So, among manufacturing many other meat products such as sausage and corned beef, Oak has decided to take on making bacon, thanks to the copy of Charcuterie that we got from the library. We first learned about this book when we met Michael Ruhlman. Little did we know he was not only a profiler of the food industry, but a master of meat curing as well.

The making of bacon began with a search for uncured pork. Harder to find than one would think. We finally found it at Grand Asia, the local Asian supermarket. (Need an obscure meat product? Look no further). Well, the pork belly got frozen because apparently we needed some other curing products that I don’t remember the names of or completely understand. Anyway, the mystery products were obtained, and the 10-day bacon making process has begun.

To fully document the cure, Oak has invented the BaconCam(TM). Raw meat pictures aren’t the most appetizing in my opinion, but as the blogger of the household I suppose that it is my responsibility to share the BaconCam captures with the community.

Day 1:
The bacon bible and the newly salted pork belly. Oak and I enjoyed the thought of the addition of hot pepper flakes; when Daniela and Alex saw it they did not approve. Oh well. I have a feeling we can eat this much bacon by ourselves anyway.

Day 2:
Oh, the bacon has become more appetizing looking, if that’s possible. As you can see, it has already started to ooze its excess moisture. Dee-licious. But, I can picture my beautiful bacon arriving on my breakfast table any day now…

And, finally, we decided to name our aloe plant Ruhlman because we were trying to come up with a name for it shortly after visiting the bacon. Wahoo!  Ruhlman, if you happen upon this site for whatever reason, know that there are worse plants that could have your name.  At least aloe plants are ahem, perky and quite hardy.  haha.

Stay tuned for more BaconCam output!

Posted by Carrie on Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Categories: cooking, food, preservation · 1 Comment »