I’ve been making my own bacon for years. I went sugar and sweetener free when I went carnivore 7 months ago. We have sugar free bacon in our H‑E‑B stores but you’re right, it is pricer. Homemade bacon is cheaper and so much better. Rock on.
Thanks for the video! If you'll roll down the top few inches of the bag before you put in the bacon, once you have it in you can roll it back up and there'll be no salt in the zipper. We did this on ours and the zipper was perfectly clean. Ours has been in the fridge for 2 days, so we have a while before we report back.
😍😍😍 That bacon 🥓 looks bomb! What a great recipe video to end the year. Looks easy enough. 👍🏻 The necessary in-the-fridge waiting process would be the hard part for me. lol (Hurry up, bacon!😄) Thank you so much for showing us how it’s done. Ash & Mel approved= delicious! 😋 Happy New Year! 😍🥓🥳
Great recipe. Just so people know, low-sodium bacon frequently has no sugar. I buy Kirkland low-sodium bacon from Costco, but I know for certain there are other brands at other stores with no sugar in their low-sodium bacon.
@johngosnell3847, why would you want low sodium bacon? Salt is important. Kirkland has so little flavor. Greenfield is superb. I love it; it’s my treat meat. But Sprouts’ brand Butcher Shop sugar-free is less expensive and still tastes pretty good. All are cured with celery, not chemicals. … I bought pork belly from CostCo once. It was already perfectly sliced. Quite salty. I just cooked it like bacon. Delish! …. Glad to have today’s recipe. Thanks.
@@maxotat It’s nothing to do with the sodium! Sometimes I even add real salt to it. It’s just that for some reason, the low sodium bacon has no sugar as opposed to the regular bacon.
Thats awesome!!! How do you know when your bacon is ready? "4~14 days in the bag + up to 4 days drying in the fridge" is that depending on how salty/cured you want it to be?
Good question! 4 days is usually the minimum. A week matures the flavor much more and it’s better. Up to 14 days it’s still good. After that it can start getting a bit funky and salty. 😊👍🏼
You put sugar in your bacon in the USA? Or should I say food processors put sugar in it,why? Never saw it in Britain just curing salt,the cheaper ones have salt water injected into it,great videos/recipes by the way 👍👍,used quite a few of them.
Hi Zanna! Unfortunately I don’t have any experience with a good one. The one I have is cheap and wearing out. I’d suggest reading one online reviews and make sure to spend the money to get a good one. The cheap ones never do a very good job and they’re more frustrating than they’re worth. I use a knife now because it does just as well as my cheap slicer and is far easier to clean.
@@ChrisCookingNashville Thanks - I have been doing just that and I can't bring myself to take a chance on a low-budge slicer. I keep hoping I'll catch a restaurant auction and get lucky and find the Hobart of my dreams lol. Hugs from Texas.
I'm a single person and I would need to store a lot of that so how do you store it ?🤔 do you slice it first and then freeze it or do you cut off so much of it and then freeze it or can you freeze it all and then cut it as needed.😊
You can do this with just regular salt, but it won’t have the same protection against things like botulism. According to my research and the work of others I trust the nitrates and nitrites are actually not a concern for me, especially since there are far higher levels of it in things like celery (which is powdered and used to make “nitrate free” bacon usually) and many others plants no one ever expresses concern over. Here’s some info you may find helpful. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8Ygs2j0v0sU.htmlsi=N-OKjJ4LZ_PGtzPA
@@ChrisCookingNashville thank you! I am not sure why but I get migraines every time I try adding store bought bacon into my carnivore diet. I always have attributed to the nitrates. Maybe it's something else. I will try this method and see!
Interesting. Yeah it may be something else in them. Worst case you could try a small batch and if it’s an issue just use regular salt and then freeze whatever you don’t eat within a day or two. 👍🏼
We started making our own bacon when we went keto 9 years ago. At that time pork belly was less than half the price of bacon. Unfortunately, people have caught on and now the price is the same and in some cases, I've seen it higher than bacon. I don't have to rinse at all if I weigh carefully and follow the recipe. TIP: While selecting your pork belly hold the slab up between your thumb and index finger on both hands and let it fold. The more it folds the leaner the slab will be. The fat is harder when cold and will cause the slab to stay straight. The more it gives and bends, the more lean meat content. If you try to select just by sight, you only see the very outside of the slab and have no idea what it's like on the inside.
I'm doing this100% but I will smoke mine also. I also make my own hamburger meat, I buy lean meats on sale and load up and I save the good fat off of my briskets after I smoke after trimming them and grind the lean meat with the brisket fat and my GOD its the best hamburger meat ever, super beefy flavor and blows doors on any store bought meat you can find. I also take pork roasts and make my own sausage which is also way cheaper and so good. You have to get the fattiest meat you can find as sausage that is too lean in not desirable. I bet some of this bacon mixed into the sausage would be epic.
I've made my own bacon over a number of years using a similar process. Two additional suggestions for other cuts to use. First beef bacon is great stuff, if you can find it beef belly is the best source, but it is rare to come by it. I've also used whole brisket as I like fat bacon and the point cut makes really good fat bacon. The brisket can be tough so I suggest separating the point and flat as if cut together the grain of the meat is crossed between the two cuts. The other cut I have made bacon out of is a pork butt or shoulder, this is commonly done in England, it tends to be meatier bacon which can also be a good change. I cut the slabs of meat off of the bone and cure that, I don't try to debone all of the shoulder as it can be difficult to get a goos slab off of the side with the curved bone.
No the nitrates are needed for curing. Even uncured bacon is full of nitrates because they generally use celery powder, which has hundreds of times more nitrates than the pink curing salt.
@@ChrisCookingNashville Chris has it right here, they are needed to kill dangerous bacteria in the meats. At one time there was an anti nitrite movement, but again Chris has it right here, that alternate sources had far more of the substance than the pink powder. Also it turned out there was no real evidence that they were dangerous, at least not as dangerous as not having them. If you consume celery at all you are getting far more nitrites than any cured bacon. Now traditional curing just uses salt and some just do that, but it does raise the risk of eating the food. But some people still water bath can meat and that has additional dangers too.
FANTASTIC!! Now to find a big ole pork belly. I buy the Greenfield bacon that's sugar free and very clean, but it's so expensive and TOO thin. Publix had it on BOGO this week but it was all sold out....got a raincheck though. 😊 I like that you cure and cut your own. It seems easy enough, but to find that belly. I'll ask the butcher since I don't have a membership to the bulk stores. I have Redmonds smoke salt and love it. Great recipe Chris!! Happy New Year to you and Miss Ash and Mel. May 2024 be filled with God's greatest blessings. ❤🎉
Looks good, Chris, and I can't wait to try it myself! I make homemade Canadian bacon from boneless pork loin, also using prague powder #1 in a wet equilibrium cure and finished off in the smoker with a mixture of hickory and apple wood. All of the trimmings from the pork loin become loose breakfast sausage.
Ok, I'm going to send this to my daughter. Because she love's pork belly and she loves bacon. I think this would be fun for her to make. In fact, she's coming in a month and a 1/2. Maybe we'll just make some while she's here. Until I started a carnivore I did not eat bacon because we have been taught it's so bad for you. Then Dr Berry dispelled that and I have been eating it ever since. I get deli bacon and it is delicious. But it is expensive even on sale. This is really not that difficult to make. So I will have to try it. Thanks!
This is super easy and even more delicious. I hope y’all enjoy it. I think you’ll have a good time making it. Honestly pretty simple if you know the math. 😊😊😊
Hi there! I love your videos! I DESPERATELY want to figure out how Carnivore Snax and Carnivore Crisps make their products, do you have a video on the process to get that type of result? I'm guessing they cook then dehydrate the meat, but not sure. I'm spending WAAAAYYYY too much money on the products, I really have to cut back😭, but giving them up is NOT an option! 😂 So I thought I'd buy a meat slicer, get out my dehydrator, and try to make something comparable. Any suggestions anyone?❤❤❤
That wasn't too salty? Even 2% is a bit much for me. I usually do 1.5-1.7% myself. Try adding other spices too, like Jalapeño powder. I made one with Chinese 5-spice that came out amazing.
It seems the tough skin is removed from the pork belly. Can you please explain how you got your pork belly without it. I asked my butcher to remove it and he looked at me like I was nuts.
I make my bacon very similar. I do 7 days in the fridge, 1 day to dry, then I put it on the smoker for 3 hours at 225 F with apple wood. I'll have to try it your way next time. Looks great!
Finding a whole pork belly us extremely difficult in my neck if the woods. Homemade cured meats are always better than store bought. Thanks for the recipe. Happy New Year.
Look for recipes called "buckboard" or "hillbilly" bacon. It uses the much cheaper pork shoulder. Not as consistent fat/meat as pork belly, but still very tasty.
Looks good Chris! Clean and simple! I add a little garlic peppercorn seasoning I got from whole foods To my rub...but otherwise that's about what I do! Love it! ( I do smoke mine... but I know not everyone has a smoker!) I love how you make everything so accessible to others!
I’ve lost 127 lbs currently. As for how much I still need to lose I’m not sure. It’s been so long since I’ve been an ideal body weight I’m not totally sure what my ideal weight is. I’d like to lose another 50 and see where my body wants to settle out from there. I’m happy to be 180 or 210 or whatever my body settles at. I don’t believe in trying to force it to be a specific number as long as I’m in a healthy general range and my other health markers are good. I think those are far more important than a scale number.
Wow, that looked really good! I saw both of your videos on this subject today and I think two things about it. One, I think the problem is more with added/additional nitrites. Too much of anything will be bad in the long run. Two, it's thought that nitrites/nitrates are used to extend the life of low-quality meat products. Regardless, I still tend to lean more towards preservative-free foods or ones where they occur naturally over the more processed stuff.
I think the less preservative you have generally probably the better. I think the part that blows my mind with nitrates and nitrites is that the same people who tell me it’s poison eat things like celery and spinach (or eat foods that use things like celery powder like “no nitrate bacon”) and are clueless that they’re ingesting hundreds of times more nitrates than I use in that tiny bit of curing salt. Just so oblivious to the actual science of what they’re trying to talk about.
I guess they did use a wooden barrel filled with salt back in the days when my grandmother was born 1923. A few months later they sliced it and called it bacon. I am actually happy that i found your channel so that i know can make my own bacon in a more modern fashion.
Yes that method works too. But you then have to soak it in water and keep testing it day after day and adding it to fresh water until you get the salt level right. Doing this method means the salt level is already correct so it’s a much more modern approach. 😊😊😊
Nice job! I love making my own charcuterie so I know exactly what is in there. Pastrami made out of a good fatty brisket is really good and can be sliced up and fried like bacon. Yum…
It is safest to use it within 1-2 weeks or if you want to keep it longer, slice it and freeze it in portions. Just to be extra safe. The meat itself won’t spoil but surface contamination may cause a bit of mold growth if not careful. Easiest to be on the safe side. 😊
Curing preserves the meat, which protects against botulism and other nasty bugs, and it’s also what gives bacon its distinct flavor, texture, and appearance.
Prague powder/curing salt is simply made of salt, sodium nitrate (curing salt), and a little food coloring to make sure you don’t mix it up with regular salt. MSG is not an ingredient.
We raise all our own meat and in addition to curing our own bacon we also do buckboard bacon, which we like even more than pork belly bacon! You just brine a pork shoulder, smoke then slice and fry like traditional bacon it's incredible and I think you'd love it too Chris!
Sending good news. John 3:16 King James Version 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Curious what the difference in the pink curing salt 1 and 2 are? Have you ever made corn beef? I’ve made it twice. One delicious using curing pink salt. The second time I learned it could be made with just salt. Terribly salty. Guessing measurements wrong. But plan on doing it again. Would love your input. Thank you for your time.
Hello! So Prague powder 1 is for meats you’ll cook after curing (like bacon) whereas Prague powder 2 is for meats you’ll cure and eat without further cooking (like a salami). I did a corned beef a few years ago and it was okay but not great. I’ll have to see if I can develop a better recipe now. 😊👍🏼
Great video, thank you. I notice in your instructions that the skin of the belly pork is removed. We buy bacon with the rind (skin) on because we prefer it that way. Do you think this technique will still work if I leave it on?
I’ve never been able to buy pork belly with skin on so I haven’t tried. I imagine with a wet brine method that probably works better than it would with this equilibrium cure method since the skin tends to repel thing, but I could be wrong about that.
OMG, I just cooked up my first batch after curing, and I was blown away by how easy this was and how great the flavor is. Never again will we by bacon from a store. Awesome job. Can't wait to try more recipes.
I would love to fine hotdogs with out sugar. Also started making beef jerky With just salt it is wonderful. I don’t know why I cooked meats with any other seasonings besides salt.
I just get mine at the local food lion. If you search grocery stores you can sometimes find a source for it. Whole Foods is another good place to find it.
Funny- I’m a 62 yr old woman who got into cooking in a camping Dutch oven outside- can either be done over an open fire pit hanging on a tripod or I do it by using charcoals underneath to cook and then as a lip on the top of the lid and you put charcoals in top. And I came across the knives that you’re using, the Dell, strong, gladiator knife, while watching this guy on RU-vid, doing all this. I love the things that I made using some of his recipes, one of the particular ones that we all loved, was the chicken and biscuits, here, in Oregon they didn’t sell that flower that he used so I ordered it online but when I was in North Carolina I found it. It’s got butter in it and it’s really good. I just need to find a recipe that I could use if not carnivore then at least keto where I can make biscuits that has butter in it so I can continue making that recipe while we’re out camping. It’s kind of a fun thing to do.
Sounds like a fun recipe. Maybe bamboo flour would be a good starting point for you to make your own flour mix? Not sure. I’ve never used it, but I know it’s all the rage amongst the keto recipe creators for flour.
Fantastic. I’ve been wanting to make my own ever since I saw Alton Brown do it, but couldn’t pull the trigger on all the stuff to smoke it. I’ll definitely do this if I can get my hands on a pork belly! Thanks Chris.
A point I didn't mention, if doing the pork shoulder bacon, it will be thicker than the pork belly, and the meat will be less expensive, and time in the cure should be closer to the ten to fourteen day time frame.
We’ll have to try your recipe. It sounds really good. Does the smoked salt give it a really smoky flavor? We generally smoke ours, but I’ve done it in the oven as well. Do you cook yours in the oven to a certain internal tempe or just slice and fry it until it’s gone? I’d understand if you didn’t because bacon doesn’t last long at my house!
Thanks! The smoked salt is very subtle actually so it’s not that smoky. I don’t cook mine but rather just slice it and cook it as I need it. If it’s going to be more than a week or two I’d suggest slicing and freezing in portions just to be extra safe. The meat itself won’t spoil, but cross contamination on the surface can still mold if not cared for.
A few companies make it, but almost everyone uses at least some sugar in the curing process. Most is gone by the time it is packaged but there are still remnants of it in the bacon.
I get mine from food lion or Whole Foods locally. Have to search stores and butcher shops or even farms around you to find a source. Worst case scenario some places online sell and ship pork belly.
There is no research to show there’s any danger with this kind of curing salt. Our body naturally releases nitrates in our saliva in high quantity which in turn become nitrites and end up in our stomach turning into nitric oxide which is actually used by our body to stay healthy. There’s no evidence that we have any need to fear the nitrates and nitrites of cured meats. I would suggest beginning by watching this video with Dr. Berry and then researching nitrates and nitrites in a carnivore diet with the attached research in the description from there. 👍🏼 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8Ygs2j0v0sU.htmlsi=qMJP9hdD01F8sxrd
Oh I didn’t realize it for a long time either until I got to noticing the ingredient list on packs of bacon when I first began keto. Did some research and realized how it was actually made.
You're so welcome! I’m so glad you’re here joining us on the low carb journey and lifestyle! Don’t hesitate to reach out with questions on for support anytime. You’re going to do great! 👍🏼😊
I hope you enjoy it. Haha it definitely is different for sure. It’s more like bacon with a 10% element of ham. Tastes like actual meat and not just salt and browned crispy flavor.
