Makin’ Bacon: Simple Bacon Cure
It seems that most everyone loves bacon and eats it in excess, but when we made bacon the first time, I was amazed at how much bacon you actually get from a single pig, it’s not near as much as you think. Which is true for all cuts of meat. We live in a society that we can eat our favorite cuts whenever we like. When you raise meat, you have to eat all the cuts and you realize how special some cuts of meat truly are. Bacon is one of those cuts we have to learn to appreciate. Let’s get busy makin some bacon!
When makin bacon, it’s simply pork belly that has been salt cured and cooked, usually smoked and then sliced for eating. When makin bacon, you sacrifice some of the rib meat. However, the delicious bacon more than makes up for the loss.
This particular pork belly was extremely fatty, we kept some pieces for cooking only, using it to wrap other meats and give it that bacon flavor. Since we won’t be eating the bacon used in wrapping, its a good use of the fatty pieces.
Tools for Makin Bacon
Good tools make this task so much easier. A smoker is used for cooking the bacon. A good slicer makes all the difference when it comes time to cut he bacon. This bacon cure recipe was given to us by a friend, we are not sure where the recipe originated from.
Makin’ Bacon: Simple Bacon Cure
Ingredients
- 5 lbs pork belly skin removed
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup kosher salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon pink curing salt
Instructions
- Mix all together, rub down pork belly with the mixture.
- Put in a 2-gallon freezer bag, place in the refrigerator for 7 days, flip it once every day.
- On the 7th day, remove and soak in warm water and wash off the belly.
- Hang up and let it drip dry until the drip stops.
- Pat dry, hang in the smoker. Smoke with apple chips at 150 degrees until the internal temperature reaches 137 degrees.
- Remove and put in cold water to allow the meat to tighten up.
- Pat dry and slice.
Notes
- This recipe was given to us by Philip’s friend, Scott Barrick.
Learn about how we process our pigs.
About the Author: Barbra-Sue Kowalski grew up on a small hobby farm. She was always drawn to farm life, however, she was stuck in an urban life far from her roots. Barbra-Sue was a single mom for 13 years, raising her 3 children on her own. She met Philip in 2018 and they married in 2021. Between the two of them, they have 5 grown children and 5 grandchildren. These empty nesters are following their dreams! As they both turn 50, they are building their off-grid homestead to live the life that they dream about. Learn more about Philip and Barbra-Sue here. Contact them here. To leave a comment on this post, please scroll down.
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