Make the Bread, Buy the Butter - Jennifer Reese [75]
BACON
I came of age in the 1980s believing that bacon was an evil force in American culture, right up there with cigarettes, malt liquor, and J. R. Ewing. Virtuous people didn’t eat bacon; they got up in the morning, went for a jog, and ate a bowl of muesli or an egg white omelet. They were all about the Pritikin diet.
Times have changed. At some point in the last few years, bacon became everyone’s naughty best friend. Even vegetarians love bacon. Dieters love bacon! There’s a bacon-of-the-month club and I went to a trendy restaurant where cake was served topped with candied bacon. It was insanely delicious and also insane. People wear T-shirts silkscreened with strips of bacon and get tattoos of pigs on their biceps. Bacon, bacon, bacon, enough with the bacon. I feel about bacon the way I do about Tina Fey. Sometimes I get sick of the adulation and want to dislike bacon.
Except, of course, I can’t. It’s bacon.
I was intimidated by the prospect of making bacon, but it’s extremely straightforward. You jacket a piece of pork belly in salt and spices, let it sit for a few days, rinse it, then smoke it. There’s almost infinite flexibility in the spicing, which is the fun of making it yourself. My favorite bacon is coated in fruity—almost plummy—Aleppo pepper, and is inspired by a recipe in Ethan Stowell’s New Italian Kitchen. This bacon is sweeter and meatier than any supermarket product I’ve tasted. Plus, you can slice it as thick as you want. Alas, you may be unable to slice it as thin as you want. When I serve homemade bacon it appears in either scraggly little scraps or chunky slabs, often on the same plate.
One final reason to make bacon is that people will think you’re rad. I was standing in line at the Chinese butcher one day and pointed to an enormous slab of pork belly. A young man said, “What are you going to do with that?” I said, “I’m making bacon.” He began salaaming and said, “I revere you.” It was embarrassing, and more evidence of the esteem in which people currently hold bacon.
Make it or buy it? Try it! Decide for yourself.
Hassle: Easier than you’d expect, but not precisely “easy”
Cost comparison: Using cheap pork belly from the Chinese market, homemade bacon costs about $3.50 per pound. Supermarket bacon ranges from $4.99 to $11.00 per pound. If you’re just trying to lowball the Piggly Wiggly, you can, though not by much.
¼ cup kosher salt
2 teaspoons pink salt (see Appendix)
½ cup light brown sugar
⅓ cup ground Aleppo pepper (see Appendix)
One 2-pound slab skin-on pork belly
1. Mix the salts, sugar, and pepper in a small bowl. Rub the seasoning over the entire surface of the pork belly. Try to work it into every cranny. Place the belly in a bowl that will hold it snugly. Cover tightly. Refrigerate for 7 days, turning every 1 or 2 days to ensure the pork is covered in cure.
2. Remove the belly from the refrigerator and rinse well. Pat dry. Place the belly on a cooling rack over a baking sheet in the refrigerator and air-dry, uncovered, for 2 days.
3. Smoke the bacon until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat reaches a temperature of 140 degrees F. You can use a smoker, a kettle grill, or a large pot on the stovetop.
4. When the bacon is smoked, remove it from the smoking vessel and cool for a few minutes. With a sharp knife, ease off the skin.
5. Cool to room temperature, then wrap and chill until firm. Slice to eat now, store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, or freeze for up to several months.
Makes about 1½ pounds
PANCETTA
The only trouble with making American bacon is that you have to smoke it. Not so pancetta. Pancetta is unsmoked Italian bacon and it’s the killer app in countless pastas, soups, and Italian braised dishes. If you’re used to buying your pancetta from the deli counter, expensive skinny slice by expensive skinny slice, the