Nothing could be simpler than makin' bacon, the king of all fried meats. How many "vegetarians" have you known who just eat the periodic slab of crisp sautéed hog fat? I rest my case. Bacon is God. To cure your own bacon, plan and shop for ingredients well in advance. You might need to special-order the pork belly from your local butcher or grocery store. You can order curing salt from online retailers such as www.sausagemaker.com; I recommend Insta-Cure #1. In this recipe, I offer three ways to smoke the bacon. If you go the liquid smoke route, use only the real stuff: fake liquid smoke has an unappealing chemical taste. If you choose to smoke the meat on the grill, you'll need some hickory sawdust, which is available in smoking stores or through online retailers. Once the bacon is ready to eat, note that it will be easiest to slice thinly — a must if you like crispy bacon — when it is partially frozen and your knife is very sharp.
Prep ahead: Have on hand 3 tablespoons of real liquid hickory smoke or 5 cups of hickory sawdust, depending on the method you've chosen to smoke the bacon.
Ingredients
2 1/2 to 3 pounds pork belly
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses
2 tablespoons kosher salt, plus more as needed
1 teaspoon curing salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
Rinse the belly and thoroughly pat it dry. Trim off any thin edges so that the piece is one long rectangle. (You can save these excess pieces of belly for making sausage or lard.)
In a small bowl, mix the sugar with the molasses. Then mix in the 2 tablespoons of salt, curing salt, and pepper and rub it evenly into the meat (like a relaxing, porcine spa treatment). Place the meat inside an oversize sealable plastic bag and lay it flat in the refrigerator for 7 days, massaging the liquids that will amass through the bag and flipping it daily.
After 7 days, inspect your bacon. It should be firm to the touch all over, like touching a cooked steak — a sign that it has been cured. If the flesh still feels spongy and soft in spots, massage the meat again with an additional 2 tablespoons salt and check it again after 1 or 2 days.
Once the bacon is fully cured, discard the solids, rinse the meat well, and pat it dry.
The next step to giving bacon that familiar flavor is the addition of smoke.
Fastest: Roasting and Liquid Smoke Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Place the belly, fat side up, on a rack over a roasting pan and roast for 2 to 21/2 hours, until the interior temperature of the meat reaches 150 degrees F.
Gently brush the liquid smoke over the entirety of the bacon, covering both sides evenly.
Slowest: Smoking on the Grill Smoke the meat, fat side up, using a 5-cup packet of hickory sawdust, for 3 to 5 hours, until it reaches an internal temperature of 150 degrees F.
Best of Both Worlds: Smoking and Roasting This is my preferred methodology, because I love the flavor of the smoke but often lack the patience for a full grill session. Start smoking your meat, and do so as long as you're able — at least 2 hours is really ideal. Smoke it until you get sick of babysitting the grill and tending to the coals. Finish the meat on a rack over a roasting pan in a 200 degrees F oven until it reaches 150 degrees F inside at its thickest point.
Fry a slice of the bacon and taste. If it needs more smoke flavor, brush a thin layer of liquid smoke on both sides of the slab.
Whichever method you use, when your bacon is ready, slice it as thin (or as thick) as you like it and fry, over medium-high heat, until browned on both sides. Drain on paper towels and enjoy.
How to store it: Bacon can be stored in large slabs, in precut hunks for flavoring beans or other dishes, or in slices, in layers between pieces of parchment paper, and sealed tightly in a freezer storage bag. Refrigerate up to 10 days or keep frozen up to 3 months.
From Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It and Other Cooking Projects by Karen Solomon, Ten Speed Press, © 2009, Karen Solomon.
FAQs
After 7 days, inspect your bacon. It should be firm to the touch all over, like touching a cooked steak — a sign that it has been cured. If the flesh still feels spongy and soft in spots, massage the meat again with an additional 2 tablespoons salt and check it again after 1 or 2 days.
How long to cure homemade bacon? ›
As for how long to cure your bacon in the fridge for, it will depend on the size of your meat. We suggest a approximately 1 day per 500g of meat up to 8 days, with a minimum of 4 days. Curing your bacon for longer than the recommended time will result in a saltier end product.
Do you wash bacon after curing? ›
Let the pork cure for 5 days. Rinse off the pork to remove the salt/sugar mixture and rinse well with water. Pat the pork belly dry and store it, hanging, in the pantry or kitchen.
Can I cure bacon with just salt? ›
If you have an issue with nitrates, you can use regular salt and your bacon will taste fine. Sea salt is generally the best, but the process works with any salt. We will warn you in advance though, if you just use salt, the bacon won't be pink when cured.
Can bacon cure too long? ›
I personally like curing bacon a little longer to make sure that every piece of meat is cured properly. You can't really 'over-cure' bacon but keep in mind that a very long (over 3 weeks) curing time will result in slightly saltier bacon and eventually the meat will begin to spoil.
How long does the bacon sit to cure? ›
Cure the bacon
Rub the cure all over your pork belly and let it sit in a cookie sheet on a shelf in your refrigerator. Be sure that your refrigerator is keeping the meat below 40°F (4°C) for 5-7 days.
Does bacon have to be smoked after curing? ›
After being cured, the bacon is rinsed off. For an extra boost of flavor and preservation, after seasoning, most bacon is placed into a smoker. If a smoker is not used, the meat is instead put into a conventional oven or left to air dry in cold temperatures for weeks or sometimes months!
Is it better to wet or dry cure bacon? ›
Dry curing results in a more concentrated, intense flavor, while wet curing tends to produce a milder, more evenly seasoned taste. Additionally, dry-cured bacon often has a firmer texture due to the extended drying process, whereas wet-cured bacon is moister and sometimes more succulent.
Can you eat raw cured bacon? ›
Pork bacon without any other descriptors is raw or uncooked,and must be cooked before eating.
Can you cure bacon without nitrates? ›
Cut your pork belly down to about 5 pound chunks. Rub the maple syrup all over the belly. Add chunky real salt or chunky Celtic salt to the entire piece of meat. Place in a Ziploc bag and place in your refrigerator for 5 days.
cure can't penetrate the fat cap anyway, so removing the skin won't make any difference. You just need to give the cure enough time to pentrate completely through the muscle side.
Is prague powder the same as curing salt? ›
Like a number of other food items, Prague powder # 1 can be found under different names, but its purpose and use in recipes remain the same. It is known as insta cure and modern cure, but you may also see it labeled as tinted curing mixture, TCM, tinted cure, curing salt, and pink salt.
Do you need prague powder to cure bacon? ›
There are a few things you'll need to make your own bacon. Firstly, curing salt (aka Prague powder) which can be bought at better grocery and specialty food stores or ordered online. Second, you'll need a smoker of some kind (because obviously that's how you get the smoke flavor!).
Is pink curing salt necessary? ›
In fact, pink curing salt is quickly becoming the number one go-to salt for safe and high quality meat curing. It comes with benefits both for your health and the curing process, making it a must have in the kitchen.
Do you need sodium nitrate to cure bacon? ›
Traditionally these crystals were then mixed with other natural curing agents and rubbed into bacon, ham and sausages to prevent botulism developing while they cured in the cool larder for months on end. These days, saltpetre has largely been replaced by sodium nitrate to do that job in bacon and ham.
Is bacon cured enough to eat raw? ›
No, it's not safe to eat raw bacon. Even though bacon has been preserved through the curing process, it has not been cooked. Like other foods you should never eat raw, consuming raw or undercooked meat puts you at risk of foodborne illness from viruses, bacteria or parasites.
How do you know when meat is fully cured? ›
The meat should lose 35-40% of its weight by the end of the process, and the only way to tell when the meat is finished curing is to weigh it.
Is uncured bacon safe to eat? ›
Uncured bacon is a misnomer. It's still cured (or preserved) using natural nitrates found in celery instead of artificial nitrates, but that doesn't mean you should fry up a sizzling stack. Evidence is still conflicting whether plant-based nitrates are less harmful than synthetic sodium nitrite.
Does uncured bacon taste the same as cured? ›
Because uncured bacon has to sit in its brine for longer, in other instances it can taste saltier than some cured bacon, but the difference is negligible. It is more likely that you'll taste the difference in flavor based on what seasonings were added and how it was smoked.
