Curing Bacon at Home
Recipe for Curing Bacon at Home
For a 5lb Pork Belly
1 Teaspoon of Pink Salt (Prague Powders)
2 1/2 Tablespoons of Salt
2/3 Cup of Brown Sugar
- Mix all the cure items together thoroughly.
- Spread all over the bacon
- Place in the fridge
- I also scored the fat side of the bacon to get the cure down inside.
Cure for 3 Days
The curing of tasty bacon depends largely on SUGAR. This simple recipe here produced the best bacon I have made to date.
Smoking the Bacon
I don’t know who has a cold smoker. I know many of you could rig on if necessary. I barrel-shaped charcoal grill and Start a small fire with some hickory that I have on the property. This is a small fire that is no bigger than two fists once it gets going. I lay the cold slab of bacon from the fridge onto the grill with some foil underneath once the smoke really gets going. The flue of the grill and the side in order to starve the fire of oxygen and this will produce tremendous smoke will allow the fire to only smolder.
I open the grill up to manage heat every 15 minutes or so and I never smoke it for longer than an hour. Then it is back into the fridge.
Cutting and Portioning the Bacon
A good long slicer is the best option for this. It should be a long knife with a rounded point and nice sharp edge on it. This slicer is perfect for cutting thin slices of bacon. Of course, a deli meat slicer would work even better but I don’t have one of those lying around.
If you really want to make cutting and portioning bacon easy then stick it in the freezer first.
Cut your bacon into some smaller and easier-to-manage pieces then freeze them. Your slicer can cut nice thin slices of bacon when it is frozen if you so desire it. I like to cut nice thick slabs. There is just something about a 1/2 inch slice of smoky/salty bacon with eggs and coffee that is hard to beat!
Things to Add to Bacon
I am not a big fan of flavored bacon. More of a purist. Salty and smokey. Though I know some people like to experiment.
- Crack Black Pepper
- Fresh Herbs
- Spices
- Maple Syrup
