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To Cure English Bacon

This recipe describes curing hog meat into bacon using salt, sugar, saltpetre, and smoking.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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To Cure English Bacon

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the dressed hog into proper pieces.

  2. Mix 4 quarts of coarse sea salt, ¼ pound of saltpetre, and 4 pounds of sugar.

  3. Rub the mixture thoroughly over each piece of meat.

  4. Place the pieces in a tight tub or suitable cask.

Cure

  1. Baste the meat with the brine formed from its juices 2-3 times a week, turning each piece each time.

Smoke

  1. Smoke the bacon for 3 weeks to a month using black birch chips or hickory wood.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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

Hog
Provides the meat and fat that become the bacon after curing and smoking.
Coarse sea salt
Draws out moisture and preserves the meat during the cure.
Saltpetre
Helps preserve the meat and keeps its color during curing.
Sugar
Balances the salt and adds mild sweetness to the cured meat.

The step that matters

Turning and basting the cure. Each piece must be turned and basted with its own released brine so the salt and sugar penetrate evenly. Uneven contact lets some areas spoil or cure unevenly.

“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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