Last night, after a delicious mushroom risotto, Mr. Stephenson and myself decided that it was time for some bacon. Our wives chose ice cream for desert instead, but we fired up a small cast iron pan and started frying. The bacon was from the first trial run of the cold smoker, and whilst slightly over-smoked it’s still miles better than anything you can hope to buy in a supermarket.

That’s of course partly to do with the pork we’re using, humanely raised, no hormones, no antibiotics, but also do to the time and effort we put into the curing and smoking. The sweet spot for a cold smoke seems to be about a day and a half, down from the three days I smoked the first batch for. That way you’ll end up with a bacon that’s wonderfully smoky, but without overpowering the spices from the cure.

We fried our bacon with sprigs of rosemary and ate it on walnut bread with some wild fermented pickles, with the bread soaking up the fat.

Whilst we’re on the subject of fat, if the picture makes you worried about your health, let me reassure you. Between the two of us we ate really very little meat. Because bacon is so full of flavour, a little does go a very long way. In addition, bacon fat, if you start with a healthy pig, is actually very good for you. Bacon fat is about 65% polyunsaturated, with only about 11% saturated fat contained in it. It is also rich in vitamin a and e, so while you should not eat a pound a day, the occasional slice of bacon, or three, should actually be beneficial to your health.