American · Breakfast · Side

Black Pepper, Garlic & Juniper Smoked Bacon

This homemade smoked bacon is built for thick-cut slices, diced bacon lardons, and especially pasta carbonara. Pork belly is cured with kosher salt, pink curing salt, black pepper, garlic powder, bay leaf, and crushed juniper berries, then lightly smoked until savory, aromatic, and pork-forward without becoming overly sweet or barbecue-like. The result is a clean, peppery, lightly smoky slab bacon that renders beautifully and gives pasta, eggs, cheese, and black pepper plenty of room to shine.

Prep: 1 week 1 day
Cook: 3 hr
Total: 1 week 1 day
Serves: 20
Makes: 5 lb
Difficulty: intermediate

Russell Toris@russelltoris

Ingredients

20Servings

5 lb Pork Belly, skin removed
57 g Kosher Salt, about 2.5% of pork weight
5.7 g Prague Powder #1, about 0.25% of pork weight
1 tbsp Ground Black Pepper
1 tsp Garlic Powder
2 whole Bay Leaf, crushed
1 tsp Juniper Berry, lightly crushed

Makes 5 lb

Nutritionper serving

Calories: 535
Protein: 11 g
Fat: 54 g
Sodium: 1100 mg

Black Pepper, Garlic & Juniper Smoked Bacon

Ingredients

Nutritionper serving

Black Pepper, Garlic & Juniper Smoked Bacon

Ingredients

Nutritionper serving

Method