True Love — Bok's Cocks

It seems only appropriate to write about love today. And I mean BACON! There really aren’t many better ways to say “I love you” than with bacon. And we have been busy with bacon around here this winter.

One Saturday afternoon around Thanksgiving, I happened to be lazily watching PBS which happened to be featuring some cooking show about smoked meats. What I saw next changed my life. The meat man was showing how easy it was to cure and smoke bacon. It appeared easier than I ever would have imagined and I remembered that I have a smoker out back. This led to some online research for a recipe and a trip to the butcher to order a pork belly. Once I had assembled the ingredients I set about making my favorite food.

It is actually even easier than it appeared on TV. Once I had combined my cure and rubbed it onto the pork belly, it went in the fridge getting turned once a day for a week.

A quick rinse and it was on to the smoker for 3 and ½ hours.

You can see the results.

Makes my mouth water just looking at it.

I smoked it to an internal temperature of over 150 so it was good to eat even without frying it up. Warm from the smoker, it practically melted in the mouth.

I knew I had done well when the Web Mistress asked when we were getting more pork bellies. While we have continued to make smoked bacon, we are also trying our hands at dry curing and other recipes. My only worry is that my arteries won’t be able to handle this much love.

Andy