Pork bellies here in my city in Ontario were $2.99 a pound, so I went hog wild. I make bacon every winter, and haven't tried store-bought bacon in over 25 years. I just remember it tasted awful compared to homemade maple cured/triple smoked bacon. Homemade bacon also is much firmer in texture when raw and contains less moisture. Winter is a good time for this because I cold smoke it when temperatures in my smoker are safe (3 degrees Celsius or less).
I dry cure bacon in vacuum-packed bags using this cry cure calculator:
http://www.localfoodheroes.co.uk/calculator/dry_cure_bacon/
I also add some crushed peppercorns and some garlic powder that I don't measure very carefully. Everything else including the meat, but especially the Prague Powder #1, must be weighed very carefully. I triple-check at this point because a fuck-up with the Prague Powder will result in failure. It must be the #1 powder because it contains only nitrites - NO nitrates. Prague powder #2 is the one that has nitrates in it, and it's for dry cured sausage (salami, old world pepperoni, etc.) that is slowly aged while it dries. The bacteria in the meat slowly convert all the nitrates to nitrites over time. It's actually illegal to put nitrates in Bacon here in Canada and most other countries because when heated with the high cooking temperature for bacon, nitrosamines are formed which cause cancer. So use the right version if you try this: #1
No need to use the mix as a "rub". I just sprinkle it over the meat while in the bag, trying to get some spread somewhat evenly over both sides. I don't worry about it too much, because the cure will dissolve, pulling the water from the pork, and eventually equalize. I put two belly portions per vac bag:
View attachment 4811519
These get put in the back of the fridge for at least 3 weeks, or until most (or all) of the liquid the cure has drawn has receded back into the pork. So I'll post an update here in about 3 weeks, for the drying period. They must be dried until a nice pellicle forms over the surface so that the smoke sticks to it nicely. Until then... happy bacon makin' all! lol
Edit: Nothing gets wasted in this house. My wife skinned all these belly portions for me and boiled the skin. She will scrape any leftover fat off now, and into the dehydrator the boiled/cleaned skin goes. This is the process for making chicharron. We know it in Canada as "pork rinds". I'll update on this process sooner here. Here is the skin she harvested and boiled, ready for scraping:
View attachment 4811533
I'll update on that process too, since the two kinda always go together. She will scrape off everything white, until just the darker stuff is left (that's the skin). After boiling it comes off really easily. You can do it with a spoon.
And they say we cannabis daily smokers aren't motivated. WTF???? Lol
