- This episode is sponsored by The Home Depot.
The Home Depot has all the top quality products and ideas
to help you upgrade your outdoor space.
For me, that's a new Traeger smoker,
so I can have a sweet cooking space in the backyard,
and I can cook the subject of today's episode,
homemade bacon.
That smells good.
Get started on your outdoor project with The Home Depot
and check out the link in the video description.
Now, let's get down to basics.
(upbeat music)
All right, so you can make bacon
out of all kinds of different things,
but the stuff that you're probably most familiar with
is made from pork belly.
Its ultra high fat content makes it an ideal candidate
for surviving the trauma of curing, smoking, and frying.
Now, you can do a big old piece of belly like this,
but cutting it into three pieces
is not only going to let us cure it three different ways,
it's also gonna cure faster.
Check out the curing calculator over at amazingribs.com,
which can calculate the exact concentration of curing salt
that you'll need as well as brine time,
based on factors like your pork's weight, height, and girth.
So, as you can see, I'm meticulously weighing out
and measuring all my pieces,
so I can safely and effectively cure them.
Once you've done all your maths,
we're gonna place our pork in some leak-proof zip top bags,
use a very precise scale to measure out
our pink curing salt, also known as Prague powder #1,
which contains sodium nitrite,
something toxic to humans in large quantities,
but perfectly safe when precisely measured
and added to a brine.
Speaking of which, as I mentioned,
we're curing this bacon three ways.
All my pieces weigh about two pounds
and are about one-and-a-half inches thick
at their thickest point.
So into a small bowl,
I'm combining one half cup of distilled water,
four tablespoons of brown sugar,
one tablespoon of kosher salt,
and 2.1 grams of Prague powder #1.
Once again, consult the curing calculator
at amazingribs.com to determine
your exact water to curing salt ratio.
We're pouring that into our zip top bags,
zipping its top shut, and hugging it close to our breast
to squeeze out any excess air as we zip it shut,
ensuring that the pork is evenly exposed
to the curing liquid.
The curing calculator then demands
that this pork cures in the fridge for three days.
Next up, we're gonna try making a bacon
that I'm particularly excited about, a pastrami bacon.
Same half cup of distilled water,
combined with one tablespoon of brown sugar,
one tablespoon of whole black peppercorns,
one teaspoon of garlic powder,
one teaspoon of yellow mustard seeds,
one tablespoon kosher salt,
one teaspoon whole allspice berries,
one teaspoon whole Juniper berries,
one and one half teaspoons of paprika,
one tablespoon of whole coriander seeds,
many, many spirited twists of freshly ground black pepper,
give everybody a mix to combine,
and of course we can't forget our curing salt,
in this case, 2.2 grams for my 796 grams of pork,
and last but not least, two crushed up dried bay leaves.
Then same deal, this guy's getting poured in the bag,
along with the pork belly,
getting all of the air lovingly squeezed out of the bag,
and getting mushed around a little bit
to ensure even distribution.
Last but not least a bacon cured with guanchiale flavors.
Guanchiale is traditionally made with pork gel,
but this is gonna make for a delicious bacon
that is purpose-built for carbonara.
Half cup distilled water, one tablespoon kosher salt,
one tablespoon of sugar, one teaspoon dried rosemary,
one teaspoon dried thyme,
one teaspoon whole all spice berries,
for my 623 gram piece of pork,
1.8 grams of pink curing salt,
and one-and-a-half tablespoons whole black peppercorns
that we're gonna briefly crush up in a spice grinder.
Plus, we're also gonna crush in
one large clove of fresh garlic,
tiny whisk to get all the garlic off, and then to combine.
And just like the rest, we're pouring it into the bag,
squeezing out all the air, and making sure that the cure
is evenly distributed around the meats
before we place everything on a rimmed baking sheet
and fridge for the specified amount of time,
in my case, three days.
Every 12 hours or so, we're gonna pull them out
and give them a massage and flip,
making sure that every inch of our belly
is getting enough exposure to the cure.
Once again, depending on the size and shape of your pork,
this could take anywhere from one day to two weeks.
So for both maximum deliciousness and your safety,
make sure to follow the calculator.
Once the cure is complete, we're gonna rinse these guys
and pat them dry before placing them on a wire rack
and fridging them one last time for 12 hours.
Then we're taking them out of the fridge
for about half an hour before finally smoking.
So we're headed out to the Traeger,
where I'm going to insert a temperature probe
into the thickest part the pork,
plop it on the grate, and smoke at 200 degrees Fahrenheit
for anywhere from two to three hours
until the belly registers 150 degrees internally.
After which time,
our belly should emerge beautifully burnished and brown,
smelling like the smoky beard of the Norse God of pork.
Then these guys need to cool the room temperature,
and then we need to fridge them once again overnight,
maybe even toss them into the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes,
so that they firm up and are ready to slice.
Once we've sliced off the exterior crust
with a very sharp knife, we can begin slicing in earnest
into extra thick, beautiful slabs of homemade bacon.
And there you have it folks,
it might be a little labor intensive and time consuming,
but it is the best bacon that you will ever taste,
and you have complete control over the flavors.
The pastrami bacon is one of the most incredible things
that I've ever put in my mouth.
As you can imagine, slicing by hand
is a little labor intensive,
so if you're lucky enough to own a deli slicer,
now's the time to bust it out.
Once you've got your bacon all sliced up,
it's ready to cook just like normal bacon,
but you remember that crust that we sliced off earlier?
Don't throw that away.
This can be cut into bite-sized chunks.
And as I mentioned before,
it is absolutely perfect for carbonara
or any application you can imagine
that might need extra smokey bacon bits.
But the first thing I wanted make
when this stuff emerged triumphantly
from the smoker, was a BLT.
The most important element of which,
apart from the bacon of course is the T, or the tomato.
You want ultra big, ultra red, ultra ripe juicy joints,
like these guys from my garden,
which we're gonna slice thinly using a nice sharp knife.
And I like to salt them beforehand.
This helps draw out their moisture
and makes them even juicier when it comes time to eat them.
Next up, the mayo, which you generally don't think of first
when you think of BLT, but it's just as important.
As such, we're gonna want to make our own.
So into an immersion blender cup,
we're going to crack two large eggs,
scoop in one teaspoon of Dijon mustard,
add one teaspoon of kosher salt,
squeeze the juice of one whole lemon,
and crush the garlic of two cloves of garlic.
Then, we're plopping in the head of the immersion blender
and blending for a few seconds
until everything is evenly combined.
Then, slowly and carefully streaming
two cups of a neutral oil like vegetable oil or canola
down the side of the cup, so it settles on top of the eggs.
Then, we're immersion blending on high-speed,
while moving the head of the blender up and down
until the eggs emulsify with the oil
into a rich and creamy mayo.
One that stands head and shoulders
above anything you'll ever get out of a jar.
Then we're gonna bake our bacon at 375 Fahrenheit
for 20 to 25 minutes until crisp.
This not only produces nice, flat, evenly cooked bacon,
but also some absolutely gorgeous rendered bacon fat,
which you should always have in your fridge at the ready,
and this is an excellent way to harvest it.
It's also an excellent way to add more bacon flavor
to our BLT by generously brushing it on one side
of our two slices of hearty white bread
and toasting them brush side down
in a heavy cast iron skillet.
Then, allowing to cool on a wire rack before assembly.
Now, I like to put together my sandwich
with the toasted side facing inward.
This gives you all the crunch and flavor
while preventing bread sogginess
and sparing the roof of your mouth.
So we're gonna generously slather our homemade mayo
on both sides of the sandwich,
pile it high with iceberg lettuce
or the artisanal lettuce of your choice,
stack several slices of tomato on top,
and finish the whole thing off
with a Lincoln Log house of bacon,
the best way to ensure uniform distribution
and structural integrity.
Top it up, squish it down a little bit,
install two toothpicks, both for decoration and stability,
slice it in half on the diagonal.
And of course, inspect the cross section.
As you can see, every bite should contain
proportionally correct amounts of lettuce,
homemade mayo, homemade bacon, and vine-grown tomatoes,
which you might notice are extra juicy,
thanks in large part to the pre-salting.
It's the absolute ultimate BLT.
And sure, it takes a few days to make your own bacon,
but it is totally worth it.
And it was made possible
by this week's sponsor The Home Depot.
The Home Depot has everything you need
to get your outdoor space set up for this next season.
I was able to get this Traeger Ironwood 650,
plus this big boy tomato plant from Bonnie Plants,
so then I'll have tomatoes
for BLTs with friends all summer long.
If you've been waiting for a sign
that you should freshen up
your outdoor hanging space, this is it.
Get your project started with The Home Depot
at homedepot.com/outdooroasis.
The link is in the description.
(gentle melodic music)