HOME CURED BACON - The KING of all Bacon! | How-To

what's up you guys it's susie from heygrillhey.com and i hope you guys are ready for a little bit of   a barbecue project because today we are starting  a cure for homemade smoked bacon let's do it all right you guys homemade bacon is a super  fun backyard barbecue project it takes about   a week from start to finish so make sure you plan  ahead and follow my instructions because there are   a lot of ways where this can get confusing if you  start stepping into curing calculators and dry   binds versus wet brines and it is information when  i first started making bacon that i really didn't   understand so my early recipes are not the best  and i had to tweak and perfect this over the years   and i've really got it dialed into a place where  homemade is better than store bought it's an easy   process that i enjoy doing and i want to take you  guys on that journey so feel good feel confident   feel capable you got this and i'll walk you  through you want to start with the pork belly this   is an uncured uncut slab of pork belly it's about  five pounds and the skin has been removed now   most butchers can source pork belly for you i've  also been finding it at costco a lot lately they   usually come in eight ten pound slabs so i buy the  ten pounders cut them in half and then i have two   five pound slabs perfect for this curing recipe  and then that gives me the option to play with   flavors i have both a maple cure and a peppered  cure on my website today we're making the peppered   bacon cure because that one is my absolute  favorite and this is considered a dry cure which   means the ratios are a little bit different than  doing something like a wet cure or a wet brine   but you know what let's let's get right into  the curing because this is one of the most   important parts of making home cured meats  is understanding your curing salts so there   are three main types of home cures available for  you know the backyard or the home cook enthusiast   the first is tender quick and that was how i first  wrote my bacon recipes because that was what was   available to me in the grocery store tender quick  is a curing salt mixed with table salt and sugar   i've since moved away from using tender quick  because i can't control the race ratios of the   salt and sugar in the tender quick to the cure  so now i only use this pink curing salt number   one uh because i can control the salt and the  sugar and i don't use the tender quick anymore   so speaking of curing salt number one this is what  this is it's also called prague powder prague salt   pink salt this is curing salt number one this is  designed for cures that take are designed to be   cured and eaten in less than 30 days there's also  prague powder or frog salt cure number two and   that is more designed for long-term charcuterie  stuff that's meant to be salted and dried over a   long period of time and eaten after 30 days it's  an aged cure so pink salt number one and there   are a million calculators online for navigating  the exact amount of pink salt that you will need   for the amount of pork belly that you have i  have a five pound slab of pork belly and for five   pounds of pork belly i know i need about 5.7 grams  of pink salt i do recommend using and getting a   little kitchen scale for measuring out your curing  salts because this is a little bit of a science   and you don't want to you know guess on the map  i will say it is approximately one and a quarter   teaspoons but again bust out your kitchen scale  weigh this if you can not pink him lancel yes oh   so that's a really good point todd from behind the  camera pink curing salt is not the same as pink   himalayan salt pink himalayan salt is just a type  of rock salt that's ground up and has a pink color   because of minerals in it pink curing salt has a  color added to it so that you can't accidentally   mix this up with table salt on your counter  because the ratios are important you don't want to   accidentally use curing salt on your eggs in the  morning which is why it has the lovely pink color   so now that we have the curing salt ratios down  it's time to add in the other ingredients that are   going to make our bacon taste like bacon and like  i said i'm doing my peppered bacon recipe today   but once you've done a couple batches you can  start to experiment and play with different flavor   profiles i know people like to use jalapenos or  chipotle powders you really can build some really   poppin bacon flavors at home that you absolutely  could not buy in the store to our pink curing salt   we're going to be adding in 5 tablespoons of  course kosher salt 5 tablespoons of brown sugar three tablespoons plus one  teaspoon of course black pepper   three tablespoons plus one teaspoon of maple syrup and one and a half teaspoons  of crushed red pepper flakes   just gonna mix that all together with the spoon  by the time it's all mixed it should be pretty   crumbly almost like a crumbly paste consistency  we do not want to lose any of this cure because   remember we exactly measured the amount of curing  salt that we put in there we don't want to risk   losing any of it so i'm going to transfer my pork  belly to my curing bag i'm going to be doing this   in just a large food saver bag but for years  before i got a food saver i just did this in   a gallon zip top bag and a four to five pound  piece fits really nicely and now that my belly   is in the bag i can work on distributing this  cure around all sides of the pork belly using   the outside to massage and using my hand on the  inside to make sure it's rubbed in on all sides i got as much as i could in there and rubbed it  around as many sides of the belly as i could as   evenly as i could but this does not have to be  perfectly distributed all the way across your pork   belly because the salt and the sugar in the cure  is going to draw some moisture out from the meat   itself and as you flip this every single day  during the next seven days while this cures   that moisture is going to distribute the curing  salts and all of the seasonings a little bit   more evenly around the pork belly so just make  sure that as you seal this up you know get it   as good as you can seal it up pop it into your  refrigerator like i said for the next seven days   and then just give it a massage and a flip every  day i like to set an alarm on my phone at night   so i remember to go out before bed and flip and  massage the pork belly and that will make sure   that everything is evenly distributed and that  this cures evenly during the next seven days   i'm gonna go sail mine up get it into the  fridge and i'll see you guys back here in a week all right our bacon has been curing for seven  days that means it's time for our next step   we're gonna remove our bacon from the refrigerator  take it out of the package that it's been in for   the last week and we're gonna give it a light  rinse under water you don't need super high   pressure here all we're doing is kind of taking  off some of that slimy coating on the exterior   we want to put our bacon after it's rinsed  onto a flat rack over a cookie sheet then   you're gonna pat it dry with a paper towel once  our bacon is nice and dry we're going to crack   some fresh black pepper on top for this pepper  bacon that we're making and then this entire setup   goes back into the refrigerator for another  12 to 24 hours i usually like to leave mine   overnight to develop a sticky coating  on the exterior called a pellicle   this really helps to attract the smoke during  our next phase and it's going to make for better   tasting and better looking bacon make sure you  sanitize your sink after you rinse the bacon   just some nice sanitizing wipes we'll clean it  up so you don't have to worry about any overspray our bacon is out of the refrigerator it's been  sitting there uncovered for the last 24 hours   getting that sticky pelican on the outside we're  ready to smoke now and this is a unique smoking   process it's kind of a mix between a cold smoke  and a hot smoke so we don't want it hot enough   that the bacon fat renders and melts but we need  it warm enough that the meat cooks through kills   any potential bacteria and makes this bacon safe  for slicing and eating the way that we're going   to be doing that is today on our pellet smoker i  can get my temperatures really low on the pellet   smoke are about 160 to 165 degrees fahrenheit if  you don't have a pellet smoker this also works on   a gas grill you just turn one burner on to low  make some nice oil pouches with wood chips you   need to keep replacing them every 45 minutes or  so uh but it's doable on both of those smokers   using this method again we're looking for 165  degrees pop the bacon just like this on this   beautiful convenient tray that we've used onto  your smoker grates close the lid and let it go   for about six hours we want to get this bacon to  an internal temperature of 155 degrees fahrenheit   let's talk about wood selection for our bacon you  can pretty much use any wood choice that you like   but this is one you can get with that  traditional like applewood smoked bacon   you ever had homemade applewood smoked bacon  it's the bomb i highly recommend but you can   also play with cherry you can play with  maple you can play with oak or pecan   the sky is the limit when it comes  to making your own flavor choices   with the wood you're using on your bacon  that's what makes homemade so much better okay you guys this is the moment of truth  seven days in a cure a day forming the pellicle   a half a day in the smoker and now it  is time to see if all of that effort   has yielded the results we were hoping  for i'm just going to slice it down the   middle so we get a beautiful cross  section of that pretty pink bacon   oh my goodness i'm really really happy with  how this looks it's pink all the way through   so i know my cure saturated the entire bacon  the meat itself is pink this looks perfect   now comes the fun part slicing and hand slicing  can be a little bit tedious but it's super doable   if you have a nice sharp knife otherwise i would  let this cool completely and then if you have a   meat slicer give that a whirl because i'm a little  bit impatient i'm going to slice off a few pieces   now while it's a little bit warm fry them up in  my cast iron skillet because i want to eat them   right now it's going to be thick thick and rustic so you like crunchy or chewy bacon oh like bowl okay  crunchy and chewy well good because this one's   sliced really unevenly so you'll have some crunchy  pieces and some chili pieces perfect i think this   is another part about homemade bacon that is so  special and really nice is we have this slab bacon   right here perfect for chopping and cubing sliced  bacon for sandwiches breakfast whatever you want   and then i get to eat the cooked stuff it's a win  across the board oh this is gonna burn my mouth i love this homemade bacon it's not too salty  it's not too sweet you get a perfect bite   from the pepper and the red pepper flakes  that we put on there during the curing process   it has the most amazing texture i think the cast  iron skillet helped a lot with that but it's got   crunchy edges nice and chewy and soft meat and you  really get the smoke i mean really get the smoke   it's absolutely beautiful i hope you guys are  willing to level up your backyard barbecue game   and take on this super fun honestly pretty simple  backyard barbecue project with homemade bacon   when you do tag me in your post let me know how it  goes for you more importantly head to the website   leave a review leave a comment let me  know how you liked your homemade bacon i'll see you guys next time

Channel: Hey Grill Hey

Views: 26,351

Rating: 4.9127274 out of 5

Keywords: bacon, homemade bacon, smoked bacon, home cured bacon, how to cure bacon, how to make bacon, hey grill hey bacon, hey grill hey, heygrillhey, hey grill hey pork, hey grill hey beef, hey grill hey ribs, hey grill hey burnt ends

Id: EQJ_77Xp94g

Length: 14min 2sec (842 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 17 2021