Making Bacon in a Wok

Making bacon again after a while. Having bacon in the house lifts breakfast by a whole grade.

Step 1 — Making salt pork

Ingredients (salt pork):

• Piece of pork belly
• Salt (3% of the weight of the belly)
• Pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, chilli powder, to taste

1. Rub the salt firmly into the pork belly. Add black pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg and other spices over it. Herbs such as basil are good too if you like them. This time I was generous with the cinnamon.

2. Wrap it in kitchen paper, then tightly in cling film. A fair amount of liquid comes out over the first day or two, so two sheets of kitchen paper is wise. Then put it in a zip-lock bag and keep it in the fridge.

3. Change the kitchen paper and cling film once a day.

4. The salt pork is ready in three to five days. I cured this one for four.

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Step 2 — Smoking the salt pork

Last time I smoked it in a Dutch oven; this time I used a wok. The temperature inside rises less readily than in a Dutch oven, so it took longer.

Ingredients (smoking):

• The cured salt pork
• Smoking chips A handful
• Tea leaves1 tbsp
• Sugar1 tsp
• Aluminium foil
• Wok
• Bowl
• Steaming plate

1. Line the base of the wok with aluminium foil, crumpled once to give it creases. Spread the smoking chips over it. This time I added green tea leaves and sugar to the chips.

2. Put the cured pork on the steaming plate, set it over high heat and cover the wok with a bowl.

3. A Dutch oven seals well and heats readily, so it was done in about 30 minutes; this took about an hour.

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Here is the bacon I smoked previously using a Dutch oven.

How to Make Proper Bacon at Home