and cool to 40 degrees F.
Press the black pepper into the pork belly. Once the brine has cooled place the peppered pork belly into the mixture until completely submerged. Refrigerate for three days.
After three days have passed, remove the pork from the brine and pat dry with paper towels. Lay on a rack over a sheet pan and place in front of a fan for 1 hour to form a pellicle. Lay the pork in the protein box of a cold smoker and smoke for 4 to 6 hours. Chill the meat in the freezer for 1 hour to stiffen for easy slicing into strips of bacon. Slice what you need and keep the remainder in a freezer safe bag in the refrigerator or freezer.
Place the strips of bacon onto a sheet pan fitted with a rack and place into a cold oven. Turn the oven to 400 degrees F and cook for about 12 to 15 minutes, depending on how crispy you like your bacon. Remove from rack and drain on paper towels. Enjoy.
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