Making your own Smoked Bacon

A recipe that I used for many years and actually have used the same cure for other types of meats. The cure works fantastic for fresh ham. The original recipe was courtesy of In the Charcuterie by Taylor Boetticher and Toponia Miller. They also run a shop in San Francisco and Napa called The Fatted Calf. I am a big fan as you can tell. Not many ingredients but still I modified it..

1) 8 lb skinless pork belly. You don’t have to use all of the cure if you don’t have that much pork belly. I cut the pork belly into equally sized squares that can fit in a baking dish.

2) Cure. 1 lb of brown sugar (I use dark), 12 ounces of fine sea salt (I use ground up kosher), 1 TBSP Curing Salt #1, 1 TBSP cayenne and 1 TBSP freshly ground black pepper. Mix all ingredients well in a bowl. The curing salt can be found online. The salt acts as a preservative and protection against bacteria while the meat is curing.

3) In your baking dish, put down a layer of the cure. Put one of your belly portions on it, meat side down. Rub the cure all over the sides and top. Put a belly on top of this, meat side down and repeat. Put in fridge. I don’t cover but you can if your fridge is full of other odiferous foods.

4) Next day, pour out any liquid in the dish and swap the belly portions around. Put on any additional cure on thin spots. Return to fridge and repeat. Typically by the 3rd day, there isn’t much liquid left. I pull it off by the 3rd day regardless. You can experiment with longer cure times but it may get too salty.

5) Rinse off all cure from the bellies. Pat dry. Get your smoker going and smoke the bellies until they read 140 - 150 degrees internal temperature. Let cool and either keep in slab form or slice. I like to let the bellies cool overnight and use the slicer the next day. I’ll often have a portion that is sliced and a portion that remains in slab form. Some will remain in the fridge and some will be in the freezer. With the curing salt, your bacon won’t spoil until after 3-4 weeks in the fridge and after 6 months in the freezer.

Options: 1) I will do a mix of maple syrup and brown sugar along with a shot of rum. 2) Different kinds of sea salt 3) Applewood, cherrywood or pecan for the smoker 4) Play with an alternative spice vs. cayenne 5) Throw in some herb springs on the smoker fire

Eat.Drink.Savor.

My Sangria

This a great thirst quencher for a summer’s day. The problem is that the sangria is so good, it is dangerous!!! There’s thousands of versions of Sangria on the web so you can find a lot of variations. Here is mine:

1) Red wine is the base wine but you can make a Sangria with white to lighten it up. The wine I use is Zinfandel. Zin is higher alcohol, no tannins and has the intensity to handle the sweetness that will be added. Some call for dry red but Zin has always worked for me. You can experiment here.

2) Combine 3 C. red wine with juice of 2 limes, 1/2 C. orange juice, 1/2 C brandy or other fortified wine in a pitcher. I have used Scotch, Grand Marnier and other liquors. Really adds depth and complexity and, of course, a boost of alcohol. Stir in 1/4 C of sugar until dissolved.

Now you can stop here OR:

3) Add a mixture of fruit in large pieces into the pitcher. This will take it over the top. Peaches, apples, pears and bananas (whole) have worked well. You can have fun here. Let the Sangria sit for 24 hours. The fruit and sangria will dance and mingle…

Eat.Drink.Savor.

Lemonade

Yes, I make my own lemonade. When we have our gatherings during the summer, I prefer to serve fresh squeezed lemonade. The stuff you find in the stores is hit or miss and frankly, I really don’t know what is in them.

1) Squeeze enough lemons to obtain 1 1/2 C of fresh lemon juice, about 5-7 lemons. Take a few lemons and remove some strips for 1 TBSP of lemon zest. I like the long strips as grated or smaller cut zest can easily be swallowed by your guests and most don’t like that.

2) Make a simply syrup of 2 C of water and 1 1/2 - 2 C of sugar (depending on your sweetness preference). Dissolve the sugar in the water over very low heat. You only want to dissolve the sugar so no simmering.

3) Combine simply syrup, lemon juice, lemon zest with 6 C. of cold water. Chill in the fridge for a bit. Garnish with mint leaves or lemon slices.

4) My Mike’s Lemonade alternative - Add a shot of Absolut Citron Vodka to the glass. Your guests will be impressed!

Eat.Drink.Savor.