Makin' Bacon!

This is Yak Bacon pre curing!

And Bacon after curing!

I made Bacon! Yak Bacon nonetheless.

Doing the happy bacon dance here! Bacon by the way is on this low-carbers diet. Can I just tell you how exciting that is for me.. No we can't eat doughnuts, or bread, or chips, or potatoes, or tortillas, or.. :(.. But, we can eat hollaindaise sauce and Bacon! So-- the world is not all bad. Bacon makes it soo much better. It is my mantra. No I can't eat that, but I CAN have BACON! Even my carbnivorous vegetarian daughter will eat Bacon! What's not to love about those salty bits of goodness. Well-- besides the fat, which I love cause I know the fat secret, which is that you need fat, that fat helps your body and protects your cells, keeps you full, and maintains your blood sugar levels, (low fat folks sorry to say, but it's true..) but usually it's the nasty chemicals, nitrates, MSG, sugar, etc.... BUT if you make it yourself you don't have to eat that, and you still get to eat Bacon. Soooo COOL!

Ingredients:

Yak- A fatty piece 2 1/2 pounds big. (Which incidently will not last us nearly long enough!)

3 T. of Orsa or Real Salt

Rosemary -dried and crushed

Garlic Powder

Freshly ground black pepper

If you've followed Charcutepalooza you know how I did it, Salt cured in a bag in the fridge for 7 days, then baked at 200 degrees for a long time -till it reached an internal temp of 150 degrees. Then sliced thin, fried in cast iron , shared and devoured as bacon bits on salad, breakfast, yak snack, and finally rattlesnake eggs! Much to my husband's peppery-heat loving heart. And just in time for valentines day!

Here is one of our favorite ways with Yak Bacon!

Yak-laced Rattlesnake Eggs

(yes laced, this stuff is sooo good it's like cocaine in a completely legal form)

Not fancy just Fabulous! And even low carb!!

You will need:

• Jalapenos- fresh, seeds removed for the wimps of the family-in other words, everyone but hubby. Split them on one side only leaving them with stems and insides removed or not as preffered.
• Yak Bacon -enough slices to cover all the jalapenos you have, one slice of bacon per jalapeno. Or other bacon- if you have no yak bacon.. can't tell you how sad that thought is.
• Cream cheese -enough to fill all the jalapenos you have.
• Garlic salt to taste

Mix all the seeds (if brave), and the cream cheese, and the garlic salt together and stuff the insides of the prepared jalapenos. Then wrap with bacon slices and spear with toothpicks to keep them together while they undergo the broiling proccess. Broil on high in the oven till the bacon is crispy and the jalapenos skins start to turn a roasty toasty color of brown/black. These are perfect for the grill but recently it's been around Negative 10 degrees around here lately so we aren't grillin' em, brrr... but you can!

And as a quick update to what else I did with my 50 pounds of Yak meat-- well, here is a list and our ratings as it stands currently.

Canned Yak in water (cubes)

Canned Yak Vegetable soup

Yak Jerky

Yak Bacon

Yak Stew

Barbqued Yak Sandwiches (at my parents house for super bowl sunday)

Yak Roast

All of the above are delicious, delectable and not the least bit gamey as might be expected. What does Yak taste like? It makes beef look gamey. It's fatty and wonderful, and incredibly mild. And it goes extremely well with rosemary and a little bit of garlic, or thyme and salt and pepper and garlic.

And.. I still have more to use..so keep checking here!


This post is part of the February curing challenge for Charcutepalooza! Check my button on the right side of my blog for details!