The Bacon Fest Bible Study - Swine Swag 2013

Romans 14:2 - "One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables."

I have the privilege of leading a guys group on Tuesday afternoons. I've been meeting with this group of guys for a little over a year, and last year we began a tradition that will forever hold a special place in our hearts. And I mean that in the most literal sense, in that our arteries will probably never be the same. 

We call that tradition "BaconFest." Yes, I realize that this is a fad that takes place in many ways and in many places. Yet it is very serious to us, and we try to be as original in our creations as possible. 

Our last BaconFest took place on April 23. We had planned for weeks, and the day finally arrived. We gathered together, and created a feast that was manly and yet mature. Crazy, yet cultured. 

15 Pounds Of Pork Belly!

It started the week before when I purchased 15 pounds of pork belly from Fiesta Foods, an incredible grocery store here in Yakima, emphasizing mainly hispanic foods. Their deli is a wonderland of Mexican specialties, and their meat department is loaded with meats and cuts that most grocery stores don't carry. In fact, of all the places I tried to find Pork Belly in Yakima, this was the only place that was willing to help me out. 

I got the pork belly home, and went to work cutting it into slabs, and getting it ready for the curing process that would take about a week before I would be able to smoke it. If you have the ability to smoke your own bacon, let me just say: You need to! You can do it in a regular smoker, or you can set it up on your grill at home. But there really is nothing like curing, smoking and frying up your own bacon. It's going to make it hard to enjoy store bought bacon from now on. 

Here is the process I went through, but I highly recommend playing with the seasonings to make it your own. As long as you finish up by smoking it over hickory wood, you should end up with something you'll love! Feel free to follow this process though if you're wanting something already tried and tested! 

To Smoke Your Own Bacon

Depending on how much pork belly you plan on cooking, you'll want to divide it up into 2-3 pound slabs. I recommend taking the skin off, and you can do this fairly easily with sharp filet knife. If you want to leave the skin on, it may impart some extra flavor, but it's going to take more time for your cure to sink into the meat. You may also want to trim some of the thicker fat areas, unless you're like me and you really enjoy that part once it's fried up...

Here's what you'll need for the cure (for each slab of pork belly)

Mix Together:
1 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
1/3 Cup Salt
2 Tbl. Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1 Tbl. Garlic Powder
1 Tsp. Curing Salt (This is important! No substitutes!) 

Rub this mixture all over your pork belly. Really lay it on. Then put your slab into a trusted freezer bag and throw it in the fridge. You might want to bag or even double bag it so that the liquids that form don't leak out into your refrigerator. 

Let it hang out in the fridge for 7-10 days, making sure to check it daily, and flip it over so that the liquids continue to work through the pork. When you're ready to smoke it, take it out and give it a good washing. Dry it very well with some paper towels, and then get ready to smoke that sucker. 

After 7 Days Of Curing

Heat your smoker to 200 degrees. Get your hickory chips in there and smoking, and then throw in the bacon. You'll want to let it smoke for at least 2 1/2 hours, 3 at the most. For the first hour and a half, make sure to keep adding wood chips every 30 minutes (3 times). Don't do any more than that because too much smoke is definitely a bad thing. 

After 2 1/2 hours, take a look. If you're happy with what you see, call it good! If not, give it another half hour!

I'll never forget the first sight of that beautiful home smoked pork belly. It almost brought tears to my eyes. I couldn't help but be thankful that God told Peter that every animal was now okay to eat. I can't imagine not having bacon in my life!

Just Out Of The Smoker!

Let the bacon cool down, and then wrap it up and refrigerate it. When you're ready to fry it up, you can slice it as thin or as thick as you want, and fry it just like bacon!

Over the next few days, I'll keep adding pictures and recipes from our "Bacon Fest," where we used nothing but the homemade stuff! Let me know if you make your own bacon, and if you tried some other spices that worked out great, I'd love to hear about it!

Because good food is a calling of it's own!