Bali Bacon
I’ve got a t-shirt that announces “Bacon is meat candy,” and, in addition to my maple-syrup cured bacon, Bali Bacon is another one that proves the truth of this dictum. In addition to being cured with generous amounts of Big Tree’s palm sugar with ground ginger, it gets coated with more of it when it comes hot out of the smoker. But it’s not sickly or cloyingly sweet. Ginger is a natural partner for pork, and it gives it a subtle spiciness, while Big Tree’s long pepper also brightens and punches up the flavor. The result is a mildly sweet and spicy bacon, coming to you from the South Pacific.
Here’s my recipe:
one, 5-pound chunk of pork belly
40 g salt
5 g cure #1
70 g Big Tree palm sugar with ground ginger
10 g Big Tree long pepper
For me, this this bacon makes Sunday morning. It’s great with pancakes, but the perfect accompaniment is Sharon Kramis’ buttermilk scone recipe from the Fannie Farmer Baking Book (page 582). Just substitute candied ginger for the currants.
Tags: bacon
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:52 am
That looks succulent!
I love the addition of long pepper, too. It’s such a unique accent.
I bought a bacon tshirt myself recently – it’s got a picture of a slice, and it says Nature’s Greatest Miracle
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:00 pm
Ha! If you’ve got me on tenterhooks, waiting for what you cook up next with nduja, here’s a hook back atcha!
At the Pecha Kucha on Saturday night, I met a local illustrator who does beautiful work, in the style of whimsical, classical children’s illustrations. We’ve already started work on a design that would “illustrate” what This Little Piggy is all about. I don’t want to give too much away, so I’ll just say that in addition to the usual posters, t-shirts, and tote bags, we have a pirate flag in the works!