The Great Bacon Smoke Out (Squash Casserole With Smoked Bacon)

So by now, you’re probably all well aware of my slight fascination… no that’s not the word… more of an obsession, with the beautiful Pork Belly that is Bacon.  So much so, that my facebook page is littered with tags of the delectable dish by friends and family.  One recent tag was to a site that tells you how to make your own bacon…so of course I stopped what I was doing to check the site out.

http://www.baconkit.com

This Bacon kit contains everything one would need to make 5 pounds of delicious natural bacon.  Best part is that you don’t necessarily need a smoker to make the bacon as the oven will also work to prepare the bacon.  All you need is the kit, a week, and a pork belly (which you can easily obtain at your local butcher shop or Meatery.)  (Meatery isn’t really a word, but if you have a large Grocery store, you can talk to the butchers and they will have one, or can order one.)
I had no choice but to order this Bacon Kit.  Really… my arm was twisted.

In the name of Baconolgy, I will conduct my experiment.  Sure, buying a pound of bacon at the store is not only cheaper, easier, and faster, but is it Better?  I take my science seriously.  So, when my kit came in the mail, I followed the directions, put the 5 pound pig belly in the bag with the curing ingredients and left it alone to chill and do it’s thing for a week in my fridge.  Visiting it every other day to flip it over and massage the spices in.  The directions say if you don’t have a smoker, that you can use the oven.  And I was totally going to use the oven.  Seriously!  But then, curiosity got the better of me.  I was just interested to see how much a smoker cost at the local hardware store.  Turns out, Home Depot was having a sale, and the model I liked was only $80.  Needless to say, I picked up some Cherry wood, Apple wood and Hickory smoking chips and the smoker…

Turns out my neighbor, who is the king of smokers (he has a nice big barrel smoker) is also making Bacon this week.  He has a slightly different method to his madness.  Instead of Pork Belly, he used Pork Shoulder (definitely cheaper!) and he had his bacon kit of a combination of salt and sugar and cured the meat for 10 days versus the week my directions told me.  He then added Black Pepper.  It’s a battle of the Bacons!

All in all, both were good.  I am partial to my bacon a little bit over the other, while the shoulder was less fatty, it was more like a nice peppered canadian bacon.  While mine was traditional and sweet.  But Eveyone is the victor....check out all this meat!

This was a nice summer dish to make with bacon.  Yellow Squash is just hitting the markets.  Take advantage of this delicious veggie and bring it to life with some bacon!

Squash Casserole With Smoked Bacon
Ingredients:
* 4 strips bacon
* 5 medium yellow summer squash, or 32 ounces frozen sliced summer squash
* 1/2 cup chopped onion
* 1 tablespoon butter
* 2 eggs, beaten
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1/2 to 3/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

Slice squash about 1/4-inch thick; cook in boiling salted water until tender. Fry bacon until crisp; drain on paper towels. Crumble bacon and set aside. In bacon drippings, brown onions. Add butter, squash, eggs, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until eggs are cooked. In a 2-quart casserole dish, place half of the squash mixture. Sprinkle with half of the crumbled bacon and half of the shredded cheese. Top with remaining squash mixture, bacon, and cheese. Bake at 350° until hot and cheese is melted.
Serves 4 to 6.