August 23, 2015: Tequila Cured, Hickory Smoked Bacon from Scratch and a Field Report from Paul

MY LIFE WITH BACON CONTINUES this week with some home made bacon. I purchased the pork belly, as I said last week, from Hofherr's market in Northfield, IL

BUT FIRST: FRIEND PAUL VISITS FARM in Vermont and has a field report.

Paul Rokos reports:

"My wife loves goats. As a birthday present we spent this past weekend at Trevin Farm, beautiful goat 40 acre farm in Green Mountains of Vermont. We spent the weekend learning how to make goat cheese, milking goats, helping with chickens, ox and horses. Eating two fabulous breakfast and having a cooking lesson and dinner with Chief Troy. 

I never knew goat cheese could be so good! The secret is in the love, care, and healthy diet that Chief and gentleman farmer, Troy Peabody provides them. This loving care and this fabulous rich goats milk is also the reason I bought a half a share in a pig for next spring. Troy fed the mother pig goat’s milk during her pregnancy to ease the stress on the mother and insure healthy babies. The mother looked fabulous and I could tell the piglets were going to produce great roasts, butt, and BACON! 

So I ended a beautiful and relaxing weekend, know that come March, I’ll come back, enjoy another night at the farm and pick up my butcher, smoked ham, and bacon."

Thank you, Paul! Great story and I'll have to visit there and get some pork belly. Speaking of pork belly... how about

MAKIN' BACON THE RIGHT WAY - from scratch. I gave you a little preview last week, and here's the whole story.

You start with quality product; many of you know that I get mine from Seah Hofherr of Hofherr's Meats in Northfield, IL. Sean comes from several generations of purveyors, and he's carrying on this most excellent tradition. Great shop and friendly staff, plus outstanding product makes every visit fun.

The belly you see above was butchered very recently and is fresh as can be. I rinsed it off thoroughly, and hand applied a homemade rub based on this recipe from Traeger wood pellet grills (but not exactly). Before applying the rub, I gave the belly a heavy dose of Charbay distillery Tapatio Tequila (see bottle on the left). We enjoy Charbay's vodkas and especially the tequila.

The above-noted recipe is for bourbon; I substituted outstanding tequila as an experiment.

After complete cure was applied, I put the belly in a zip lock and kept it refrigerated for a full week, with daily turning. What a great aroma.

Once finished, I rinsed once again, and prepped the smoker. The chimney lit up quickly, using my father-in-law's technique of rolling and knotting the newspaper (thanks, Rich!). Great concept and execution! I used hickory wood for the smoke. I thought it'd be a great combination - tequila rub and hickory smoke. I was right.

Smoking took about 90 minutes, give or take, and I pulled the belly off at the appropriate internal temperature. Incredible smell and great color. I think I'll figure out how to 'hang' the belly on a hook from the smoker cover - I think it might produce a more even drying effect. Always be improving your techniques!

Hand slicing is tedious and I tried to be as even as possible. For a brusses sprout & bacon dish, I cooked some up and chopped it. Heavenly!

Subsequently I fried up a bunch for the family - universal applause. The colors were like an artist's pallette and flavor and aroma were outstanding.

I left a few slices out on the Himalayan salt block daughter Jennifer gave me for my birthday, and it disappeared. Son Jack ate it up late that night!  Great concept - bacon as a midnight snack!

Good stuff. I'll do a more complete review next week with a commercial bacon. I'll try to be as unbiased as possible!