Once you make a batch of your own bacon you will never go back to the mass-produced stuff. Slow salt and sugar cure results in a firm slab unlike the mushy chemical-injected commercial product. And you can add spices, as in this recipe, to make the bacon much tastier. You can smoke it or not according to your taste. Traditionally bacon is cold-smoked for a couple of days. However, most people do not have a cold-smoker and must make do with a water smoker or even a tray of woodchips in the oven. These will not get your bacon quite as smoky but have the advantage of allowing you to omit the sodium nitrite from the cure if you wish. Probably the hardest part of making bacon is finding pork belly or side. If your supermarket butcher can not get it for you try your local Asian market. A full side runs about 11 pounds but it is often packed in smaller pieces. I suggest making at least five pounds in a batch. Whatever you can not use right away will freeze well.
This recipe is adapted from “Charcuterie“ by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn as published in the New York Times on November 9, 2005.
A note on sodium nitrite: meat that will be cold smoked must be protected from botulism by a preservative, most commonly sodium nitrite. While not essential for fresh or hot-smoked bacon, it does help the meat cure so I recommend using it. Look for Instacure #1, a mixture of sodium nitrite in salt, sometimes called pink salt because of the pink dye used to distinguish it from regular salt. (Do NOT use Instacure #2!) It is readily available online for example from The Sausage Maker in Buffalo, NY.
1 5-pound slab pork belly
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp. Instacure #1, optional
3Tbsp. kosher salt
2 Tbsp. dark brown sugar
2 Tbsp. coarsely ground black pepper
4 bay leaves, crumbled
1 tsp. dried thyme
Cut the pork into convenient-sized slabs, squaring them a bit if necessary. Using a sharp knife carefully remove the rind from the pork, or have your butcher do it for you. (Save the skin for making pork rinds!)
Combine the garlic, Instacure #1, salt, sugar, pepper, and bay leaves in bowl and mix well.
Place the pork slabs onto a sheet pan and proceed to coat thoroughly and evenly with the salt and spice mixture. Put each slab into a resealable freezer bag just large enough to hold it. Distribute any remaining cure among the bags, seal, and refrigerate fro 7 to 14 days, turning every day or two.
Remove belly from cure, rinse well, and pat dry with paper towels; discard cure.
Set up smoker according to manufacturer’s directions using wood chips of your choice; I like apple wood. Smoke the bacon until it reaches an internal temperature of 150°F, about 2 or 3 hours. Keep the smoker temperature as low as you can to extend the smoking period.
Cool to room temperature, wrap well, and refrigerate until chilled. Can be kept refrigerated for up to 2 weeks or cut into slices or chunks, wrapped well, and frozen for up to 3 months.
Sometimes I walk into the kitchen, take a cookbook off the shelf, start on a recipe, and end up with something significantly different. Tonight was one of those times. I started out intending to make Chicken with Chorizo and Sherry but ended up with this stew. As usual there was a reason I made the change made sense to me at least. In this case I found a Tobago Seasoning Pepper that I had thawed but not used. These relatives of habaneros, with all the flavor and little of the heat, are a beautiful red so it seemed a shame to use them with tomatoes that would diminish their splendor. And I could not see overwhelming that lovely flavor with the paprika that the original recipe specified. (If you do not have any Tobago Seasoning Peppers use another red chili of your choice.) Finally, it just made sense to add the potatoes and green beans to the casserole rather than cooking them separately.
Turn the oven on to 375° (350° for convection). Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Heat a bit of olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat and brown them on all sides then move to an oven-proof casserole with a lid. In the same pan cook the chorizo slices until done and add to the casserole with the chicken.
Adjust the fat in the pan, pouring some off or adding a bit of oil, then put in the onions. Sauté until softened, 4 minutes or so, then add the garlic and pepper. Cook another 2 minutes. Pour in the sherry and let the alcohol boil out for a few seconds before adding the stock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 2 or 3 minutes.
Meanwhile put the potatoes, green beans, and bay leaves into the casserole with the chicken and chorizo. Pour the sauce over all, cover, and place in the oven for 25 to 35 minutes, or until the potatoes are done. Remove the bay leaves and serve.
