Why it works: Sugar and molasses are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,225 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
To Cure Bacon, Hams and Shoulders
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cure
Cover the bottom of an oak barrel with coarse sea salt.
Rub each piece of meat thoroughly with a mixture of salt and sugar, placing them skin side down in the barrel.
Make a brine with the remaining salt and sugar mixture, and pour it over the meat.
Place a round board smaller than the barrel on the meat, weighted down to keep it submerged.
Cure and smoke
Let the meat cure for 3 to 8 weeks, depending on size; bacon should be removed after 3 weeks.
Drain the meat.
Sprinkle with cayenne pepper, especially around the bone.
Hang the meat to drain for 2 days before smoking.
Smoke the meat with corn cobs or green hickory or maple wood, ensuring there is smoke but no heat.
Smoke with the hock end down to retain juices.
Remove the meat after 4 weeks of smoking.
Sprinkle with ground black pepper.
Wrap and store
Tie in paper sacks.
Hang in a dry, dark, cool place, checking for mold.
Wrap the meat in paper.
Sew it into a coarse cotton bag.
Whitewash the outside.
Hang in a cool area.
Pack the meat in oats, shelled corn, or clean hay.
Keep it covered in a dry place.
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.
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Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,225 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Molasses + peppertop 31% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together897 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Sugar + peppertop 32% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together19,401 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 19,401 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and preserves it during the cure.
- Sugar
- Balances the salt's harshness and adds a mild sweetness to the cured meat.
- Saltpetre
- Helps the meat keep its pink colour and slows spoilage during long curing.
- New orleans molasses
- Adds moisture, deep sweetness and colour to the cure's surface.
The step that matters
Keeping the meat submerged in the brine. Any part of the meat left above the brine can spoil or grow mold during the weeks-long cure. A weighted board keeps every surface in contact with the salt-sugar brine so the cure penetrates evenly.
“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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