Makin' Bacon

[Bemused]

A few months ago I purchased a hog. It was live when I bought it but that didn't last long. I'll spare the story but I ended up with this:


Butchering. As it turns out, hogs are mostly made of fat. This is important.


For you see, if you take a hog belly and let it set in the fridge for a week covered in salt, sugar, pepper, thyme and rosemary, and then smoke it for a few hours, you get bacon:


Let it chill in the fridge again until cold, then slice thin with a good knife:


Everyone knows about the rest:


I like mine with eggs, even for dinner:


Sharing the sunset with a pipe, I can't do this everyday but it worked out tonight:


AZ isn't all bad:

 

[Idlefellow]

So that's where it comes from? I always get mine in those little cardboard folders at the store .

 

[user 2027]

well that looked like a lot of work but does sound very tasty!

 

[Bemused]

Labor of love

 

[Timbo]

I've cured my own bacon previously and must say the effort is very much worth it. The taste is so much better than store bought bacon. Great job there Bemused, that looks simply delicious.

Did you render the hog fat?

Cheers

Tim

 

[Bemused]

I've cured my own bacon previously and must say the effort is very much worth it. The taste is so much better than store bought bacon. Great job there Bemused, that looks simply delicious.

Did you render the hog fat?

Yessir, got 14 jars of lard if I recall correctly and also have enough butchering fat left over to grind with game meat this hunting season. I think I have enough to do a whole elk and probably a small deer. Hopefully I get to find out.

 

[Carlos]

If all you eat is a couple little pieces of bacon and one egg, it's no wonder you're skinny. Bet that's good bacon. :sunny:

 

[Bemused]

Haha that was my daughter's plate. My portions are bigger

 

[Fatman]

I have major pork envy, it all looks delicious!

 

[mark]

Food of the gods. My cousin tosses me a few pounds when he makes it,,,417 times better than store bought. Great job,,,I can almost smell it. :cheers:

 

[Timbo]

14 jars of lard is impressive. I love cooking with lard, especially roast veggies, so much yummier than olive oil.

Do you insert the lard into the venison or mince them together?

Cheers

Tim

 

[Bemused]

Actually the lard and butchering fat are separate. The cleanest of the trimmed fat was used to render lard, I trimmed any blood stain or trace meat scrap from the rendering fat so as not to impart any meat flavor to it. That produced 14 jars of lard. My wife uses it for pie crusts and I use it for cooking.

In the butchering picture above the white and stainless steel bowls are heaping full of said fat. What I didn't render I wrapped and froze to grind with meat. I only used about half of the fat pictured for rendering...I've never seen a fatter animal!

 

[Ozark Wizard]

Sounds like an awesome recipe. Every other year we raise a pig and do all that. Yes, they are pretty fatty. But there are many uses for it. Good eating your own raised anything!

 

[RDPipes]

Just had supper and now ya gone and made me hungry again.
Sure could go for about 3 large eggs and 6 strips of bacon about now, Oh! and not to forget the home fries.
Of course a few pancakes would go good along side to. Geez! I need to go light up my after supper bowl before I make a glutton out of myself. :fpalm: