Homemade bacon, with lots of pepper that's uniquely Vietnamese

Vietnamese people eat a lot of meat. Pork, chicken, goat, lamb, beef... When it comes to meat, there are some Japanese people who are quite particular about juiciness, the amount of fat, and so on, but as for the meat that people casually devour every day, I think Vietnam's is really quite delicious. When I was looking at processed meats at the market and the supermarket, they cost a fair amount, so I thought, well, maybe I'll try making it myself. That way I don't even have to add any preservatives... and so I did. At my regular butcher shop in the market, I bought 1 kg of pork. 【Shopping at the Market — Price Info: Pork】 1 kg = 110 VND and up, about 660 yen (as of January 2026) Since it's a local butcher, I figured it would be cheap. This time I decided to try making it with loin, deliberately choosing the lean part. I did have them remove the back fat and the skin portion, but it still came with plenty of fat, weighing 924 g. First, I gave it a light wash, patted off the moisture, and rubbed the block of meat with salt at 2% of the weight = 18 g, along with 4 g of sugar, 4 g of pepper, and sliced garlic. Rub, rub, rub, rub. I wrapped it in plastic wrap, then put it in a Ziploc bag and let it rest. About 3 to 4 days. Every so often, I flipped it over. This time a bit of drip came out, so I flipped it over once a day. (When there's no drip, I sometimes just leave it alone.) Then I rinsed it off, patted off the moisture, and let it dry for 1 hour. Before roasting, I coated it generously with pepper to dress it up. Look at this amount!

Vietnam is the world's No. 1 producer of pepper. And it's so cheap~ (Black pepper 1kg = 150k VND ~ about 900 yen, as of January 2026) You wouldn't normally buy a whole 1kg, but our household buys it by the kilo lol) Hehehe, I use tons of it to add aroma. It has a spicy kick, but hey, it's grown-up bacon! At 120℃ for 90 minutes, I slowly, slowly sear it in.

Coated in black pepper, the fat began to drip and the smoky aroma spread all around. The meat has firmed up nicely, coming out just like this. Fresh off the grill it had a faintly pink, reddish hue, but once it settled it turned lovely and moist. This was a loin cut, but since it has plenty of fat, it's delicious even sliced and eaten just as it is. A generous batch of homemade bacon — it keeps in the fridge for about a month, but... It has so many uses: in soups, in salads, as cold cuts. My husband said he'd like some carbonara (using only the yolks).

Made the rich, hearty one~~~