Dry cured bacon

[243deer]

As part of our days shooting a friend and I like to stop for a cup of tea and a bacon roll. As we poured away ever more white watery cccp whilst starting to cook using shop bought it was time to make our own dry cure bacon.

I found this recipe for exact salt amount and it turns out really well, it is also easy and requires no special equipment so here goes

1.7kg loin of pork

2.5% / 42.5g smoked Malden Sea salt - gives a hint of smoke but not overbearing

1% / 17g Demerra sugar  - stops it drying out too much

0.25% / 4.25g pink salt - this is technically poisonous so needs to be pretty accurate

Lots of black pepper and any other dry flavourings you fancy adding - sure folk will be along with their favourites

Mix together then rub in cure

Vac pac or place in a ziplock with most of the air excluded

Place in fridge and turn every day for 7 days

Wash off and place back in fridge for a day to dry off

Slice, pack and freeze, makes 8 packs of 6 thick cut slices, enjoy

 

 

[TIGHTCHOKE]

That's the way to do it, I bet that will have a superb taste!

[Lloyd90]

I tend to buy Aldi specially selected dry cured bacon, don’t get all the water coming off like on the cheaper stuff. 
 

Yours however looks absolutely cracking  

[JTaylor91]

1 hour ago, Lloyd90 said:

I tend to buy Aldi specially selected dry cured bacon, don’t get all the water coming off like on the cheaper stuff. 
 

Yours however looks absolutely cracking  

I was just going to say Aldi specially selected bacon is the best I’ve had from a supermarket.

[Walker570]

I must look for that Aldi special selected dry cured.  At the moment I buy from a local farm shop and although it is first class bacon it does have that milky white water run off when grilled. I just mop it up with a paper towel and it is good bacon, just a nuisance.  Just notified my purchasing department about the Aldi stuff. BUT must say your home grown bacon looks very good and reminds me of my grandfather curing flitches of bacon and hams back in the late 40s and early 50s from our own pigs. That was proper bacon.

Edited March 15, 2021 by Walker570

[mgsontour]

4 hours ago, 243deer said:

As part of our days shooting a friend and I like to stop for a cup of tea and a bacon roll. As we poured away ever more white watery cccp whilst starting to cook using shop bought it was time to make our own dry cure bacon.

I found this recipe for exact salt amount and it turns out really well, it is also easy and requires no special equipment so here goes

1.7kg loin of pork

2.5% / 42.5g smoked Malden Sea salt - gives a hint of smoke but not overbearing

1% / 17g Demerra sugar  - stops it drying out too much

0.25% / 4.25g pink salt - this is technically poisonous so needs to be pretty accurate

Lots of black pepper and any other dry flavourings you fancy adding - sure folk will be along with their favourites

Mix together then rub in cure

Vac pac or place in a ziplock with most of the air excluded

Place in fridge and turn every day for 7 days

Wash off and place back in fridge for a day to dry off

Slice, pack and freeze, makes 8 packs of 6 thick cut slices, enjoy

 

 

Great post, Broiled bacon has been an annoyance for years, I only buy from a butcher who make their own these days, HOWEVER, I shall go and try your method. . . . I assume you started with a quality lump of pork or was it cheap and cheerful from a supermarket? Cheers

[old man]

30 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

I must look for that Aldi special selected dry cured.  At the moment I buy from a local farm shop and although it is first class bacon it does have that milky white water run off when grilled. I just mop it up with a paper towel and it is good bacon, just a nuisance.  Just notified my purchasing department about the Aldi stuff. BUT must say your home grown bacon looks very good and reminds me of my grandfather curing flitches of bacon and hams back in the late 40s and early 50s from our own pigs. That was proper bacon.

M,m remember well being sent out into a shed for something and being enveloped in the dark by a hanging  large white carcass.

Kicking the blown up bladder about was much more fun for a short while. 

Tasty bacon though courtesy of Mr Moss the slaughterman.

[Wylye]

When I left school I 'lived in' on a farm near the South Yorks/North Lincs border. They killed two pigs a year for the house and they were fed on anything that didn't have to be bought. No freezers in those days, stone slabs in a cellar underground did the job. After pig killing the task was to eat as much of it as you could in the shortest time before it went off. Hams were cured and so were sides of bacon.Unbelievable pork pies and amazing sausages. The bacon however consisted of mostly fat with a thin line of lean meat that looked as if it had been drawn with a felt tip pen. It was OK when well cooked and hot but I never did get used to it cold for breakfast. Character forming.

[Jonty]

19 hours ago, 243deer said:

As part of our days shooting a friend and I like to stop for a cup of tea and a bacon roll. As we poured away ever more white watery cccp whilst starting to cook using shop bought it was time to make our own dry cure bacon.

I found this recipe for exact salt amount and it turns out really well, it is also easy and requires no special equipment so here goes

1.7kg loin of pork

2.5% / 42.5g smoked Malden Sea salt - gives a hint of smoke but not overbearing

1% / 17g Demerra sugar  - stops it drying out too much

0.25% / 4.25g pink salt - this is technically poisonous so needs to be pretty accurate

Lots of black pepper and any other dry flavourings you fancy adding - sure folk will be along with their favourites

Mix together then rub in cure

Vac pac or place in a ziplock with most of the air excluded

Place in fridge and turn every day for 7 days

Wash off and place back in fridge for a day to dry off

Slice, pack and freeze, makes 8 packs of 6 thick cut slices, enjoy

 

Your bacon looks superb - I bet it tastes even better,  

if you make a batch of cure up for say 10kg of meat at your ratios (250g salt, 100g sugar & 25g Cure#1) you can keep it in a jar and then use it at a ration of 37.5g cure per kilo of pork to save mixing it up individually every time.

I love the idea of using smoked salt - I bet that adds a really nice flavour to it...well done sir!

[243deer]

18 hours ago, mgsontour said:

I assume you started with a quality lump of pork or was it cheap and cheerful from a supermarket? Cheers

I have started with cheap and cheerful this first go as that lump cost me 7 quid and I did not want to ruin good meat. 

[243deer]

3 hours ago, Jonty said:

I love the idea of using smoked salt - I bet that adds a really nice flavour to it

I was originally looking for liquid smoke when searching and fortunately someone that knows how key words work on Google had linked to the Malvern smoked. I like Malvern salt anyway, it is lovely for making trout gravlax. It is quite a subtle flavour compared with shop bought but this allows you to taste the meat.

Have been meaning to make a smoker as I would like to try different smoking times - will add to the project list as I have a few on the go at the moment awaiting funds.

[243deer]

22 hours ago, Lloyd90 said:

I tend to buy Aldi specially selected dry cured bacon, don’t get all the water coming off like on the cheaper stuff. 

I will try some next time we go as a comparison but our nearest Aldi and Lidl mean a 30 mile round trip so we do not go that often. 

[Jonty]

6 minutes ago, 243deer said:

I was originally looking for liquid smoke when searching and fortunately someone that knows how key words work on Google had linked to the Malvern smoked. I like Malvern salt anyway, it is lovely for making trout gravlax. It is quite a subtle flavour compared with shop bought but this allows you to taste the meat.

Have been meaning to make a smoker as I would like to try different smoking times - will add to the project list as I have a few on the go at the moment awaiting funds.

If you are looking at making a cold smoker for your bacon etc, I can thoroughly recommend the pro-q cold smoke generator, It's an absolutely fantastic little gadget.  All you need is a box or cabinet to contain the smoke, I have a specific cabinet, but you can even use a cardboard box or an old kitchen cupboard - just needs a couple of holes to let smoke to escape to avid acrid flavours.

Cold Smoke Generator

[Dasher]

4 hours ago, Jonty said:

If you are looking at making a cold smoker for your bacon etc, I can thoroughly recommend the pro-q cold smoke generator, It's an absolutely fantastic little gadget.  All you need is a box or cabinet to contain the smoke, I have a specific cabinet, but you can even use a cardboard box or an old kitchen cupboard - just needs a couple of holes to let smoke to escape to avid acrid flavours.

Cold Smoke Generator

Smoked mature cheddar over the Pro-Q is ridiculously easy (no messing just put on a grill over the smoker, nothing else) and soooooo.. tasty! I'll often put the Sunday beef joint on the smoker over night along with the potatoes before roasting the next day as well. 👍

[PPP]

Superb! The river cottage book has some good recipes and you don’t need to add nitrite (Prague/cure1) if you don’t want to, builds a good base to experiment from.  However the point you make about vac packing is a ‘Game changer’ and I’d fully recommend this, so much simpler and less messy.

I have a Bradley cold and hot smoker and it’s superb, couldn’t recommend it enough 

[GingerCat]

Good job by the looks of it. I buy a maple cure from tongemaster as its quite nice. I cure for a day per cm (thickness)  and then an extra 2. Turning daily in the fridge. Rinse off and pat dry and then smoke for 4 hours in an old metal bin I adapted. Back in the fridge to from up and then thickly cut. 

Last lot was from a friends pig but used the supermarket loins also. Far better than anything I've bought. I'm told by a retired butcher friend that most butchers spray the smoke on and don't actually smoke it these days. The difference in taste is quite a lot. A home smoker can be made with a stout cardboard box if needed. 

[Walker570]

My wife just brought home a pack of dry cured from Morrisons, yet to try it. Looks a bit thin but there again rare to get bacon sliced properly these days  1/8th inch minimum or closer to 1/4 inch is even better.

[Lloyd90]

14 minutes ago, Walker570 said:

My wife just brought home a pack of dry cured from Morrisons, yet to try it. Looks a bit thin but there again rare to get bacon sliced properly these days  1/8th inch minimum or closer to 1/4 inch is even better.

I’ve only ever managed to get proper thick bacon from the butcher but then find it’s hard to get it to crisp up nicely like the thinner stuff. 
 

Just use double portions of the thin stuff

[Walker570]

2 hours ago, Lloyd90 said:

I’ve only ever managed to get proper thick bacon from the butcher but then find it’s hard to get it to crisp up nicely like the thinner stuff. 
 

Just use double portions of the thin stuff

I use treble

[Pangolin]

3 hours ago, Lloyd90 said:

I’ve only ever managed to get proper thick bacon from the butcher but then find it’s hard to get it to crisp up nicely like the thinner stuff. 
 

Just use double portions of the thin stuff

Put it in the oven on a rack, crisps up well, I do it with streaky from the butchers quite often.

 

 

 

243deer, Tidy, that looks great.

I've made a prosciutto ham before but not bacon, a lad from work did give me a load of curing salt so I shluld use it.

I seen a bloke make some streaky bacon from Lamb belly, looked proper, bet its lovely crisped up with mint sauce on a butty.

Edited March 23, 2021 by Pangolin

[Jonty]

1 hour ago, Pangolin said:

I've made a prosciutto ham before but not bacon, a lad from work did give me a load of curing salt so I shluld use it.

I seen a bloke make some streaky bacon from Lamb belly, looked proper, bet its lovely crisped up with mint sauce on a butty.

Pangolin, just make sure your curing salt is Cure#1 or a mix specifically for bacon before you start with It mate.  The stuff for prosciutto is different to what you use for bacon & cooked meats.

[Lloyd90]

3 hours ago, Walker570 said:

I use treble

Now we’re talking  

[Pangolin]

7 hours ago, Jonty said:

Pangolin, just make sure your curing salt is Cure#1 or a mix specifically for bacon before you start with It mate.  The stuff for prosciutto is different to what you use for bacon & cooked meats.

I didnt use it on the prosciutto, I did that with straight sea salt. The curing salt was off a mate that made a corned beef.

[Jonty]

1 hour ago, Pangolin said:

I didnt use it on the prosciutto, I did that with straight sea salt. The curing salt was off a mate that made a corned beef.

Ahh, good stuff, if it’s suitable for corned beef it would be grand for bacon - sorry Pangolin, I wasn’t trying to teach my granny to suck eggs .

how did the prosciutto turn out?

[Pangolin]

28 minutes ago, Jonty said:

Ahh, good stuff, if it’s suitable for corned beef it would be grand for bacon - sorry Pangolin, I wasn’t trying to teach my granny to suck eggs .

how did the prosciutto turn out?

No worries.

 

It turned out great, a whole leg cured for 42 days in salt.

Then I had a few slices off it and the ****** mice got it, they went along the rafter and down the cord it was hanging from.....sore subject haha.

Edited March 24, 2021 by Pangolin