Here I report on my first effort at homemade bacon.
Firstly, choose
the cut of bellypork to make your favourite type of bacon. The
usual types are:
![short_cut_rashers_sm.png](../images/short_cut_rashers_sm.png)
Short cut rashers
|
![middle_rashers_sm.png](../images/middle_rashers_sm.png)
Middle rashers
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![streaky_rashers.png](../images/streaky_rashers.png)
Streaky rashers
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Prepare the dry cure
-
400 g table
salt
-
200 g sugar
(either white or brown as preferred)
-
60 g No. 1
Pink Curing Salt (Prague Powder)
This is pink in color so that it is not mistaken for table
salt.
It comprises 6.25% Sodium Nitrite and 93.75% table salt
(NaCl).
The nitrite is antimicrobial and helps preserve processed
foods.
Method
This is a dry cure
method (no soaking in brine).
-
Wash and dry
the cut of belly pork
-
Weigh the cut
and to each kilogram of pork, add 25 g of the dry cure
prepared in the manner described above.
-
Evenly rub the
dry cure all over the bellypork.
-
Place the
salted bellypork in a ZipLock bag and leave it in a
refrigerator for 7 - 8 days.
-
At the end of
the curing period, wash the bellypork with water.
The amount of washing/soaking will depend on how salty you
prefer your bacon.
![cured_bacon.png](../images/cured_bacon.png)
8-day cured
bellypork
-
At this point
you may slice up the bacon to your preferred thickness but
ensure that these slices are bagged and then frozen as bacon
is a perishable product.
-
To further
develop flavor and enhance its keeping property, smoke the
bellypork with low heat (only parcook the cut).
![smoked_cured_bacon_sm.png](../images/smoked_cured_bacon_sm.png)
Smoked, cured
bellypork ready for slicing into bacon rashers
![my_bacon_sm.png](../images/my_bacon_sm.png)
Thick cut rashers
of homemade bacon
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