Homemade Bacon
Guest Contributor: Nick Catalana
Hi All,
When we see something awesome we have to share it. At the Grill Coach we are passionate about our craft. Cooking outside is our forte, we love it. We want to share our knowledge and learned experience with you. We are also on a mission to learn, so when we saw Nick’s post on Instagram about his Maple Bacon and wanted to get it on our site for all to enjoy. I’ve been curious about making my own bacon for a while now. We reached out to Nick and featured him on the show highlights featured HERE.
Hi Nick, welcome to the Grill Coach! Love to meet another enthusiast as passionate as we are. I was scrolling through Instagram one day and your post about the bacon caught my eye. I’ve always wanted to try making bacon myself but never took it a step further than that. Before we get into the bacon making, tell us about yourself, what do you do?
I’m 27 years old and live in St. Louis, MO. I’m a parts department manager at a local Honda dealership, and the whole shop knows me as their go to smoked meats guy. I’m an avid cigar smoker and whiskey drinker; both of which must be happening while the smoker is going (Busch lights also do the trick). Usually on the weekends if I’m not smoking something, I try to get out and fly fish at one of the many Missouri streams.
Awesome, whiskey is something I enjoy as well. I like to go fishing as well, but it’s mostly an excuse to hang out with my friends and drink beer. I don’t catch much usually. How long have you been in the hobby of outdoor cooking?
I’ve only been smoking meat for the past 2 years, but it's something I’ve hit pretty hard in those 2 years. There’s something magical about a chunk of meat with rub on it, sitting over some apple wood. I started out with a basic pork butt and eventually tackled everything else. Beef ribs (the big Dino style ones) and a tomahawk steak are the two things next on my to do list. I’ve made quite a few batches of jerky and bacon, both of which I began selling to the guys at work. Besides the taste, smell and process of sitting in a lawn chair with a beer & a cigar watching the smoker work, I really enjoy other people’s enjoyment out of what I make. It’s awesome seeing their reaction when they try my jerky, bacon, or pork for the first time. My buddy at work told me “I hope you never find a new hobby”. There’s few things better in the world than that first bite of pulled pork right after you shred it all. Besides smoking big cuts of meat, smoking finger food/appetizers are also really fun. I do a version of Matt Pitman’s (Meat Church) “Smoke-a-fried” chicken wings, where you smoke them for a little over an hour and then toss them in a deep fryer for a few minutes. Those wings paired with my girlfriends homemade ranch dressing are always a hit. Pig-shots and pork belly burnt ends are also fun to make for get-togethers. This has been a fun and sometimes challenging hobby, that I’d love to grow into something bigger, but right now being the resident meat guy at work and in the family is just fine!
Those experiences you describe is what we’re all about, that moment when someone’s face lights up and is in disbelief of how good that smoked meat is a fantastic feeling. As enthusiasts we just want to share our creations and accomplishments with our friends and family. Careful now, you might get stuck writing another article on those wings and pig-shots! We talked off line, but tell us a little about the cookers you use.
I use a 22” Weber Smokey Mountain (WSM) and a Weber Master Touch kettle. The kettle is just for grilling, I let the Smokey Mountain handle all of the smoking. My WSM is modded with the following: wheels, screen door handles on the side, an Unknown BBQ hinge for the lid, and a Cajun Bandit door and side table. I use an Inkbird 4 or 6 probe bluetooth thermometer for the meat and unit temp and I’ll use a Pitmaster IQ120 for the longer overnight smokes.
Beautiful, I love that you use a regular kettle. The Weber Smokey Mountain is one of my favorite cookers too. It’s been around forever and does a great job. I’ve done a few upgrades to mine as well. We’ll have to talk about the IQ120 and how you use it one of these days, let's talk some bacon!
About Bacon
Bacon is cured and smoked pork belly. Curing meat is a form of preservation. The process adds salts to remove moisture out of the food via osmosis. The idea is to make it less susceptible to microbial growth that causes the meat to spoil. Nitrates are added to bacon as well to help kill unwanted bacteria and give it an attractive color. Nitrate is toxic to our bodies in high amounts and should be closely measured and care be taken when added. Smoke is added after the meat is cured as a preservation technique as well. The way this works is the outer layer of the meat is sealed slowing bacteria from entering.
On to Making Bacon!
Ok Nick, let’s make the bacon. Let’s start with a list of ingredients.
Curing Ingredients:
Prague powder #1
Salt
Table Sugar (Brown Sugar optional)
Any other seasonings or BBQ rub you'd like. No exact measurements on that!
There are many different curing calculators on the internet, Nick which one do you use?
I used this calculator: CLICK
First step though is to convert your belly weight into grams. I use 1.5% salt but you can use up to 2.5 or so I believe. Get a good kitchen scale with the Tare option on it. (A tare option lets you measure several items in one container and will make your life easier throughout this process) Apply the cure on both sides and place in a vacuum sealed or zip lock bag and place in the fridge for at least a week. I let it go for 7 days. Make sure to turn the bags every day.
After your curing time is finished, rinse everything off and let it sit in the fridge uncovered for the night. This will form a pellicle, or a coating that will allow the smoke to adhere to it better.
That sounds fairly straight forward. Anything you’ve done recently to add any extra flare to the recipe?
For a recent batch I added some Rye and Maple to it, I did the same cure method but added 1 cup each of maple syrup & Still 630 Maple Sunset rye (local distillery in St. Louis). Worth noting that they age their Rye in 4 Roses barrels that previously held maple syrup! Before I smoked the batch I seasoned it with Butchers BBQ Maple rub. I also got some chunks of Still 630’s oak rye barrel staves to smoke it over. You can definitely pick up the rye and maple on it!
SIDE NOTE: I was fortunate to get a taste of this and I could definitely taste the sweetness of the maple coupled with the rye. It has an intense smokiness with an overlapping sweet wood characteristic of the rye and maple. Thanks for sharing!
Let’s talk cooking now.
The Smoke:
For the WSM, I use the snake method (really ends up looking more like a horseshoe). I light about 15 or so briquettes in the chimney. I take the fist sized wood chunks and break them each into 3 pieces and scatter them along the charcoal ring. I’m targeting a pit temperature of 160F with either apple or cherry wood.
The Cook:
Always go by temp, not time. Smoke it to an internal temp of 135F, which for a 5lb chunk (Costco belly cut in half) usually takes about 7-8 hours. You’ll notice that it will turn to a nice mahogany color once it’s all finished cooking as well.
The Finished Product:
After its finished smoking, let sit uncovered overnight in the fridge (you can do multiple nights as well, one has worked for me). Slice it up! My first batch I used a long brisket knife, but the more ya do it, hand slicing is a pain. I picked up a Chef’s Choice 615A slicer off Amazon and it's been great. Long travel on the slide and easy to clean. If you plan on making a business with bacon, you’ll definitely want something more heavy duty, but for us guys doing this at home it works great.
Remember though, its not cooked at this point, you’ll have to prepare it like every other bacon you’ve bought at the store either by frying it in a pan baking it in an oven, that’s up to you. Remember to cook it though!
Thoughts on how to use?:
The more bacon I’ve made I realize I need to cut it differently for different applications. If I’m slicing it to eat by itself, I like a good thick slice. If I’m slicing it to cook with (bacon wrapped things), then you’ll want to go a little thinner on your slicing.
Personal favorite pairings?:
Homemade BLTs with homemade bread and home grown tomaters!
Breakfast
Paired with more bacon
Thanks Nick for sharing this wonderful process, like I mentioned earlier I was fortunate enough to taste the results and they were fantastic. Making bacon at home can be a rewarding experience and is something we’re glad to see people doing. Thanks for sharing!
Now get out there and grill!