For many, bacon is that salty, crispy staple at the Saturday morning breakfast table, eaten last and piled neatly next to a buttered piece of toast and a couple of over easy eggs. For some, bacon goes well beyond that to the realm of obsession. Bacon lip balm, bacon mayonnaise, bacon beer and bacon toothpaste – it’s fanatical. I love bacon – call me a purist, but I like my bacon in it’s natural meaty, fatty, greasy form. So one day at the urging of a good friend and local chef, I decided to try and make it for myself.

Bought it. Brined it. Smoked it. Cooked it. And then I got to taste it.

I cut off a couple of thin slices and threw them in a pan. Oh, that sizzle as it hit the pan. The all too familiar scent of smoky, salty, pig belly. Like a 12 year old boy nervously sifting through the pages of a Victoria Secret catalogue, my senses were at “full attention”. My sense of smell and swollen tongue were heightened only by my own gluttony. Finally, I couldn’t wait any longer. I popped a piece in my mouth and when the burning grease sensation resided, I felt something.

To sum it up with words wouldn’t do the experience justice. Instead, I will try to do so using the only real way that makes sense – Rock and roll, baby.

That first bite punched me in the mouth with the savoury, salty authenticity of Dire Staits’ opening riff to “Money For Nothin”, loud, brash and reverberating but all too familiar and never loud enough. It was replaced soon by a smooth, dark, sugary, sweetness, that made my head bob and my body hum like the bass line from “Billie Jean” – completely impossible to ignore. The experience finished with a hint of black pepper, throaty yet sincere and unapologetic like a young 1970s Bruce Springsteen ballad.

Bacon felt like music for the tongue in a way that could not be replicated by any other food.

Tom Waits once said, “If you record the sound of bacon in a frying pan and play it back, it sounds like the pops and cracks on an old 33 1/3 recording”.

You said it Tom. I call BS on “coincidence”. There are so many styles, notes, layers and compositions involved, it is nearly impossible not to draw the bacon/ music correlation.

Like rock n roll, there is nothing typical about bacon. It can be prepared many different ways, cooked many different ways, come from different cuts of pork or other animals but one things is consistent: it is bacon.

My favourite type of “bacon” is called guanciale and it is without a doubt The King of bacons, hubba, hubba. I first discovered this delicacy while on a trip through the Umbrian region of Italy. Like its counterpart pancetta, guanciale is not smoked but cured only. Where pancetta comes from the belly of the pig, guanciale is from the pig’s cheek. Saltier than sweet, what makes guanciale unique is the fat content and tenderness of the meat itself. Guanciale is typically fattier than pancetta or regular bacon but sliced thinly rather than served in chunks. The fat from the cheek is firmer than the belly and melts down to create an excellent flavor profile for pastas, peanut butter-banana and bacon sandwiches and other fine dishes.

While pancetta can be found at just about any grocery outlet around, guanciale is a little more difficult to find. Fortunately, I’ve done the work for you – check out Masellis Supermarket on the Danforth, one of the only places in Toronto to find it off-menu.

One of the best ways to cook bacon is not in the frying pan as your parents may have you believe. Leave “conventional” for the squares and baby boomers. Baking bacon in the oven is a fantastic way to enjoy both a crispy outside and juicy, chewy interior while maintaining a clean stove top. Bake at 350 for about 15 mins, rotating the pan (front to back) at about half way.

Of course there is also turkey bacon – bacon that is made from ground turkey meat and looks like a sliced up hot dog. Turkey bacon is the James Taylor of bacon. When I am in the dusk of my life and my cholesterol is climbing like the Stairway to Heaven, I might give it a try. Until then, lets rock n roll. Enough on turkey bacon.

Brash, loud and often over the top, bacon is the rock star of foods. It makes your ears perk, your nose rise and brings tastebuds to their knees. There is a certain romance to both bacon and rock n roll – immune from criticism, preparation bound with love and care and in the unique, assertive flavour that brings people to their feet. Like rock n roll, bacon makes everything better.

Homemade Wet-Cured Bacon

Ingredients

4-5lbs pork belly (skin removed)

1 cup kosher salt

half cup brown sugar

half cup white sugar

3 tbsp ground black pepper

3 tbsp paprika

3 tbsp granulated garlic

2.5 liters of water

Preparation

Trim the skin from the pork belly and discard

Brining

Mix paprika, garlic, pepper together and apply the rub to all sides of the pork belly.

In a 4-5 liter air tight, sealable container, insert in the water, salt, brown sugar and white sugar.

Stir the mixture well

Place the pork belly into the brine, make sure the belly is completely submerged in the brine and that none of the meat is exposed to air.

Place the lid tightly on the container and put in the fridge for 7-10 days.

Flip the meat every day or every other day in the brine, making sure the pork belly is totally submerged.

After 7-10 days, remove the pork belly from the brine

Rinse with water and pat dry.

Smoking

Soak apple wood or hickory wood chips for 15-30 mins in water

Get the smoker fired up to 200 degrees F

Pat dry the wood chips thoroughly before applying to the coals

Place the brined pork belly into the smoker and leave for 4 hours.

Cooking

Cut the finished product into thin slices using a sharp knife

Lay slices in a pan and cook until desired crispiness

Place on a paper towel to cool

EAT!!!