A new adventure

Bacon is, simply put, one of the world's most perfect foods, speaking directly toward flavour. It has a meaty, salty, smoky taste that appeals to the everyman. It should then follow that an understanding of the bacon making process is a fine thing for him to practice. It is sufficiently masculine, and the rewards are quite decadent.

In my constant attempts to better myself, I will be, for the first time, preparing some of my very own bacon. I see no reason not to openly discuss the process in this forum, as it is a fairly simple one. The first step is to obtain the ingredients. Normally, pork belly is the preference, but I will be using a small batch of pork side, the kind of cut typically seen in store-bought bacon. It is less fatty, but this is a small experiment, and I see no problem using such a conventional cut.

To start this occasion, and to give myself a sort of reference point and palette cleanse, I cooked up some of the raw product and ate it. Unseasoned pork is quite distasteful, mostly in that it has the approximate flavour of fried strips of shoe leather. I was not expecting much, but this might have made me physically ill to my stomach.

The next step in the process is the wet-curing technique, which will imbue the bacon with its characteristic saltiness, as well as remove pesky water that makes good meat spoil. There are a number of formulations for the wet-cure, known as a brine, and I am in the process of making a decision as to what seasons and humours will bring the best out of this project. I have to say I'm quite excited about all this, and since this is my project which you are reading, you are invited to share in my excitement.