Curing your own bacon - anyone done it?

[MustangGal]

I ask because we are trading male rabbits with a friend of ours. He saw our pigs and volunteered to butcher them for us. He is a butcher by trade, and my husband used to work with him as his assistant. While this is awesome news, we would have to cure our own bacon. But, with the money we are saving by not having to take them to a slaughter house - plus the learning how to butcher ourselves - I thought we could buy a nice propane smoker.

Thoughts? Instructions? Recipes? ;)

[Klayton]

Here is the official USDA manual for pork. If you look at it, it will explain where you make every cut.
It is the standard to which I trained my new recruits with. I taught them how to break a pig (and beef as well) from full carcass down to the smallest retail cut. Some cuts are tough to get "dead-on" without practice, like the buthcer's quarter (when you take off the tip of the bone when cutting the ham (butcher's would turn in their "butcher's quarter" to show how many carcasses they processed in one day) I could do it about 50% of the time but my co-worker who was has about 10 years more experience than I would hit it 100% of the time. Any ways, as far as curing, SHTF you would probably be doing a "smoke" technique as modern curing uses injections and ALOT of chemical additives. Here is the IMPS link for pork (IMPS 400).

http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getf...STELDEV3003285

I am not the best butcher out there, but I can cut a full side of beef to ready retail cuts pretty darn fast. (For at home slaughter, the key is to skin and gut, and refrigerate for atleast 24 hours before cutting it down to retail cuts, cool meat cuts much cleaner than fresh hot meat)

[wipeout]

I usually smoke two pork bellies each memorial day. I just have one of those cheap "bullet" smokers and it works quite well. First find a rub and cure you like (i swap between two, one with brown sugar and maple syrup, and another with more salt and coarse black pepper) rub it on the belly and let it sit in the fridge a few days. You'll have to rotate the meat in the tray and add more cure as it sits, but once it has sat in the cure and you're ready to smoke, place them on the smoker fat side up, and let them go until they've reached the proper temp (I can't recall of the top of me head). Package into portion sizes, vacuum seal, and freeze. Then proceed to enjoy bacon no store bought stuff will ever hold a candle to.

[MustangGal]

Thanks! I am really looking forward to having our own fresh pork and cured meats. DS LOVES bacon. He would turn down any type of candy (he doesn't like sweets very much anyway) for BACON!

[rvans]

I thought bacon was candy....silly me!

[PerryJeff]

Here is something from Southern Belles website that I thought was a great Idea https://sites.google.com/site/southe...n/canned-bacon I plan on trying it in the future. Love the idea of ready to eat bacon stored on the pantry... I plan on actually smoking the bacon first for a bit then slice and can it as described.

[MustangGal]

I thought bacon was candy....silly me!

I guess bacon is MAN CANDY, but us gals need chocolate. :D

[PerryJeff]

I guess bacon is MAN CANDY, but us gals need chocolate. :D

Yes Bacon beef jerky is man candy... ;o Would rather have more ham, turkey, roast than desert anytime... Now a piece of pie for afternoon snack is great but desert during a meal no thanks... ;o