Making Your Own Bacon

Illustration by Joe McKendry for Men's Journal

Want to make your own bacon? YES!

Well, lucky for all of us, Men's Journal has an online tutorial with explicit directions to learn ya how to do just that! It also has lovely illustrations by an artist named Joe McKendry.

After reading it through, I totally think I can do this! In fact, if I can figure out how to smoke in my little gas grill, I might try it soon.

All you need is:

1 lb kosher salt • 2 oz pink salt • 8 oz brown sugar • 12 oz cracked black pepper • 3 oz cracked juniper • 20 bay leaves, crushed • 1.2 oz nutmeg • One 3–5 lb slab pork belly, skin on • 1 bunch fresh thyme • 10 cloves garlic, smashed, peeled

Except for the pink salt and pork belly, I have all of that in my pantry right now. Click the link above for the rest of the directions, but it really does seem pretty simple.

It WILL take about a week to cure the bacon, though, so be aware that this is not just a weekend cooking experiment. You could conceivably start curing one weekend and smoke/eat your bacon the next, though.

Hmmmm... I can already see ways that I could experiment with different bacon flavors based on this recipe.  I suppose a Bacon Goddess should know how to make her own bacon, huh?

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