Community Corner

Cooking with Bacon is Trendy & How to Make Your Own

Restaurants are now serving everything from bacon ice cream to bacon-infused drinks. Here are some recipes from the Food Network's The Hearty Boys who came to San Diego last month.

The original winners of the Food Network’s “Next Food Network Star,” The Hearty Boys, came to San Diego for the 8th Annual San Diego Bay Wine and Food Festival

Dan Smith and Steve McDonagh flew in from Chicago with 20 pounds of frozen bacon in a carry-on bag to teach a course called Makin Bacon. 

They started by explaining how to cure your own bacon. They suggest going to a butcher and buying 10- pounds of pork belly with the skin removed. Then mix the following ingredients together and apply liberally to both sides of the pork belly:

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1/2 cup of Morton’s kosher salt, 1/4 cup of light brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of pink salt (it’s an optional curing salt for coloring purposes), 1 tablespoon ancho chile powder, 2 teaspoons of ground coriander, 1 teaspoon each of onion powder, ground cumin and black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon each of garlic powder and ground Mexican oregano, and the zest of one lime.

Next elevate a 2-inch perforated hotel pan (or baking rack) in a 4-inch perforated hotel pan to allow liquid to drain off. Wrap tightly and allow to cure for seven days refrigerated. Bring to room temperature and pat dry. Cold smoke for four hours. Weigh down while still warm overnight in refrigerator to flatten belly if needed. Slice and roast or panfry as needed.

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“It is time consuming but not difficult,” explained Smith, who added, “it’s a great way to get a wow factor from family and friends.”

Additionally they served a bacon-infused Bourbon drink and topped off other bacon delicacies with dessert: bacon blueberry ice cream. They didn’t just crumble bacon into vanilla ice cream. They actually made the ice cream with an ice bath, cream and eggs. The end result was sweet but salty and very bacon-y.


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