Bacon
Ingredients
Directions
Cure the pork
Rub the fleshy side of the bacon well with common salt, using more on this side than the skin.
Mix the common salt, saltpetre, and sugar or treacle to create a pickle.
Dry the salt in an old frying pan over the fire before using.
Place the flitches in a pickling trough, skin side down.
Rub salt into them again the next day.
Leave the bacon in the trough for 1 month to 6 weeks, depending on size and weather.
Repeat the rubbing process 4 to 5 times at weekly intervals.
Dry and store
Hang the bacon in a warm, draughty place to dry until firm.
Once firm, move the bacon to racks or hooks near the kitchen ceiling.
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
- Common salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and preserves it against spoilage.
- Saltpetre
- Preserves the meat and helps it keep its pink colour during curing.
- Coarse sugar or treacle
- Balances the salt with sweetness and adds flavour to the cured meat.
The step that matters
Rubbing the salt in evenly and repeating it. Salt must reach the whole thickness of the meat. Uneven rubbing leaves spoilage-prone spots, and skipping the repeated rubs lets the cure penetrate too slowly to preserve the meat safely.
“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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