Making bacon - The Accidental Smallholder

Smoked or green, in a butty or with fried eggs, rind on or off, crispy or not - how you like it is a matter of personal preference, but let's face it, almost everyone loves bacon. Many vegetarians will confess to bacon being the food they most miss, and why else would they make vegetarian bacon?

Like so many other foods the bacon you can buy in supermarkets and from butchers varies enormously in quality, from the bland and water-laden to the seriously tasty. One option you should consider is making your own bacon - it's not very hard, doesn't need any specialist equipment (unless you want it smoked, but more on that later) and provided you use good quality ingredients the end product is likely to be better than anything you can buy locally.

Making your own bacon

This series of short articles will tell you all you need to know about making bacon, but we don't confess to know it all. If you use this guide to make your own bacon let us know how you got on, and if anything didn't work out as you'd expected. If you've been making bacon for years and disagree with anything we say please tell us, we're always learning.