Wiltshire Bacon
Ingredients
Directions
Cure
Sprinkle the flitch with salt and let the blood drain for 24 hours.
Mix the sugar, coarse sea salt, saltpetre, and coarse salt, then rub the mixture well on the bacon, turning and wetting it daily for a month.
Dry and smoke
Hang the bacon to dry, then smoke it for 10 days.
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
- Saltpetre
- Preserves the meat and gives cured bacon its pink colour.
- Coarse salt
- Draws out moisture and preserves the meat during the long cure.
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws out moisture and seasons the meat during the cure.
- Coarse sugar
- Balances the salt and adds a mild sweetness to the cure.
The step that matters
Turning and wetting the bacon daily during the cure. Salt must reach every part of the meat evenly. Regular turning and rubbing redistribute the brine and cure, so thick areas do not stay under-cured or spoil while others over-salt.
“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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