To Cure Bacon in Flitches, or Whole Sides
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pork
Remove all lard, tails, ears, and pigtails from the pork.
Rub the skin side of the meat thoroughly with warmed salt.
Let the pig hang for 2 days to tenderize, or use while still warm.
Cure
Turn the meat and sprinkle a thick layer of salt mixed with a small amount of saltpetre inside.
Press the salt down firmly and cover the meat with blankets.
Place a gentle weight on top and let it sit for a week, basting with brine.
After a week, rub the outside with fresh salt and cover the inside again.
Let the meat sit for another 10 days, then drain it.
Dry and hang
Roll the meat in bran or coarse barleymeal and hang it up in the kitchen.
Once thoroughly dry, move it to a dry place to hang until needed.
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
- Whole sides of pork
- Provides the meat that becomes bacon, with fat and skin left in place during curing.
- Warmed salt
- Draws out moisture and seasons the meat, firming its texture as it cures.
- Saltpetre
- Helps preserve the meat's pink colour and guards against spoilage during long curing.
The step that matters
Pressing and re-salting the meat through the cure. Salt must fully penetrate the thick meat and draw out moisture evenly. Uneven salting or too little pressure can leave spoiled or unevenly cured spots, so the salt must be packed firmly and reapplied as directed.
“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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