Bacon - From Fubonn to cure.

Faithful readers ( and those of you I beg to read me ).  I've been saying I'm going to show you how to make bacon.. well, here it is.

Bacon's probably the simplest of all cured/smoked treats to make, and once you make it, you'll never go back to store bought/mass produced, water injected crap.

I know I'm on a Tails and Trotters Hazlenut finished pork kick lately, but for bacon I'm going to stick with my old favorite.. Fubonn Pork.  what is Fubonn you ask?  click here and find out about the coolest Asian shopping mall/supermarket/restaurant in SE Portland. ---Fubonn

The selection is awesome..If you need something Asian.. they got it. 

Top that off with what is arguably the freshest produce, seafood, and meat in Puddletown and you can see why it's a foodie's dream.   Now I know that this is most likely feedlot beef and pork.. but it's good.. I've been using it for over a year and people love it as much as the pig I ordered from a local farm.  There's nothing pickier or fussier than an Asian Granny ( right Paul? ).. so I know this is good stuff.

Besides good shopping, there is good (not great ) dim sum  offered at Malay Satay Hut.. My little nugget LOVES eating there.. and since I'm a sucker for dim sum.. it's a regular part of the experience for us.

After a great meal, it's off to ride the rides... she saves quarters that she earns by sleeping in her own bed and not waking us up until it's light out to ride them... she loves them .

What can I say? It's good clean fun.

Now.. on to the bacon.

I purchased a 6 lb belly... nice belly

Next to it is about 3/4 cup of "basic cure" ( see previous posts ).

I modified it with about double the brown sugar, because I'm looking for more of a "sweeter" flavor this time.

1/3 cup kosher salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2tsp pink salt

1tsp black pepper

Check out a side profile of this pork.  Not too bad looking.

Rubbed all the cure into the belly as well as I could.. put it back in the bag it came from and put it in the fridge for 4-6 days.

Stay tuned.. I'll pull this puppy out of the cure next weekend, rinse well, and let it sit uncovered in the man fridge for a full day to develop a nice pellicle ( this is a stickyish "coating" that allows smoke to 'stick' to the meat ), then I'll put it in JDub's little chief smoker for about 8 hours.. then finally, finish it in the oven for about 1 hour at 150degrees, just to make sure it's finished.