Has you ever thought about making your own bacon?

[GadgetGuy]

It turns out to be an American product so you could buy and try! The FAQ on their website http://www.baconkit.com says that you can use a smoker if you have one to otherwise use an oven, in which case it wouldn't taste smoked.

I have the one pictured above, but not sure if it'll work, since it cooks rather fast. And the pork belly may not fit in it, since the meat would seem rather large. Yeah, I'd want the smokey flavor & taste. Bacon just doesn't seen right without it! if you're going to that much work to do it, then it might as well smell & taste smoked.

The pork belly has to be slow-cooked or slow-smoked. The oven would do nicely, since it can be set to a very low temperature to get the real down-home honest-to-goodness smokey flavor and taste.

The apartment that I'm moving into is getting a brand new stove for the kitchen, so I'm going to try it with that oven. I'll order the kit though, in the meantime, and see where I can get the pork belly from. It might have to be special-ordered.

 

[Morning Glory]

Will be interested to know how it turns out, Shermie. I'm tempted to try it myself. Only thing is, I don't have a slicer... I can't imagine that slicing by hand would work. And do I really want to buy a slicer just to try this out?

 

[GadgetGuy]

Will be interested to know how it turns out, Shermie. I'm tempted to try it myself. Only thing is, I don't have a slicer... I can't imagine that slicing by hand would work. And do I really want to buy a slicer just to try this out?

You can get one of those little cheap slicers for less than $100. I bought one from Sears.

 

[Berties]

Here are links to two different ways of making streaky bacon ,I'm still a dry cure fan,but adding a bit of cold smoke would make it extra special
http://www.finecooking.com/articles/how-to-make-diy-bacon.aspx?pg=0
https://www.rivercottage.net/recipes/dry-cured-streaky-bacon

 

[ChanellG]

Labour intensive indeed. I am also reminded that for a few years my husband would have a local pig farmer raise a pig for him and then butcher it and deliver to him. Then my husband would distribute some to friends and family. Somebody would want a leg, another a shoulder and so on and so on. Never was there any talk of making bacon. I think sometimes people forget that bacon comes from a pig.

No one around here forgets that it comes from a pig, lol. Maybe it has something to do with being in the south, but bacon is big, Big, BIG. It was recently a huge food fad in that it was being used for everything from wrapping appetizers to making chocolate (ugh!); it was crazy! I guess it helps that you don't have to go very far outside the city to get to more rural areas where people are still farming and raising livestock, even on a small scale.

 

[ChanellG]

I just wouldn't have the heart to kill any animal & then sit down to eat it!! I just don't! After raising a pig, I no doubt would get to know him, and he would be sort of like a pet to me. I just couldn't kill him and eat him!!
I'd rather buy the meat from a butcher & a supermarket, as I've done for years & years!!

I'm with you on that! I am a big animal person and I would not be able to think of the animal as anything other than a pet, and no one would ever eat a pet, right? If it has a face and a name it isn't going to be food for me, lol. Then again, I've already mentioned, I'm not that big on eating flesh.

 

[winterybella]

I just wouldn't have the heart to kill any animal & then sit down to eat it!! I just don't! After raising a pig, I no doubt would get to know him, and he would be sort of like a pet to me. I just couldn't kill him and eat him!!
I'd rather buy the meat from a butcher & a supermarket, as I've done for years & years!!

The pigs my husband had over the years were never close to us. We never got to know them intimately, so I guess we did not have that problem. All I know is my son has stopped eating any and thinks we all should. I don't like to think of pigs too much. When I do, I don't want to eat any but when I prepare it for my husband who could eat it everyday, it's tempting to taste....eat.

There is a local fast food outlet called "Piggies" and I have never eaten there. The name just turns me off.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Yes it is! Going to order a kit soon!!

 

[GadgetGuy]

Labour intensive indeed. I am also reminded that for a few years my husband would have a local pig farmer raise a pig for him and then butcher it and deliver to him. Then my husband would distribute some to friends and family. Somebody would want a leg, another a shoulder and so on and so on. Never was there any talk of making bacon. I think sometimes people forget that bacon comes from a pig.

There is not much labor to making bacon with the kit that I want to try for doing it with.

The bulk of the time, after you've seasoned it, is spent in the fridge for about 7 days, then in a slow oven for about 8 hours or so, and all that is left to do is to slice it & fry some of it up.
About 8 days tops. You let the bacon do the work FOR you! just go about your normal business at home like you usually do.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Here are the simple instructions to do it with.


http://www.countrybrewer.com.au/pdf/Smoky_Maple_Bacon_Instructions.pdf

 

[GadgetGuy]

I've begun looking around for a pork belly to make the smoked bacon with.

 

[Morning Glory]

I've begun looking around for a pork belly to make the smoked bacon with.

I'm looking forward to hearing about how you get on!

 

[GadgetGuy]

You mean get one? They can only be obtained from a meat shop or from a butcher shop .

 

[Morning Glory]

You mean get one? They can only be obtained from a meat shop or from a butcher.

No. I meant how you 'get on with' smoking the bacon. I mean 'how it goes'. Its something I'd like to try too.

 

[GadgetGuy]

Go five posts up & click on the link for the kit. I will be ordering it soon.