To Cure Bacon — Said to Be Equal to the Burlington Method of Curing Hams
Ingredients
Directions
Salt and drain
Salt the pork well with fine salt.
Pack it on boards with a slope to let the brine run off.
Let it sit for 8 to 10 days.
Dry and cure
Wipe each piece dry with a coarse cloth.
Sprinkle a heaping teaspoonful of crystallized saltpeter on each ham and shoulder, rubbing it in well.
Salt again and pack in tight casks.
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
- Fine salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and helps preserve it during curing.
- Crystallized saltpeter
- Acts as a curing agent that helps preserve the meat and gives it a pink color.
The step that matters
Rubbing in the saltpeter. Saltpeter is a potent curing agent, so the measured heaping teaspoonful should be spread evenly over each piece. Uneven distribution leaves some areas over-cured and others under-cured.
“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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