Nothing says love like lamb bacon

I don’t know where I heard of lamb bacon first, but it was some late night cooking show and it might have been Alton Brown. So the next time we slaughtered lamb, I asked to keep a lamb’s belly. We froze it because I wasn’t sure how to process it yet. I was looking around online, but wasn’t finding much specific. Then when I heard about Charcutepalooza, someone said any type of belly would work.

We added a few herbs to the regular dry cure recipe. (mint, crushed bay leaf, cracked peppercorns and garlic). We let it cure a week in the icebox. We rinsed off the salt, let it come to room temperature, then cooked it for 90 minutes at 200 degrees F.

I fried some up in my cast iron skilled, then cooked some shredded purple potatoes in the fat. I served it with poached eggs and a tortilla with cream cheese and our honey. I was trying to make a special Valentine’s Day thing.

It’s so lovely to have fresh eggs in February. The Chanteclers rarely venture out of their coop but are laying better than the Icelandics, who go everywhere. We are going to need to give the Icies some remedial lessons in where eggs go. We need to add some more deep bedding. It’s going to go above freezing this week. Spring is in the air and there’s lots and lots of crowing going on.

I think that the next time we take lambs to freezer camp, I’m going to have the bellies sent up to Vermont Smokehouse. I’d like to get their opinion on my spice mix. I’m wondering how it would work with some of our maple syrup.

Seriously, nothing says love like lamb bacon.

Happy Valentine’s Day