{"id":273,"date":"2009-10-08T06:59:37","date_gmt":"2009-10-08T13:59:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/?p=273"},"modified":"2009-10-08T06:59:37","modified_gmt":"2009-10-08T13:59:37","slug":"making-bacon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/making-bacon\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Bacon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We sell fresh pork sides- mainly because we cannot sell bacon.  There are many things to do with a fresh side; you can slice it thick batter and fry, you can brown-braise and bake, or you can make bacon.  Granted that there is a limited market here and lots of pork belly to serve it.  For you brave souls- I submit a simple bacon cure\/smoke\/breakfast bacon makin&#8217; method.  First a note on cures&#8230;there are wet and dry cures.  Most every bacon that you can get at the store and we could get made at the butcher shop is made with a wet cure.    However, you can make something that was made for centuries, yet has disappeared from the diet in the last fifty years. A dry cured bacon.  What an opportunity!  So how do you make a dry cure? . . . Easy &#8211; make a dry rub, cure in the fridge for a week, smoke, slice, cook.  <\/p>\n<p>Now for the details:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Rub is equal parts salt, brown sugar, and maple syrup.  About a 1\/4 cup each is plenty for our 5 pound sides.<\/li>\n<li>Rub the cure into the surface of the slab, cover equally all around the slab.<\/li>\n<li>Place everything in a zip lock bag, and lay flat in the fridge.<\/li>\n<li>Turn over every other day for 5-7 days&#8230;the longer the saltier.<\/li>\n<li>Make sure that there is a cup or so of fluid that will pull out of the slab bacon.<\/li>\n<li>Decide how salty you want your bacon&#8230;light salt- soak in water for a day, changing the water a couple of times.  For heavy salt flavor (I go heavy when the bacon is used as flavor, like chopped for a salad or used on a BLT) just go straight to the smoker.<\/li>\n<li>The pedicle is an essential step. Leave the slab out on a plate on the counter for a couple of hours, preferably in front of an open window. The slab will develop a glaze called a pedicle which is needed to seal in the flavor during the  smoke  process. Smoke for a couple of hours with fat side up&#8230;there are too many smokers to detail here; however, I have a Little Chief and I smoke for a couple of hours until the slab temperature reaches 150 degrees F.  This smoker runs a bit over 200 degrees&#8230;.yours may vary.  If you want to cold smoke- call me and I will come over and turn green with envy over your cold smoker&#8230;.but I digress.<\/li>\n<li>Let the slab cool, in fact chill in the fridge a while to make slicing easy.<\/li>\n<li>Slice to your desired thickness.<\/li>\n<li>Cook it up&#8230;.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Now for the visuals&#8230;<br \/>\n<div id=\"attachment_263\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/dsc01876.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-263\" src=\"http:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/dsc01876-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Thawed out slab...skin side down (although there is no skin on our slabs)\" title=\"Fresh pork side\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-263\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/dsc01876-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/dsc01876.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-263\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Thawed out slab...skin side down (although there is no skin on our slabs)<\/p><\/div><br \/>\n<div id=\"attachment_264\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/dsc01877.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-264\" src=\"http:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/dsc01877-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Here is the slab with the 3-part rub packed on a sealed in a bag ready for the fridge\" title=\"Rubbed slab\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-264\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/dsc01877-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/dsc01877.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-264\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Here is the slab with the 3-part rub packed on a sealed in a bag ready for the fridge<\/p><\/div><br \/>\n<div id=\"attachment_267\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/dsc01894.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-267\" src=\"http:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/dsc01894-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Ahhh...the magic of osmosis...the cure has pulled out the juice from the slab\" title=\"Post cure\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-267\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/dsc01894-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/dsc01894.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-267\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ahhh...the magic of osmosis...the cure has pulled out the juice from the slab<\/p><\/div><br \/>\n<div id=\"attachment_268\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/dsc01895.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-268\" src=\"http:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/dsc01895-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Ready for the smoker...let it develop some pedicle for bit before smoking to help the flavor stick\" title=\"Cured slab\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-268\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/dsc01895-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/dsc01895.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-268\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ready for the smoker...let it develop some pedicle for bit before smoking to help the flavor stick<\/p><\/div><br \/>\n<div id=\"attachment_270\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/dsc01897.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-270\" src=\"http:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/dsc01897-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Cured and smoked bacon slab\" title=\"dsc01897\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/dsc01897-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/dsc01897.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-270\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cured and smoked bacon slab<\/p><\/div><br \/>\n<div id=\"attachment_271\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/dsc01898.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-271\" src=\"http:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/dsc01898-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Chill and slice....then fry it up- ENJOY\" title=\"Bacon\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-271\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/dsc01898-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/dsc01898.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-271\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chill and slice....then fry it up- ENJOY<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n<p>Final note&#8230;.we sell these slabs for just $2.00 a pound- so 5 pounds of bacon will cost a bit over 10 bucks to make &#8211; or you can buy it from a specialty shop for around $10 a pound.  Flipping a baggie in the fridge every other day doesn&#8217;t sound so bad anymore does it!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We sell fresh pork sides- mainly because we cannot sell bacon. There are many things to do with a fresh side; you can slice it thick batter and fry, you can brown-braise and bake, or you can make bacon. Granted that there is a limited market here and lots of pork belly to serve it. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[96,62],"class_list":["post-273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-dry-cure-bacon","tag-pastured-pork"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":282,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273\/revisions\/282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greatamericanegg.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}