The Tricky And Time Consuming Smoked Meat You're Better Off Leaving To The Pros

Folks who own meat smokers often take any chance they get to flex their skills, creating protein-packed, umami-laden goodness for all to enjoy. There's a certain sense of pride that comes with making your own smoked meat, but it's not always easy. Chris Mattera, North Country Smokehouse's culinary innovator, illustrated for us how involved the process can be. He recommended that people thinking about making the reigning champion of smoked meat — bacon — should reconsider that idea before they find themselves biting off more than they can chew.

Mattera first pointed out that making bacon from scratch requires more than just a quality meat smoker. "Making high-quality bacon is both an art and a science," Mattera said. "While producing bacon at home is not impossible, it is time, space, and labor-intensive, and requires adequate fridge space, and also a patient spouse."

For anyone who wasn't deterred by that statement, Mattera detailed the procedure so folks can give it a shot if they dare. "First, the home cook would need to find an appropriately thick pork belly," he said. "Then, the belly would need to be salted, seasoned, and cured using the correct products in the right ratios."

That sounds simple enough, but that's only half the process. "It would then need to rest in the refrigerator for a period of days so the salt and curing agent can do their jobs, drawing out moisture and curing the meat," he said. "Finally, the home cook would need to rinse and smoke the belly." It's technically feasible, but that's a lot of work considering how easy it is to get bacon from the grocery store.

If the meticulous process of making bacon from pork belly didn't discourage you, what Mattera revealed next just might. Not only is making bacon incredibly time-consuming, but it can potentially result in catastrophe. "Used in the wrong amount, the curing agents can be unpleasant or potentially hazardous to eat," he said.

Curing agents often contain sodium nitrite, and if too much is consumed at once it can cause methemoglobinemia. I know, that's a mouthful. Headaches, nausea, confusion, increased heart rate, and loss of consciousness are all possible symptoms, so if you want to make your own bacon just understand there are serious health risks associated with doing it incorrectly.

Mishandling the curing agents is just one thing that can generate problems. "If improperly cured and then slow-smoked, pathogens could multiply on the meat and cause foodborne illness if not properly cooked before eating," Mattera said. Personally, after learning what can go wrong, I'm going to stick to quality store-bought bacon and just jazz them up for extra flavor if I'm in the mood to experiment.

But Mattera wasn't done deterring folks from making bacon at home quite yet. "Smoking meat involves the use of smoldering wood near dripping (flammable) fat, so there is a slight fire risk," he said. "At the end of the day, if you are a home cook who is capable of reading and following a recipe and has also used a charcoal grill without burning down your house, you are probably fine to make your own bacon at home provided you want to go through the time, expense, and cleanup."