Lets talk bacon. Clearly its one of the greatest creations. You head to your grocers "bacon section" and you have center cut, thick cut, maple, honey, brown sugar, lean, 0% sodium, 0% pork and everything in-between. Then you look at the price and it never makes any sense. I always liked thick cut bacon, but who are we kidding, Ill eat any kind put in front of me, even turkey bacon!
Shortly after I started curing meats, I learned that there are 2 major curing agents; curing salt #2 and pink salt. Most meats that are cured will contain one of these 2 ingredients to help preserve the meat. Bacon needs a basic cure mix made up of regular salt, sugar and pink salt. Adding your mixture to a nice, fatty slab of pork belly with a few extra flavors added in will give you some of the best bacon you've ever had! I would recommend buying maple sugar for a sweet bacon and garlic, cracked black pepper and spices for a savory bacon.
The Basic Cure
- 1 pound (450 grams) kosher salt
- 8 ounces (225 grams) sugar
- 2 ounces or 10 tsp (50 grams) pink salt
The Process
Let me start off by saying its easy, so don't feel overwhelmed. Go to your grocery store and ask the butcher for a 5 pound slab of pork belly. Pork belly is pretty cheap by the pound compared to bacon, so you won't be spending very much. I usually will purchase a whole 15 pound belly from Restaurant Depot (membership required) for around $40. Place the slab of belly in a gallon sized ziplock bag or a non-reactive (plastic or glass) covered container. You want to spread about 4 Tbsp of your basic cure mixture all over the belly. Then, choose a flavor from below and spread that over the belly as well. Place the container in the fridge for 7 days. You want to turn the meat over every other day. The moisture from the meat will start to be extracted from the cure mixture and pool in your container. Leave all of that goodness in there! The meat will soak in that salty liquid and become cured (hence the turning every other day). After 7 days, dump out the liquid and soak the meat for 2 hours in fresh water. After 2 hours, dump out the water and leave the meat in the fridge overnight to let any extra liquid drain from the belly.
Flavors (per 5 pounds)
Sweet:
1/2 cup maple sugar
3 Tbsp burbon
4-5 drops liquid smoke (optional)
Savery:
4-5 smashed garlic cloves
2 Tbsp whole peppercorns, cracked (place in a plastic bag and hit with a rolling pin)
10-12 Bay leaves
1 tsp toasted fennel seeds
1 tsp toasted coriander seeds
Cooking
After the meat has drained overnight, take the meat out. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Place the belly in a roasting pan, or use a cooling rack in a cookie sheet if you don't have a roasting pan. Let the belly cook for 2-2.5 hours. Ideally you want the center of the meat to be 145 degrees. When you're done, pull the meat out, let it cool enough to handle, and cut it up into thin slices (you choose how thick you want it). Thats it, you're done! Fry a few pieces up whenever you want some bacon! Keep the bacon in your fridge or freeze (vac-sealed is best) any extra you want to save. Use the refrigerated bacon within about 2 weeks. Cheers!
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