Hops and Bacon

I've made homemade bacon a few times now. I usually do traditional breakfast bacon, but I've also made some Asian inspired savory bacon based on the recipes they did on one of the Chop & Brew episodes. I haven't done it very often, mostly because I only knew of one store that carried pork belly, and it wasn't super close to my house. However, this past weekend I saw that my local Costco sells full pork bellies! The creative juices have been flowing and I was wondering if anyone has successfully incorporated hops into their homemade bacon?

Off topic...sort of but how much per pound are the full pork belly? I really wanted to make bacon but it was something to the tune of 8.99 per lb for the pork belly thats before any waste and trimming, so it was really uneconomical to make my own bacon when I could buy it done at 4.99 a lb. Thoughts?

On topic, as someone who has a lot of experience in the kitchen I am not sure how bacon and hops would really meld as a flavor profile. But then again I am sure someone said that about peanut butter and jelly so...go for it?

Yeah, that's what I was wondering too. I think it would have to be more of a savory bacon. And I wonder how well it would translate into the finished product (maybe a weird herbal character?).

As for price, the one I bought was a hair under 9.5lbs, and I think I paid about $23 or $24 for it. So in the neighborhood of $2.44 - $2.54 per pound...so not too bad. The Asian market was more expensive. I can't remember for sure but I want to say the last time I bought it, it was around $4-5 per pound.

Oh and the one from Costco already had the skin removed whereas the Asian market had it with skin on.

microbusbrewery said:

Oh and the one from Costco already had the skin removed whereas the Asian market had it with skin on.

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I checked with my local butcher, but COSTCO might be a better avenue to look into! I really want it to make since financially b/c the idea of making my own bacon seems legit LOL.

I am with you though I think I would go for our average savory breakfast bacon, some maple flavors or use some apple wood on it. Maybe if I get crazy do a black peppercorn crust that type of bacon makes great BLT's.