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Photo by Holly A. Heyser
When I first saw this in Fuchsia Dunlop’s Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking, I knew I had to make it. I am fascinated by charcuterie that is outside the Western tradition. Most of us who do charcuterie stick to Italian or French or German traditions, and, less often, Spanish, Eastern European or, maybe, Middle Eastern cured meats.
China is a world unto itself, and, as Dunlop says, there are scores of bacon styles in that pork-loving country, each with its own mixture of spices and aromatic woods. This recipe is a riff off hers, although my method is considerably different.
You will need nitrite for this recipe, which you can buy online or in some good butcher shops. If you don’t use nitrites here, you will need to smoke the bacon at a much higher temperature, closer to 225 degrees than the 140 degrees I do. (If you are scared of nitrites, please do yourself a favor and read this excellent essay on meat curing safety by my friend Michael Ruhlman.) You will also need Sichuan peppercorns and Shaoxing wine to make this bacon, although a dry sherry is a fine substitute for the Chinese wine.
You really, really need to smoke this bacon. It’s OK unsmoked, but it takes on something magical when those Asian spices — cinnamon, cloves, star anise — mingle with wood smoke. You can smoke the pork as long or as little as you want, but please do your best to put this puppy in some sort of smoker.
What to serve it with? Anything, really. It’s awesome in braised dishes, like Chinese Red-Braised Pork, in stir-fry, with greens — or hell, just as sliced bacon in the morning with your eggs. It’s bacon, people. You’ll find something to do with it…
SICHUAN BACON
You can usually get big slabs of pork belly from local pork producers at your farmer’s markets, or any decent butcher can order you one.
Prep time: 5 days
Cook time: 3 hours
Makes 3 pounds of bacon
- 3 pounds pork belly, skin on or off
- 1/2 cup Shaoxing wine or dry sherry
- 1/2 cup kosher salt
- 4 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons Sichuan peppercorns, ground
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cloves
- 5 star anise pods, crushed
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Instacure No. 1
Moisten the pork belly with the Shaoxing wine. Mix the rest of the ingredients together and rub into the meat, making sure all surfaces are coated.
Put the pork into a large sealable plastic bag, or vacuum seal bag, or just a plastic or glass container just about large enough to contain it. Sprinkle over any remaining cure, seal the container up and put in the fridge.
Every day for 5 days, turn the bacon over. After 5 days, check to see if the bacon is firm. If it is not firm throughout, give it up to another 2 days in the fridge.
Take the bacon out, rinse off the cure and pat it dry. Set the bacon out on a rack to dry, preferably in a cool, airy place. Let it sit for 1-3 hours.
Fire up the smoker. What wood you use is up to you. The Chinese use cypress, according to Dunlop. I used oak and liked it a lot. I smoked my bacon at 140 degree for 3 hours, but you can go hotter, cooler or longer if you want.
Let the bacon cool to room temperature and then store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, or in the freezer for up to 9 months.
This bacon is really good. The bacon in sweet wheat paste is also excellent; and steaming the resulting bacon then slicing it when chilled makes a great cold cut.
I’m always on the search for new bacon curing recipes. We just bought a live hog and had it slaughtered, giving us about 30lbs in pork belly (287lb cut weight) so I have a lot of curing to do. I will definitely be trying this out!
Where can I find uncured pork belly without having to purchase an entire pig? Local butchershops in Napa do not have it…at least that I have found. I have asked the butchers themselves and they claim they don’t. I don’t mind driving to get it. Been wanting to do bacon for a good while now. Thanks ahead for any info.
To buy uncured pork belly, try checking your local Asian grocer, mine always has it. I usually have decent luck at my Mexican grocer, too.
Hank, quick question on the recipe. After moistening the pork with the wine, is the wine mixed into the rub, or discarded?
@Victor, pretty much every Asian market carries uncured belly. Ranch 99 in El Cerrito definitely does. If you want something a little more special, try Bledsoe pork at the Davis farmer’s market on Saturdays (Sacramento on Sundays). Fatted Calf (http://fattedcalf.com/) could also supply, at a premium.
Hank, I LOVE LOVE LOVE the idea of making this bacon–and then using it for some Hmong-style veg+meat dishes–but am thinking holding a smoker at 140 for that long sounds difficult. (I’m willing to sit nearby with a six-pack and ice-cubes, but I struggle to keep mine below 200, much less 150). What kind of setup are you using?
I was raised on this as an expat kid in Singapore and Saigon–can’t wait to try your recipe with a fresh wild boar belly, Hank!
Great post and awesome recipe.
I just recently made a similar recipe ( I added Chinese hot and numb powder) and it turned out fantastic.
I just recently found your blog and l love it.
All the best,
Todd
Jeff: Saw that one, too. Maybe that’ll be next time.
Rachel: Let me know how it turns out!
Victor: Like Carolyn said, I would be shocked if you could not order some from The Fatted Calf. If you want to drive, contact John Bledsoe, a Yolo hog farmer, and he can have some ready for you at the Davis Farmer’s Market on Saturday.
Jenn: The wine is just to dampen the meat. You won’t have much left after you moisten the belly with it.
Carolyn: I have a Bradley smoker that will keep very low temps. Just keep your smoker cool-ish. You really want 200 degrees or lower so you don’t start rendering the fat in the bacon. Don’t sweat it if the temp gets to 225 degrees, though.
Cork: Dude, you have shot boars with bellies fat enough for bacon?
I can’t use nitrates because I react badly to them. What about making this then freezing the final product?
I’m sure I could at fatted calf, but like Carolyn said “at a premium”. Question is how much of a markup will it have. Thanks for all the info yall. It gives me avenues follow.
I think I love you Hank. This looks amazing. I am going to try this as soon as I cam!
Kim: What I would do is cure it without the nitrites and then smoke-roast it, getting your smoker up to abnout 250-275 degrees. It will be a very different product — more like slow roasted pork belly than bacon — but it will be a) safe to eat, and b) very tasty. If you cure it without nitrites and then freeze it, it will be fine, but not smoky.
My grandmother just gave me a small slab of this stuff! She has a friend from Sichuan whose family still raises their own pigs, and they make this bacon every year. My grandmother adds it to soup, but I like it cooked with greens and tossed with pasta.
These people have the Sichuan pepper and Xio Xing wine at very reasonable prices.
Wing Hop Fung (They sell over the internet.)
727 N. Broadway Suite #102
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Store Hours: 9 a.m – 6 p.m.
Open 7 days a week
Tel: (213) 626-7200
Thanks, Hank. I’ll check out the Bradley. My smoker was a wedding present–and while I appreciated the thought, it’s not the one I would have chosen–so an upgrade is very appealing. Cheers.
Hank,
I have a 3kg pork belly that I was about to turn into my usual smoked bacon, when I came across your site. Mate this recipe is right up my street and I am now going to use your recipe. Living in Australia I do not have a problem buying any cuts of pork and usually buy quite a bit when it is on sale, for making sausages and bacon etc, however your comments on the asian butchers is quite correct they seem to use much bigger animals giving large thick belles which are just perfect for bacon
love your site this is my first visit but it will not be my last, thanks once again
Sounds incredible. Just got back from a trip to Thailand where I got a chance to learn about the cuisine before the introduction of chili peppers. It was heavily influenced by peppercorns (I’m guessing Sichuan may have a similar history).
With a couple of minor alterations you could probably make a Thai inspired bacon based on this recipe:
Substitute green peppercorns for the Sichuan peppercorns
Palm sugar for brown sugar
Pandan/screwpine and coriander seed for the cinnamon, clove & anise mixture. Maybe even a little turmeric but not too match.
Unfortunately I’m a carnivore living in a vegetarian household so I can’t experiment myself. Maybe someone out there has done something similar and can tell me how it came out?
hi Hank,
Thanks for the recipe. Is this similar to the “Asian bacon” that they sell in shrink-wrap packages? they are often odd gnarled pieces and doesn’t have good fat distribution (big pieces of each).
can’t wait to try these out. These looks great, stir fried over some leeks we got in the garden. yum!!
Adele: I loved it cooked with dandelion greens and chile bean paste. Actually, I love it any which way.
Carolyn: The Bradley ain’t cheap, but it is sturdy and works really well.
Liam: Great! Let me know how your version of the bacon turns out!
Michael: That sounds really good. Did you find this bacon in Thailand? If so, was it smoked?
Jeni: No idea. Never bought Asian bacon.
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luv ur recipe but wondering should i remove the skin ?
Edwin: No, leave the skin on until you serve the bacon. It helps preserve it and it makes the bacon easier to smoke/cure/hang.
Just started this last night cant wait to smoke it. I tried making some NM red Chile bacon a while back it was good but couldn’t get it spicy enough.
Hi Hank, Do you know how many grams of your salt you would use for this?
Michael Kay: About 100 grams.
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Having made Ruhlman’s and Polcyn’s bacon a bunch of times, this looks like a great next thing to try. Love the idea of the star anise. Thanks!
I recently found pork belly at Tara Firma Farm in Petaluma. Also, Bud’s Meats in Penngrove. Also ordered so e kurobota bellies on line, though I don’t remember the site off hand.
Can’t wait to try this recipe. I have two teenagers who fancy themselves bacon experts.
Can I substitute Prague Powder #1 or #2 for Instacure #1? If so, how much would the recipe need?
Joshua: Prague Powder No. 1 is the same thing as Instacure No. 1. They are interchangeable.
Mine’s been in the cure for about 5 days. I think it needs about one day more. Tasted it last night though and it’s really good. Also, I added about half an ounce of lapsang souchong tea to the cure.