MAKE YOUR OWN BACON

In case you don’t love bacon as much as us (likely), today is National Bacon Lovers Day!

And the best way to celebrate this day is to admit the truth: the shrink-wrapped Oscar Mayer microwavable strips in your fridge are a sad impression of the real thing.

Listen up… We’re the Dead Meat Society.

If it’s meat, we make it ourselves.

Curing your own bacon sounds like a project for lunatics. And to be fair, it is mostly just waiting…

But the payoff makes the store-bought stuff look embarrassing.

Let’s take a look at the whole playbook cookbook, start to finish.

Oh, and if you’re a first-timer, or you just love a truly in-depth deep dive, try this post from Art of Manliness.

START WITH THE BELLY

A great slab of skinless pork belly is what everything else hinges on. Buy a good one from a good butcher, and everything after is going to be easy.

THE CURE (AKA THE WAITING…)

• You need salt, sugar, and curing salt. Kosher salt and brown sugar handle the flavor, and pink curing salt (Prague Powder #1) is what actually makes it bacon (and keeps it safe). Measure that one exactly to the recipe, no eyeballing, gents.

• Season to taste. Black pepper, maple, garlic, bourbon, whatever you want the bark on your signature bacon to represent.

• And… wait. Coat the belly, bag it, and let it cure in the fridge about 7 to 10 days, flipping it once a day.

DRY, SMOKE, SLICE (AKA THE FUN PART)

• Rinse and dry. Wash the cure off, pat it dry, and let it sit uncovered in the fridge until the surface turns tacky. That pellicle is what grabs the smoke, so yeah, you’re gonna want that.

• Smoke it low. Around 200 degrees over fruit or hickory wood until the internal temp hits 150.

• Chill, then slice. Cool it down, cut it as thick as you dare, and fry.

Do this process just ONE time, and we can guarantee you something…

You will never buy the microwavable stuff again.

Celebrate National Bacon Lovers Day the right way today… by waiting 10 days and THEN eating as much bacon as you can stand.