Cured Bacon
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cure
Dissolve salt in hot water to create brine.
Mix brown sugar and saltpetre, then rub into the meat.
Cure and finish
Place the meat in the brine for 2 days.
Remove the meat, rub with salt, and return to the brine.
After 6 to 8 weeks, dry and smoke the meat before use.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Saltpetre
- Acts as a curing agent that helps preserve the meat and gives bacon its pink colour.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness and balances the saltiness of the cure.
The step that matters
Returning the meat to the brine after the salt rub. The salt rub and brine must fully penetrate the meat over the long cure. Keeping the meat submerged and undisturbed lets the salt and curing agent spread evenly, which helps prevent spoilage and uneven curing.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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