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.
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.
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.
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. ❤🎉
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!
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.
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. 😊😊😊
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!
😍😍😍 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! 😍🥓🥳
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.
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!
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. 😊😊😊
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.
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.
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…
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'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.
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.
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 TH-cam, 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.
I like margarine for frying bacon. I have seen air fryers now, that are made to be size of ovens. The fryers can be placed outside, if people don't got room in their residence. Chris, good video. You seem to be a friendly guy. I am leaning towards carnivore, more and more.
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.
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.
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.
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. 😊👍🏼
Way to goo Chris! While I use about the same process I do not use the Pink curing salt as it's a full of horrid chemicals, and I've several who have issues physically with it...I use a celery base... yeppers its been used for years and cured just fine... and in truthfully rarely last for less than a week 😂😂😂. Yes I'm older than y'all however I'm thrilled that a younger generation is learning and caring there own meats. We also make our own deli meats without heavly processed chemicals etcs... Soooo much better for you! Blessings to you both! We are having a good old fashioned Eggs, homemade bacon [yes from our pig ER raised and butchered] biscuits [keto with Einkorn flour] and Grams homemade jams- no sugar... Thanks for sharing ❤
@@ChrisCookingNashville true, however the celery doesn't caus the reaction to my family member... not sure why, however... I wasn't dissing you Chris, as I've used it in the past, had to change due to the Allergies reaction... We've been curing our meats for over 40+ years now. Blessings
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 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?❤❤❤
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.😊
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. 😊
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.
Great tips 😊👍🏼
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.
That’s true. They’re usually pretty expensive unfortunately.
That’s what I buy - usually Great Value brand. Zero sugar.
👍🏼
@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.
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.
Rock on indeed. Homemade is the way to go. 😁
I make “buckboard” bacon, it’s basically the same process but uses the cheaper pork shoulder cut to about 1 1/2 inches thick. Very, very GOOD!
Sounds great!
I am curing my second batch of buckboard bacon now. Few more days and it will go on the smoker. :)
Awesome! 😊
@@anitabellefeuille7362 I assume you cure it before slicing?
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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.
Yep. If my pork belly had been smaller I would have definitely done that. Hope you guys enjoy. 😊
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.
Great tips! Thank you for sharing. 😊
Can Redmond's regular salt be used for curing? I try not to use nitrates
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.
Correct 👆🏼
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. ❤🎉
Thank you so much! Yes make friends with a butcher or check the local stores. I’m sure you’ll find one somewhere. 😊
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!
Thank you! 😊😊😊
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.
Sounds wonderful
That sounds so great! Thank you so much. 😊
You guys are such a cute keto carnivore couple and put out such great content
Awww…Thank you 😊
Thank you so much 😊😊😊
Oh yay I had no clue you did this video. Searching so I can make my own bacon and low and behold you pop up yay
Haha glad you found it. 😊😊😊
You guys need to make a cookbook with all your recipes. Offer it in your shop🤗💖
If I can afford to quit my day job (hopefully this year) that will be my first project to write.
@@ChrisCookingNashville Thank you for responding. ❤️ your recipes and videos
Thank you so much. Anytime. 😊
I can’t wait to do this! Do you ever do PSMF recipes? I’d love to see your twist on those!
Hope you enjoy! I’ve never done PSMF so I haven’t really tried, but I’ll see what comes to mind. 😊👍🏼
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. 😊😊😊
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!
That sounds great! I’ll have to give that a shot sometime. 😊😊😊
Just WOW! Another fine carnivore project from my favorite culinary scientist. :)
Happy New Year!
Haha thank you so much. Happy new year. 😊😊😊
😍😍😍 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! 😍🥓🥳
Haha thank you so much. Yes the waiting is the hardest part of this recipe. 😁
Like Ash, you had me at BACON!! So incredibly beautiful. Thank you as always Chris!!
Haha I’m right there with you. You’re welcome. 😊😊😊
One thing I disagree with is putting your lovely bacon on a paper towel! That bacon fat is liquid gold!😀 nice work 👏
😂 thank you
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.
Glad you enjoyed it! That’s awesome! 😊
Thank you very much Chris for another great recipe, salt has always been the cure, Redmond’s Hickory Smoked Salt sounds perfect. ❤
Thank you so much! 😊❤️
Right? I've made bacon with celery powder but sure do miss the hickory. This sounds like the cure fo sho
I enjoy it a lot 😊
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!
Thank you so much! Your recipe sounds great. 😁
What do you set the temp on the smoker, and to what internal temp? Thanks!
.
Who woulda thought bacon was this easy!! Thanks for sharing this!
You are so welcome! 😊
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. 😊😊😊
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.
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.
👍🏼😁
Thanks Chris! I’m looking for beef belly, too! I’d really be interested in learning about easy dry and wet meat curing in the fridge, Thanks so much❣️
Anytime! I’ll have to see if I can do some more recipes for meats like this. 🥓
Watching a bacon wrestling match take place while I'm cooking bacon is priceless 😁. Great video ❤
Haha nice. Thank you. 😊
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.
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…
That sounds great! 😊
I just found this video and I have two pork bellies in the freezer. THANK YOU!
You’re welcome! 😊😊😊
Wow! Thanks for the lowdown. New carnivore here and I appreciate the tips!
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! 👍🏼😊
Ash is so funny…I love her taste testing commentary 😂
Haha she’s a hoot. She makes it a lot more fun. 😊❤️
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.
That sounds awesome! 😁
Great tips, thx for sharing!
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Y’all this bacon was fire 🔥 🥓🫶🏻🙌🏻😍
😊❤️😊
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.
You’re so welcome! 😊
Looks amazing. I image it so much cheaper than store bought too. And so much better for you!
Absolutely! If you can get a pork belly on sale you can get 5-7 lbs of bacon for the cost of 1-2 in the store. 😊
It's all about the quality for me - but yeah the lower cost makes it perfect!
It’s a win win for sure. 😊
I have taken straight up pork belly, sliced it for bacon-so good without even any spices at all on it!
Yummy 😊
Looking good Chris! Thanks for the recipe. Blessings to y’all in the New Year 🎉
Thank you! Blessings to you all as well. 😊
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 TH-cam, 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.
Well it looks like I will need to get some of the ingredients and make some bacon.
I think you’ll love it. 😊
So easy. We’ve been doing our own bacon for almost a year. So much better.
I agree 😊
That looks delicious, but, I haven't the patience to do this, I admire yours though! Good for you!!
Thanks for watching
Thank you for sharing Chris.
My pleasure! 😊
I will try this
Hope you enjoy 😊
I like margarine for frying bacon. I have seen air fryers now, that are made to be size of ovens. The fryers can be placed outside, if people don't got room in their residence. Chris, good video. You seem to be a friendly guy. I am leaning towards carnivore, more and more.
Thank you so much. So glad you’re here. 😊
Hope you switch to animal fat from the margarine eventually❤.
.
Thanks Chris. I will be starting this process tomorrow
Wonderful! Hope you enjoy it. 😊
That looks really great and crunchy and tasty! To bad I have to wait till next year to taste it myself! Lol. Lilian
Haha indeed. It’s very good. 😊😊😊
Lol! You know the dog's in on it! My cats come around when I'm fixing food in the kitchen. They know there's meat!
Haha oh yeah. She’s ALWAYS waiting for floor snacks. LOL
That was easy to follow thank you.
You're welcome! 😊
Sweet baby Jesus lol ash is hilarious 😅
Haha she’s a hoot isn’t she. 😊
Bacon - my favorite vice! Thank you for this! Happy New Year to you & your family!
Happy new year! 😁
Mmmm, another good one, thanks Chris
Glad you enjoyed it 😊😊😊
Chris, we really enjoy watching your videos. Awesome. Have a great weekend and a Happy New Year.
Thank you so much. Happy new year to you guys! 😊😊😊
Amazing! Happy New Year to you from the UK 🎉
Happy new year! 😊😊😊
Yes! Thank you
You are so welcome! 😊
Thanks for the recipe!
My pleasure 😊
I just noticed Aldi has pork belly $2.99 lb here this week so I thought I may wanna watch this again
Great idea! That’s a great price!
Can you please show a recipe making beef bacon? I have been trying to find a good one.
I’ve actually never made it, but I’d like to try. I’ll do some research and see what I can come up with. 😊
YES! Thank you!
Anytime 😊😊😊
Thank you Chris! And the taste tester! 😂
You’re so welcome 😊
Thank you Chris! Another great and practical tutorial! We will definitely make this. Happy New Year!
Thank you so much! Hope you enjoy. Happy new year. 😊😊😊
Where did you get pork belly? That would be the hardest part for me! Looks delicious!! I’d love to make it!!! ❤❤❤
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.
Happy Happy New Year to you and Ash! Thank you for the recipe.
Happy new year. Same to you. 😊
Great job Chris. Waiting is hard. 😂
You got that right! 😁
Looks Good Chris ❤
Thank you 😋
I may need to move to TN so I can volunteer as a taste tester LOL.
Haha it’s a fun job according to my wife 😁
I can’t wait to try this, and wonder if the flavor would be so different from processed bacon that I think it tastes weird.
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.
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.
Finding meat without sugar seems so much harder than it should be. Haha
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. 😊👍🏼
@@ChrisCookingNashville Oh I see, very well explained. Thxs so much again! Keep up with the good work and look forward to seeing your new recipes!!!
You’re welcome! I’ll try my best. 😊😊😊
Way to goo Chris! While I use about the same process I do not use the Pink curing salt as it's a full of horrid chemicals, and I've several who have issues physically with it...I use a celery base... yeppers its been used for years and cured just fine... and in truthfully rarely last for less than a week 😂😂😂.
Yes I'm older than y'all however I'm thrilled that a younger generation is learning and caring there own meats.
We also make our own deli meats without heavly processed chemicals etcs...
Soooo much better for you!
Blessings to you both! We are having a good old fashioned Eggs, homemade bacon [yes from our pig ER raised and butchered] biscuits [keto with Einkorn flour] and Grams homemade jams- no sugar...
Thanks for sharing ❤
Thank you for watching 😊
The exact same chemicals are in the celery base as the pink salt... exactly.
This is true 👆🏼
@@ChrisCookingNashville true, however the celery doesn't caus the reaction to my family member... not sure why, however... I wasn't dissing you Chris, as I've used it in the past, had to change due to the Allergies reaction...
We've been curing our meats for over 40+ years now.
Blessings
Interesting. Don’t know why it would make a difference for your family member. Very odd.
Never said you were dissing me. All is well. 👍🏼
Hmmm I’ve never seen pork belly local. I may need to make a trip to Costco. I see people find it there
That’s a good option. Sometimes finding it can be tough but it’s worth the search. 😁
You posted this 1 day late for me! Hubby started his Friday - with sugar. It'll be ok, not very much.
Haha next time. 😁
Christopher1) thanks,one of my favorite foods. 2) you look so good in white, ditch the camo. (Trust me I’m 70). Elizabeth
Hope you enjoy 👍🏼
Same percentages for beef belly? Beef bacon is divine!!!
Yes it should work the same for beef. If I could find beef belly I’d love to try it. 😊
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.
Thanks so much! Yes most major brands put sugar in the bacon.
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?❤❤❤
Good question. I’m not sure what their process is like but I’m sure some experimentation is in my future. 😊
😮, amazing. I’m going to have to order some pork belly soon.
It’s so good and honestly simple to do 😁
Redmonds has three different types of smoked salt. Which one did you use?
I use the hickory personally, but I have heard they’re all fantastic. 😊
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.
Good tips 👍🏼
Only 1 grocery store in my tiny town. They don’t sell pork belly :(
Bummer. I know places sell online and ship. Wild Fork is one place I hear good things about.
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.
Looks good
Thank you 😊
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.
Your 🇺🇸 bacon is different to ours 🇦🇺
We have way more meat, still fat, but way more meat ❤
👍🏼
Ive just cured 8 pork bellies which are currently in the cold smoker outside 😋
Oh yeah! 🐷🥓🐷🥓🐷
Can you recommend a slicer? Thx Chris!
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.
Totally understand. Definitely worth waiting for a good one. Hugs back from Nashville. 😊
Hey Chris, is there any advantages to vacuum sealing, or is that actually counter productive?
For the curing processes it probably wouldn’t matter really. For the storage after it’s done, that would be great to vacuum seal and freeze. 😊
@@ChrisCookingNashville Thank you!!
Anytime 😊
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.
That’s just the way it comes here. Your butcher should be able to do so and then you can fry the skin separately for crunchy pork skin. 😊
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.
I personally think it’s perfect. I like my bacon salty.
I feel idiotic I had no idea that bacon is cured with sugar. Thanks for the learning.
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.
THERE WAS A POSTER IN THE 60s MAKINN BACON. WAS A LITTLE DIFFERENT THOUGH.
Nice 😊
I would love to smoke this on my Traeger. It would be even better!
Absolutely 😁
Question: isn't pink curing salt sodium nitrite or nitrate? thanks
Yes it’s a blend of the two with regular salt.
@@ChrisCookingNashville okay thank you so much for replying quickly
Anytime 😊
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.😊
Slice and freeze in portions is the easiest. 👍🏼😊
@@ChrisCookingNashville thank you Chris Love your channel
Anytime 😊😊😊
"SWEET BABY JESUS" LOVE IT
😂😂😂 thank you
When do you get your own Food Network show?
Haha that would be quite something. 😊
Pork Belly is amazing on Carnivore!
Agree 😊😊😊
can you freeze this after cutting and before cooking?
Yes you can! 👍🏼
Just one question, how do you store it? Do you just leave it and slice off pieces when you need it or wrap it?
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. 😊
Thanks Chris, great info!!@@ChrisCookingNashville
Anytime 😊😊😊
What happened to your electric griddle?
Sitting on my counter currently. Too cold to use it outside right now. 😊