o bacon! my bacon!

... our fun-filled trip is done!

bob & sarah's first fresh bacon experiment is complete
and we have deemed it a success!

sunday, despite a drop in temperature, we brought our cured and rinsed pork belly
out back to our favorite weber grill for an infusion of smokey goodness.
bob is the grill master at our house and smokes using the kettle grill regularly.
to keep the temperature low and indirect, he uses only a few coals and concentrates them
on the far side of the grill in a little half moon container that came with it.
the meat goes on a piece of foil on the opposite side of the grill.
added to the coals are a few hands full of wood to create the smoke.
this time, bob went with a combination of hickory and cherry.
he smoked it for about three hours and kept the temperature between 150 and 200 degrees.
smoking this way requires a bit of attention to ensure that the temperature doesn't get too high.
bob checks the grill every fifteen minutes or so to make sure it keeps smoking.

the bacon came out so good!
it is smoky and herby and takes like what bacon should taste like.
check it out...

getting the grill smoker to a good temperature...
image by sarah c baron

we pick up our wood chips and chunks at the local lowes.
this time we are using a combination of hickory & cherry.
image by sarah c baron

heat... check.
smoke... check.
cured pork belly... check!
image by sarah c baron

bob stokes the smoke & checks the bacon
image by sarah c baron

it looks like real bacon...
(this is an end slice, so it is a little more smoky & salty than the rest)
image by sarah c baron

it cooks like real bacon...
image by sarah c baron

it tastes like real bacon!
this is a little endive, irish blue cheese & bacon salad...
we had fish this night, so i had to come up with some way to incorporate our bacon :)
image by sarah c baron

fresh bacon update: day 5

ooh, now it is getting good!!
the meat is firmer and the rind has begun to stiffen & change texture.
it is feeling more bacony!
the scent that drifted up when i opened the container was very garlicky.
in order to fortify the herbaceous undertone we are going for,
i added a few more bay leaves. bay is subtle and just smells so delicious!

we will flip this baby one more time on friday
and, if we are lucky, sunday will be the day we smoke it!

bob & sarah's bacon, day 5
this is the fat side
image by sarah c baron

bob & sarah's bacon, day 5
this is the meat side
image by sarah c baron

bob & sarah's bacon, day 5
fortified with a little more bay
image by sarah c baron

fresh bacon update: day 3

today we got to flip our bacon-in-progress for the first time!

it is only the third day of curing and already we can see some changes!
the salt cure is starting to draw the moisture from the meat.

the texture is noticeably firmer than it was saturday afternoon,

even the colors are intensifying,

and this lovely piece of pork belly is now surrounded by a slurry of liquid, salt and spices.

its starting to get exciting, kids!

bob & sarah make bacon : day 3
the fat side is on the left and the meat side is on the right
images by sarah c baron

bob & sarah make bacon

nope, we aren't cooking bacon,
we are making bacon!!

saturday afternoon, we visited our favorite local butcher here in rva,
the belmont butchery, and asked tanya and the guys for two pounds of
delicious uncured, un-smoked, antibiotic-free pork belly!!
they were also kind enough to toss in some pink salt for us
since, as usual, bob & sarah cook on the fly and are often unprepared!

pink salt is a combination of table salt and sodium nitrite
which is what makes bacon taste like bacon and not like ham.

our resource for this information is mark ruhlman's book
charcuterie: the craft of salting, smoking, and curing.
it is both informative and lovely,
and you all know how i enjoy a really pretty book!

so... we took this beautiful piece of pork belly home where we rubbed it with a mixture of
salt, pink curing salt, sugar, peppercorn, crushed garlic, bay leaf & some other random dried herbs.
we popped it into an airtight container, also known as our brownie pan with a lid,
and into the refrigerator, where it will take a seven day nap.
every two days, the pork belly gets flipped over to keep redistributing the curing mixture.

so stay tuned, blog friends, for the results of this amazing experiment in bacon awesomeness!
it is bound to be incredible and possibly, eventually, disastrous for the health of bob & sarah!

bob & sarah make bacon: day 1
image by sarah c baron