How To Cure Bacon Food

MAPLE BACON RECIPE

Steps:

• Combine all ingredients other than pork belly in a bowl and mix together.
• Pour mixture into a 1-gallon Ziploc bag and add the pork belly. Remove as much air as possible from the bag before sealing, then mix around the liquid so that the belly is completely covered.
• Place the bag on a baking dish to catch possible leaks, and allow it to cure in the refrigerator for 1 week, flipping it over and moving around the liquid each day.
• After bacon is done curing, remove it from the bag, give it a rinse to remove excess salt, and pat it dry.
• Smoke at 200-225° F until bacon reaches an internal temperature of 150° F. This should take 2-3 hours depending on your smoker's temperature and the thickness of the pork belly.
• Refrigerate bacon to cool completely before slicing.

HOMEMADE BACON

Steps:

• Rinse the pork belly and pat dry. Transfer to a resealable 2-gallon plastic bag. To make the spice rub, mix the kosher salt, pink salt, brown sugar, honey, red pepper flakes, paprika and cumin in a bowl. Coat the pork belly all over with the mixture.
• Close the bag and refrigerate 7 to 10 days, flipping once a day, until the pork belly feels firm. It should take 7 days for a thin belly that is about 11/2 inches thick, longer for a belly that's 2 to 3 inches thick.
• Remove the pork belly from the bag, rinse thoroughly and pat dry. Refrigerate the belly on a rack, uncovered, 48 hours.
• Set up your smoker according to the manufacturer's instructions using applewood chips, and set to 200 degrees F. Smoke the pork belly 3 hours, or until the bacon reaches an internal temperature of 150 degrees F.
• Remove the rind (optional), then slice and cook as desired. To store, wrap the bacon in plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 1 week or freeze up to 2 months.
• Pink curing salt is a mix of salt and sodium nitrite. It keeps the meat pink and protects it from bacteria. You can find it at specialty food stores or online.

HOW TO PICKLE CURED BACON

Steps:

• Lay the sides of bacon on a board and rub with fine salt.
• Let stand for 48 hours.
• Mix the next three ingredients and dissolve in the water.
• Bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes.
• Skim and cool.
• Place bacon in a clean oak barrel and pour liquid over meat.
• Place a heavy weight on the bacon to keep it under the brine.
• Bacon prepared like this will keep about a year in a cool place.
• After bacon has been in brine for five weeks; it may all be hung up to dry and when thoroughly dried, smoked at smoke house as needed.

HOME-CURED STREAKY BACON

Steps:

• Tip the salt and sugar into a freezer bag and shake well. Slip the pork into the bag, seal and scrunch around with your hands until the pork is completely covered in the cure.
• Lay the pork flat in the fridge and leave for five days, turning occasionally. The dry cure will turn into a wet brine as the liquid is released from the meat.
• After the five days, lift the pork from the bag, rinse it off and pat it dry. It's now ready to slice into rashers and cook. Will keep in an airtight container for one week.

HOMEMADE BACON

Steps:

• In a large food-safe container, combine 1 gallon of water, 1 cup of Kosher Salt, 1 cup of white sugar, 1 cup of brown sugar, and 1 TBS of Insta-Cure #1.
• Mix together until dissolved.
• Drop in the pork belly and make sure it stays submerged. I used a plastic container filled with water to weigh mine down.
• Refrigerate for 14 days.
• After 14 days remove and rinse cure and pat dry.
• Leave uncovered in the refrigerator overnight.
• Smoke for 4 hours at temperatures under 165 degrees F.
• Remove and cool in the refrigerator overnight.
• Slice and enjoy.

HOME-CURED BACON

Steps:

• Place the pork belly in a large Ziploc bag. Add the salt (and pink salt if using) and the cure additions. Rub the cure into the pork belly, turning the bag over and over and pressing the cure into the flesh. Close the bag, squeezing out all the air and refrigerate for seven days. Each day, flip the bag over. Some liquid will begin to gather in the bag.
• After seven days, wash the cure off the meat, rinsing thoroughly. Pat the bacon dry with paper towels and set it on a rack over a baking sheet. Allow the bacon to air-dry in the refrigerator for 6 to 24 hours.
• Preheat the oven to 225 degrees. Roast the pork belly in the oven to an internal temperature of 150 degrees for about 90 minutes. Chill the bacon well, then slice thick or thin, to preference. Any bacon that doesn't easily slice may be cut into chunks, for starting a pot of beans or soup. Wrapped in parchment paper, then wrapped in plastic wrap or foil and placed in a Ziploc bag, the bacon will keep for three weeks in the refrigerator and three months in the freezer.

HOW TO MAKE AND CURE YOUR OWN SMOKY BACON

Steps:

• Start by curing the belly: In a small bowl, combine the pepper, sugar, paprika, salt & curing salt. Place belly on a foil lined tray and pat dry with paper towels. Using half of the cure mix, sprinkle evenly over the surface of the belly, and rub in gently. Turn over and repeat on other side with remaining mix. Place the entire belly and curing mix into a large zip top bag and place in refrigerator for 7 days. Each day the belly should be flipped onto the other side, and the contents (which will transform to a liquid) should be massaged around.
• After 7 days, remove from the bag and rinse under water. Pat dry with paper towels, and place back in fridge uncovered (on a rack over a pan to catch any drips) for 24 hours.
• Smoke the now cured belly using the apple or cherry wood for three hours at 200f, or until internal temperature reaches 150f.
• Store bacon in an airtight plastic bag or container in refrigerator for up to a week, cutting and cooking as required (if you don't eat it all at once!).

HOW TO MAKE MEASURED DRY CURE BACON AT HOME || GLEN & FRIENDS COOKING

Steps:

• Weigh your piece of pork belly.
• Weigh the rest of the cure components:
• Salt is 2.5% of the weight of the pork belly.
• Sugar is 1% of the weight of the pork belly.
• Pink Cure #1 is 0.25% of the weight of the pork belly.
• Mix together the salt, sugar, and pink cure #1.
• The above constitutes the 'cure'.
• If you wish to 'flavour' the bacon you can layer on as much as you want of almost whatever you want.