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To Cure a Smaller Quantity of Bacon

This recipe describes curing bacon using salt, saltpetre, molasses, and water over several weeks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Ham and molasses work together. They rank in the top 38% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 55 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

To Cure a Smaller Quantity of Bacon

Ingredients

Directions

Dry cure

  1. Mix the fine salt and saltpetre together.

  2. Rub the mixture thoroughly into each ham.

  3. Pack the hams skin side down in a clean tub.

  4. Let them cure for 6 weeks.

Smoke

  1. Hang the hams up and smoke them for 6 weeks.

  2. For brining, turn a barrel over a pan or kettle with a slow smoking fire of hard wood for 5 to 8 days.

  3. Keep water on the head of the barrel to prevent shrinking.

Make and apply the brine

  1. In a separate container, dissolve 12 pounds of salt, 12 ounces of saltpetre, and 2 quarts of molasses in 6 gallons of water.

  2. Boil and skim the brine, then let it cool.

  3. Pour the cooled brine over the hams.

  4. The hams will be cured in one week.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Ham + molassestop 38% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together55 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Hams
The meat being cured, which the salt and saltpetre penetrate and preserve.
Fine salt
Draws out moisture and seasons the meat, slowing spoilage during the dry cure.
Saltpetre
Helps the meat keep its pink colour and adds to the preserving effect of the cure.
Molasses
Adds sweetness and a mild flavour to the brine.

The step that matters

Keeping the barrel's water topped up. Wood shrinks as it dries, and a shrinking barrel can open gaps and leak or lose its seal, so keeping water on the head helps it stay tight over the long smoking period.

“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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