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Bacon

A very simple bacon recipe made with a dry cure to EU standards.
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Ingredients
  

Per Kg of meat (pork loin or belly)

  • 8.25 g Sugar I use white castor sugar but use whatever takes your fancy.
  • 25 g Salt (Sodium Chloride) 2.5% Table salt, sea salt, whatever you like.
  • 24 g Cure number 1 0.24% or 150 ppm Sodium Nitrite

Instructions
 

Weigh out and thoroughly mix the cure ingredients

  • I weigh each ingredient and add it to a small storage jar so that I can shake the jar to mix the ingredients. You want a homogeneous mixture.

Prepare the meat

  • If you are using Belly, I include the bones when weighing but I like to separate them from the belly and then cure both belly and ribs together in the same vac bag to make bacon ribs. You could leave the bones attached but I just think that the cure will penetrate the meat better with them separated.
  • If you are using pork loin these are often sold rolled and tied up with string. Remove the string and flatten out the loin.

Add the cure

  • Rub the cure into the meat on all sides. I do this in a plastic tub to catch the inevitable cure that falls off. You will need to work quickly as the cure will draw moisture from the meat straight away. If you are too slow the expelled water will make it difficult to seal the vac bag in the next step.

Vac pack

  • Place the meat and cure in a vac bag. Tip in any residual cure from your plastic tub and vacuum seal it.

Leave to cure

  • Leave the vac packed meat in the bottom of the fridge for 10 days minimum, 2 weeks max. Give the meat a daily massage at least in the first few days to distribute the cure.
  • After your desired time give the meat a brief rinse under cold water and pat dry with kitchen roll or a clean tea towel. Put back in the fridge to dry out for a few days, up to a week. Slice and eat, or vac pack and freeze.
  • I smoke cured belly after the final drying stage and before thickly slicing and vac packing. I use smoked belly mainly as a cooking ingredient in any recipe that calls for Pancetta.