Once you have made your own bacon you will never go back to shop bought!

INGREDIENTS

• 2kg pork belly – boned and skinned
• ½ cup pure fine sea salt
• 1tbsp cracked black pepper
• 1tbsp brown sugar (optional) – I used this at first but there is really no need

You can ask your butcher to bone and skin the pork belly for you – or buy a boning knife and do it yourself. This way you get to roast the ribs and also use the skin for crackling (pork rinds). Take care with the boning knife – and take your time. I find this a really mindful, enjoyable part of the whole process J

INSTRUCTIONS

• Place the salt & pepper in a small bowl and mix together.
• Place the pork belly into a large ziplock bag and then spread some of the salt mix onto one side, making sure to rub in and coat the sides as well as the top, then turn over and repeat on the other side.
• Zip the bag up and place in your fridge for 5 days – turn the bag over each day. Be careful as the liquid from the pork will start to accumulate in the bag.
• After 5 days, remove the bag from the fridge and take to the sink.
• Carefully remove the pork belly and rinse the salt mix off, rubbing with your hands (there will be some left on, but don’t worry about this!)
• Pat dry with paper towel (bunch the paper towel up in your hand otherwise you will get bits of paper stuck to the bacon!)
• Place in a flat dish large enough to take the whole bacon.
• Replace back into the fridge – uncovered – for a further day to completely dry out.
• Voila! Your bacon is ready to slice and cook!
• Use a very sharp knife to cut into thin slices.
• Enjoy!!

I often eat mine with steak and/or eggs — how do you eat yours?