Making Homemade Bacon *finished product*

I got over 6 pounds of frozen pork belly at La Morenita. Paid around $20.

I couldn't find curing salt. I checked out Albertson's and Whole Foods, maybe Calandro's too. I ended up going to Cabela's and getting this bacon cure mix which was salt, sugar and sodium nitrate. I don't know how well it worked, because I had the belly in the fridge for 2 weeks and it didn't cure like in the photos I saw of other homemade bacon. The meat looked pink and fresh, it was firm and didn't have that Silly Putty consistency that it was supposed to get.

I smoked the pork belly at around 225 for 2 1/2 or 3 hours. (I polished off a 6 pack of Canebrake while I was doing this, so time gets a little fuzzy)

I ended up slicing the pork belly the next day. Some of it went into a pot of chili and the rest we cooked it for a Spanish Town Mardi Gras party. So it was all gone a day later.

It turned out pretty good, maybe a little too salty. I'll probably do it again, but I'll order curing salt from Amazon.

cheep and good

This is the updated official anthology of my pork belly to bacon first time experiment. Thanks to all for the help, interest, and well wishes.

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1. Where to find the cheapest pork belly..I don't mind driving an hour or so out of BR

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I found mine at la morenita in baton rouge for 2.50 a pound

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2. Curing salt. Are you using it, and where to find it.

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Found it at Oak Grove Smokehouse. He had pink salt available but sold me his pre-mixed cure for a dollar a pound. As far as I can tell it was pink salt, kosher salt, and brown sugar.

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3. Cold smoke versus hot smoke. Which of the two are you employing. I have a charcoal grill I can hot smoke on, but I'd like to cold smoke if there is a way to rig one up because.

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I cold smoked. I used applewood chips, tin foil, and a soldering iron. It worked like a charm by placing the soaked wood chips in the foil and tenting it and placing the soldering iron on top which created smoke without the heat.

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4. I figure the cold smoked bacon keeps better than the hot smoked. If hot smoking, what are you doing with the bacon? Eating it all at once, or storing in the freezer?

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It didn't last that long so I don't think it mattered. I am sure that the taste is different and hot smoking is something I plan on trying.

4 lbs of pork belly.


1.5 lbs of salt cure mix, black pepper, garlic cloves, thyme, bay leafs


2 days later, the cure has created a brine.


Turned it over to create more contact. DO NOT pour out brine, it is important to the process.


This is the bacon after it cured. I soaked it in cold water, dumping the water every hour or so to make sure it wasn't too salty. I'm glad I did this process as it was certainly salty enough.


I decided to go with a cold smoke for my first try. It was simple. I have a little bbq pit my FIL picked up at a garage sale and it fit the pork belly perfectly. All I did was soak some wood chips, place them in tin foil, tented the foil and left a small opening on the top of it, then placed a soldering iron onto the wood chips. This created a cold smoke without any of the heat getting to the pork. Also I did this at night as the temperature was much cooler and prevented the pork from getting too hot just from the air.


I smoked it with apple wood for about 5 hours. Next time I think I'll smoke longer. It had a strong smell of smoke but the taste of smoke was a little lacking for my liking.


My first slice of bacon. The skin was problematic. It didn't add anything to the flavor because the fat between the meat and skin didn't render during the smoking process. It was just in the way while I was trying to slice and cook.


The smallest slice in the pan is a piece with the skin still attached. I wanted to see what the texture was like. It was terrible.


Cooking up nicely on a medium heat.


I cooked it a little too long. I was distracted by the whole bacon haha, so it burned a little around the edges.