Modern Cookery
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the flitch
Hang the flitch of bacon in a dry place, away from rain.
Ensure the smoke comes from wood, not peat or coal.
Lay the flitch on the floor and cover the flesh side with bran or fine sawdust.
Pat the bran or sawdust down to form a crust.
Pack and store
In a box or chest, layer wood ashes and place the flitch inside, covering it with more ashes.
Store the box in a dry place and dry any damp ashes before replacing them.
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
- Bacon flitch
- Its fat and lean meat are what the smoke and dry packing transform into cured bacon.
- Bran or fine sawdust
- Forms a crust over the flesh that carries smoke flavour into the meat.
The step that matters
Ensure the smoke comes from wood, not peat or coal. Wood smoke gives the clean, pleasant flavour this cure relies on, while peat or coal smoke adds acrid, unpleasant tastes and residues to the fat and surface of the meat.
“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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