Home Cured Bacon

This is a long process so you definitely want to make it worth it! In this recipe I started off with 8lbs of pork belly, most large slabs from a store like Costco will be in that 8-11lb range!

• Pork Belly (8-10lbs)
• Curing salt 

(Prague powder #1)

• Sugar/Maple Syrup/Soda
• Salt
• Seasonings

Have fun with the seasoning, bacon goes great with black pepper, granulated onion/garlic, coriander, bayleaves, chili's, sage, cumin, and anything else 

First step to this process is to blend your cure mixture, the 3 most important components of which are going to be the salt, sugar, and curing salt measured by a percentage in grams of the total weight of the piece you're curing. If you're sensitive to salt I would cut salt amount down to 2%

 Example:

starting weight 1200 grams

• 1200 X .01 = 12 Grams of sugar (1%)
• 1200 X .025 = 30 Grams of salt (2.5%)
• 1200 X .0025 = 3 Grams of curing salt (.25%)

Combine each of the ingredients with 1 tablespoon of black pepper, and 1/2 a tablespoon each of your granulated onion, garlic, and spices of your choice etc. which is about right for a piece this size. Place in a vacuum bag or ziplock bag and place in the fridge for 7 days flipping over each day.

After the 7 days have complete place the cured pork belly onto a metal rack if possible, and place back into fridge uncovered for an additional 1-2 days to help dry out the surface of the meat, this will help improve the texture of the bacon and give it that dense mouth feel we are used to having when eating "store bought" bacon. 

Once complete place bacon into your smoker and cold smoke at 70º-90º F for 1-6 hours depending on preference of smokiness level. (you may also do a hot smoke at 130º-160º F but you will want to pull the bacon once it has reached an internal temp of 150ºF) 

This is a very important step to the process it allows the smoke flavor and level to mellow and fully distribute into the meat. Once you have removed your now bacon from the smoker, I like to place it back in a vacuum sealed bag and allow to rest in the fridge for 1-3 days. From which you can then remove it slice, or cube it and portion out into 8oz bags, to freeze and pull out when you'd like to cook and enjoy. 

Here's where you can enjoy the fruits of your labor, and it won't take long before you realize, it was all worth it!! Experiment with he flavor profiles you choose, have fun with it just maintain those 3 main ingredients and ratios and you will always have a great result! Let me know what you think of the recipe and be sure to tag us if you try it!