Special Edition White Pepper Crusted Bacon

Being food lovers, we often get food related gifts from the travels of our friends and relatives- a great way to bring true international flavor into our own home. One such recent gift was some whole white peppercorns from Ben and Ashley’s honeymoon to Turkey. It took me awhile to come up with something that would feature the flavor of the pepper, without burying it in some complexly flavored dish. What I came up with was White Pepper Bacon. Most people don’t realize how easy, or how rewarding it is to cook bacon at home. It’s one of those things that has been cooked for time immemorial, and you really get the sense that you’re immersing yourself in food history every time. Plus, it tastes way better than store bacon, especially when it’s got your fingerprints on it.

For the record, historically, bacon is cooked at low temperature, then cooled before it’s sliced. So it’s already cooked before you throw it in they frying pan, more like the bacon you get at the Whole Foods Deli Counter, not like the raw bacon you typically get in the package. It’s a difference of texture. Real bacon is firmer, more flavorful, keeps longer, and is what you’ll end up with if you use this recipe.

The pork:
A 3 lb slab of pork belly, skin on

The Brine:
3 Tbs Kosher salt (good rule of thumb, one Tbs per pound of meat), or if you don’t have a smoker, substitute smoked salt and cook in the oven
1 Tbs Rosemary
1 Tbs Sage
1 Tbs black peppercorns
1 Tbs garlic powder

The Rub:
3 Tbs ground white peppercorns

The Directions:
1. Mix all of the dry spice ingredients and salt for the brine in a bowl.
2. Put the belly slab in a ziploc bag, and cover it evenly with the dry spices and salt, put in the refrigerator for a week, switching sides every day or two
3. After it’s been brining for a week (doesn’t have to be exact, but within a couple of days either way), the belly should feel firm to the touch. Remove from the bag, and wash all spices off thoroughly, then pat dry with paper towels.
4. Grind the white peppercorns with a grinder, and rub all sides except the skin side of the meat generously with the ground pepper
5. Cook by
a. cook it in your oven at 200 degrees for about 2.5 hours, until internal temperature reaches 150.
b. put it in a smoker for about 6-8 hours until internal temperature reaches 150
c. putting it in a smoker for as long as you can, then finish it in the oven (this is what I did. Still get some smoke flavor, but didn’t have the 6-8 hours to hang out)
6. Remove the skin with a sharp knife, leaving some of the fat. Let cool, then slice to your desired thickness, fry, and enjoy.

I usually slice, then wrap by the pound in butcher paper, put each in a ziploc bag, and put one in the fridge and the other two in the freezer. It will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks, and in the freezer as long as you need. A slicer is very handy here, but you can do it with a sharp chef’s knife too.