Curing Bacon—different Methods
Ingredients
Directions
Make the brine
Boil the water and add the salt, sugar, saltpetre, and bay salt.
Skim the mixture well.
Cure the bacon
Let the bacon cure for three months.
Boil the brine every three months to preserve it.
Rub the salt mixture thoroughly into the meat.
Turn the flitches daily for a month.
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
- Coarse sea salt
- Draws moisture out of the meat and helps preserve it during curing.
- Coarse brown sugar
- Balances the saltiness and adds mild sweetness to the cured meat.
- Saltpetre
- Helps preserve the meat and gives the cured bacon its pink colour.
The step that matters
Skim the brine well. Impurities and foam rise to the surface as the brine boils. Removing them keeps the cure clean and reduces the chance of spoilage during the long curing period.
“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.
You might also like
Delicate Cake246 recipes
Boiled Frosting69 recipes
Citron Cake68 recipes
Scotch Cake63 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.