Homemade Smoky Peppered Bacon

Everyone loves the smoky, salty, taste and SMELL of bacon. But you truly don’t know how good bacon can be until you’ve had small batch homemade bacon! Like with everything, being able to control the ingredients and quality makes a world of difference in the final product. Our Traeger Grill is perfect for the smoking process, it causes the meat to be penetrated with the perfect amount of smoke and beautiful color, as well as allowing us to easily control the temperature throughout the process. This is not a quick or instant gratification recipe as it takes 7-10 days to cure the meat, but like with most things the wait is worth it!

Ingredients:

• A good quality Pork Belly (home grown or from your favorite local butcher) we usually choose one that weighs about 12lbs, if your pork belly weighs differently just make sure the cure ratio is still the same
• 2 1/2 Teaspoons of Premium Pink Curing Salt (Important note: this is curing salt- not regular salt)
• 3/4/ Cup Kosher Salt
• 1/4 Organic Raw Sugar

First, cut the pork belly into sections. We slice approximately 2 pound sections. This is usually the amount we would want in a package of bacon. If you don’t use or eat too much bacon at a time, you will want to make your sections smaller. By cutting the sections before curing and smoking it allows better penetration of the meat, and it makes everything easier rather than handling a giant slab of pork belly.

In a medium sized bowl mix together pink curing salt, kosher salt, ground black pepper and sugar. Weigh each section of Pork, weigh curing mixture, and then divide mixture by weight of pork so that each piece receives the right amount of curing. Then rub the mixture evenly over the entire surface area of your sections of pork.

Take each section and seal individually in a vacuum seal bag or a regular Ziploc bag. We prefer vacuum sealing each piece as it helps the cure penetrate the meat deeply and makes for really easy clean up. Place in the fridge to cure for 7-10 days.

After 7-10 days remove from bags and rinse each piece with cold water to remove excess curing rub that hasn’t dissolved and been absorbed. Pat dry each piece and place on a pan with a rack. Set in fridge uncovered to allow meat to “dry age” for 24 hours.

The next day, fire up the Traeger (or the smoker you choose). Set to the lowest setting, for us it is the “Smoke” setting on our Traeger. Smoke for 2-3 hours until desired color and smoke is reached, then remove from smoker and set aside to cool.

Once cooled, place in fridge overnight to chill and firm up. The next day you can freeze for later, or go ahead and cook up a batch (we usually can’t wait). To freeze we place in vacuum seal bags and freeze the sections without slicing. I like to have the option to slice once I have it out for the recipe I will be making. It also makes it easier to slice if it is still slightly frozen.

This bacon is perfect to fry in slices in a cast iron pan for breakfast or dice and cook into soups, pastas, salads… pretty much ANYTHING. My personal favorite is my Bacon Wrapped Elk Loin https://itsasavagelife.com/bacon-wrapped-elk-loin-elk-backstrap/. After cooking bacon I always pour, strain, and save bacon grease into a jar that I keep in my fridge. It is the perfect fat to sauté vegetables in or create a roux for the best gravy, soup or sauce you will ever make! Believe me, once you start you won’t stop! Enjoy!