Bringing Home the Bacon

I think I'm in the majority when I say that I had never really imagined that I could cure my own bacon; it seems like one of those things that are best left to the professionals. Well today boredom and curiousity got the better of me and I decided to have a go. I bought a large, fatty piece of pork belly (Hong Kong is well supplied with pork butchers), which, disturbingly, still had nipples attached - I cut them of for the sake of aesthetics and my sanity. I used a recipe I found on the Guardian's website. Of the optional spices, I only added the coriander. As I write, the pork is oozing its delicious juices into a container in my fridge.

I'll update in 5 days, when the curing process is finished. In the meantime, enjoy these pictures of the delicious proto-bacon, sans nipples: