{"id":20726,"date":"2020-12-30T05:34:25","date_gmt":"2020-12-30T05:34:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/?p=20726"},"modified":"2020-12-30T08:33:15","modified_gmt":"2020-12-30T08:33:15","slug":"making-bacon-and-blts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/making-bacon-and-blts\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Bacon and BLTs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ah bacon, how I love thee… but I\u2019m not the only one. It seems the whole world has been in a bacon frenzy for the last few years, and it doesn\u2019t seem to be dying down. I, for one, am very happy about that because let\u2019s be honest, bacon is really awesome. It\u2019s the sweetest treat of all the porky meats, the top of the piggy mountain, and if there was such a place as Shang-pig-ra-La, it would be paved with streaky bacon bricks. In this edition of Meet the Meat we\u2019re heading to Bill Riley Meat to learn how to make homemade bacon with my mate, Dave Riley Jnr.<\/p>\n

Before we dive into the bacon, let\u2019s chat about the ins and outs of store-bought bacon. Have you noticed when you cook store-bought bacon it leaks out a watery substance everywhere? That\u2019s because they inject the bacon with water or brine to bulk up the weight, sneaky buggers. The bacon also shrivels up to half its size and who wants that?<\/p>\n

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The beauty about homemade bacon is that the curing process draws moisture out of the pork and firms it up. When you cook it you\u2019ll see how it retains its size and crisps up to perfection, minus the water.<\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n

There is also a big debate in the bacon world on nitrates that exist in curing salts. Nitrate is a preserving agent that stops the growth of bacteria like botulism in cured meats. It\u2019s controversial because they say in high quantities it\u2019s really bad for you, but then again so is botulism. If you\u2019d rather use curing salt be my guest, but just read up on it beforehand. Using nitrates comes down to personal preference. In this recipe, I\u2019m going with Dave\u2019s advice and keeping it old school, the way his grandfather taught him, without curing salt.<\/p>\n

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Once the belly is removed from the carcass it\u2019s skinned, halved and then squared off. From here we apply the rub all over, making sure to get in all the nooks and crannies. Next we pop the meat into a container with a lid and stick it in the fridge, simple hey? Now the waiting starts and it will continue for the next five days. What the cure does is pull the moisture out the meat and flavour it at the same time. Every day you\u2019ll need to drain the liquid out of the container and every second day you will need to apply a little more rub. For food safety sake, make sure that your fridge is running cold (1.6 \u00baC).<\/p>\n

On day five, all you have to do is to remove the belly from the fridge and rinse it off to remove any excess rub and salt. Congratulations, you\u2019ve now got \u2018green\u2019 bacon, it\u2019s called green because it\u2019s unsmoked. Now comes the most important step, so listen up my porky pioneer. Cut the end off the belly then slice off another piece and fry it up nice and slow so that the fat renders out. Taste the bacon to check the salt content. If it\u2019s way too salty, submerge the meat in a big bowl of water for 1-2 hours to draw out some of the salt, then test it again. Once you\u2019re happy, it\u2019s time to smoke the bacon.<\/p>\n

I smoked mine on a Big Green Egg, but any Weber will do with the right set up. The details for that are in the recipe, so take a look if you want to take that green bacon to porky nirvana. If the idea of smoking seems like hard work, then leave it as green bacon \u2013 it will still be delicious.<\/p>\n

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Making bacon really is a rewarding endeavor and the best part about it, besides eating it, is that you get to cut it as thick as you like. I am partial to a thick slab myself and I\u2019ve decided to use my bacon to create one of my favourite sarmies of all time \u2013 the BLT or Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato.<\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I first discovered the BLT when I was working in America and it was love at first bite, second bite and every bite thereafter. It\u2019s so simple, yet the combination is so epic… toasted white bread with mayo, thick cut tomato, a handful of crunchy lettuce and an obscene amount of crispy bacon. What\u2019s not to love? For my BLT I\u2019ve amped things up a bit with a homemade roasted garlic aioli, a touch of chutney and of course, homemade bacon. Rather than using any old bread, try find a good farm-style white loaf. I got mine from the fine folks at Cape Town\u2019s Bread & Butter who funnily enough, make one of my favourite sarmies ever. Check it out<\/strong> HERE<\/strong><\/a>. Until we meat again, cheers!<\/p>\n

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Homemade Bacon
\n<\/strong>1 kg whole (boneless) pork belly
\n150 g sea salt
\n15 g sugar
\n5 bay leaves, crushed
\n10 juniper berries, crushed
\n1 Tbsp (15 ml) freshly ground black pepper<\/p>\n

smoking chips<\/p>\n

Roasted Garlic Aioli
\n<\/strong>2 heads of garlic
\n3 egg yolks
\n1 Tbsp (15 m) Dijon mustard
\n400 ml canola oil
\na\u00a0squeeze of lemon juice
\na small handful of chives, chopped
\nsalt and pepper<\/p>\n

The BLT
\n<\/strong>a loaf of good quality farm bread, sliced
\na knob of melted butter
\nas much homemade bacon as you want on your BLTs (thick cut)
\nchutney
\n4 large ripe tomatoes, thickly sliced
\nsalt and freshly ground pepper
\n1 bag butter lettuce
\nroasted garlic mayo<\/p>\n

The Curing Process<\/em><\/p>\n

Start by pouring some boiling water into a container big enough to fit the belly. The boiling water will sterilise the containers before the curing process.<\/p>\n

Place the salt, sugar, bay leaves, juniper berries and pepper into a spice container and shake to mix. Apply a good amount of rub to the belly and then place into the sterilised container and seal with a lid. Place into the fridge for 5 days. Check the belly every day; drain off the moisture and then apply a little more of the rub. Be careful and don\u2019t add too much or you will end up with salty bacon. On the fifth day take the belly out the fridge and give it a good wash to remove the excess rub.<\/p>\n

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You have what is known as \u2018green\u2019 bacon, cured but unsmoked.<\/p>\n

NB!<\/strong> Slice off one end and then slice a second piece off to test fry. Cook the bacon slowly in a frying pan, ensuring that the fat renders and that it crisps. Taste it to check the salt content. If it\u2019s too salty then submerge the pork meat in a bowl of water for 1-2 hours. Cut off another piece and try again. When you are satisfied with the flavour, the meat is ready for smoking.<\/p>\n

The Smoking Process<\/em><\/p>\n

Smoking may seem like a complicated process but it really isn\u2019t. Use a Weber or a Big Green Egg smoker to smoke the meat. Both will have instructions for setting up to smoke with indirect heat, which is basically a delicate heat source that allows thicker cuts of meat to cook through slowly, without burning.<\/p>\n

Use your choice of smoking chips (I used hickory) and smoke until the internal temperature of the meat reaches 65 \u00baC. Use a meat thermometer to check. Once the bacon is done, take it out of the smoker and let it cool. Congratulations, you now have smoked bacon! If you are not going to eat it all in one go, you can wrap it in plastic and keep it in the fridge for a week. Alternatively, freeze it for up to 2 months\u2026 (like it\u2019s gonna last that long). If you\u2019ve chosen to keep your bacon green, then freeze it immediately.<\/p>\n

When ready to use, slice to the desired thickness.<\/p>\n

Roasted Garlic Aioli
\n<\/strong>Preheat the oven to 200 \u00baC.<\/p>\n

Separate the garlic into unpeeled cloves. Toss in a little olive oil then wrap in a foil to form a parcel. Roast the garlic on a baking tray for 30-40 minutes until soft.<\/p>\n

Whisk the egg yolks with the Dijon mustard to combine; add the oil in a slow, steady stream while whisking all the while. The mixture will start to emulsify as you whisk and will become a silky, thick mayonnaise. Add the lemon juice and then season with salt and pepper to taste. Squeeze the roasted garlic into the mayo, add the chives and give it a good whisk to combine. Leave in the fridge to chill until needed.<\/p>\n

The BLT
\n<\/strong>Preheat the oven to 200 \u00baC.<\/p>\n

Lay the thick-cut strips of bacon on a baking tray and bake for 10-20 minutes or until the fat has rendered out and the bacon is golden brown. Remove from the oven and drain on kitchen towel. (Alternatively, can be pan-fried slowly to render the fat and achieve the same effect).<\/p>\n

Paint the bread with melted butter on one side only. Fry the buttered side in a frying pan over a medium heat until you have a golden brown crust. This is the outside of your sarmie.<\/p>\n

Spread the inside pieces of bread with a generous amount of chutney. Add the tomato and season with a little salt (depending on the saltiness of your bacon) and freshly ground black pepper. Add the crispy bacon and lettuce. Drizzle with aioli and top your sarmie with the final slice of fried bread. Cut in half and smash it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ah bacon, how I love thee… but I\u2019m not the only one. It seems the whole world has been in a bacon frenzy for the last few years, and it doesn\u2019t seem to be dying down. I, for one, am very happy about that because let\u2019s be honest, bacon is really awesome. It\u2019s the sweetest treat of all the porky meats, the top of the piggy mountain, and if there was such a place as Shang-pig-ra-La, it would be paved […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":69,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4582,4098],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brand-page","category-general"],"acf":[],"brand_slug":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/69"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20726"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82340,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20726\/revisions\/82340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}