dry cured bacon
from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall:
Two whole sides of pork belly, with ribs intact
1kg salt
Half kilo brown sugar
6 bay leaves - shred
juniper berries 20-30
table spoon whole black pepper
Instructions:
Rub cure all over pork belly, making sure to get the cure into all the slits
put into a plastic container and cover
Leave in fridge for 12 hours
Take out the pork, pour away all the liquid and apply again
Repeat for 3 to 6 days
Wash away all the cure
Pat dry the pork and leave to dry for 3 weeks in the fridge
(ideally should be hung for 3 weeks, but difficult in a warm climate)
Ingredients:
Two whole sides of pork belly, with ribs intact
The Cure:
1kg salt
Half kilo brown sugar
6 bay leaves - shred
juniper berries 20-30
table spoon whole black pepper
Instructions:
Rub cure all over pork belly, making sure to get the cure into all the slits
put into a plastic container and cover
Leave in fridge for 12 hours
Take out the pork, pour away all the liquid and apply again
Repeat for 3 to 6 days
Wash away all the cure
Pat dry the pork and leave to dry for 3 weeks in the fridge
(ideally should be hung for 3 weeks, but difficult in a warm climate)
Home-cured bacon
This recipe produces a versatile, pancetta-style streaky bacon: strong and concentrated in flavour, a little on the salty side, and a wonderful addition to many stews, soups, salads and sauces. Good-sized chunks will slowly render their flavour and a little of their fat into a daube of beef or venison, say - and you won't need to add any extra salt, either. It also makes a mean bacon and egg sarnie.
You need good fat pork bellies - those from rare-breed pigs such as Gloucester Old Spots, Saddlebacks or Middle Whites are best. A whole belly from one side of a pig may be up to 1m long, leaner and thicker at the head end and fattier and thinner towards the tail. It divides neatly into three pieces of a good size both for salting and for hanging and storing.
It's hard to give exact quantities for the dry-cure mix, but these quantities should be about right for three pieces of belly. You may need to make up a little more, in the same proportions, after the first few days. Incidentally, my bacon doesn't require sodium nitrate (aka saltpetre); salt alone will do the job. The resulting bacon will lose its pinkness when cooked (saltpetre preserves colour, salt does not), but the taste will be better.
1 whole free-range or organic (and preferably rare-breed) pork belly, cut into three equal pieces
Around 750g salt
Around 250g soft brown sugar
25g freshly ground black pepper
Optional aromatics
A few bayleaves, finely chopped
20 juniper berries, lightly crushed
25g coriander seeds, crushed
In a clean, non-metallic container, and with clean hands, mix the salt, sugar, pepper and any of the optional ingredients you are using.
Place one piece of belly at a time on a clean work surface. Grab a good handful of the dry-cure mix and rub it all over the surface of the meat. When the belly is thoroughly salted all over, place it in a clean box or tray, again non-metallic (wood, plastic or ceramic is ideal), and repeat with the other pieces. Stack the finished bellies on top of each other and leave, covered, in a cool place, safe from flies. Keep any left-over cure.
After 24 hours, the meat will have leached salty liquid into the container. Remove the bellies, pour off this liquid and rub the meat all over with more cure. Re-stack the bellies, preferably moving the one that was on the bottom to the top. Repeat the process daily. The bacon will be ready in just four days, though if you cure it for longer (up to 10 days), it will keep for longer.
Bellies cured in this way should be rinsed of excess salt, patted dry, wrapped in clean muslin and left to hang in a cool, well-ventilated place, such as a larder, garage or outhouse. Cut pieces off the belly as you need them, then rewrap and rehang. Alternatively, wrap the belly in cotton, muslin or greaseproof paper and store in the fridge.
Bellies cured for more than 10 days will keep for months in this way but tend to be unpalatably over-salty. Counteract this by soaking pieces cut from them in fresh water for a few hours. My preference is for a lighter (four- or five-day) cure. Any I'm not likely to use within a month get vacuum-packed and frozen.
You need good fat pork bellies - those from rare-breed pigs such as Gloucester Old Spots, Saddlebacks or Middle Whites are best. A whole belly from one side of a pig may be up to 1m long, leaner and thicker at the head end and fattier and thinner towards the tail. It divides neatly into three pieces of a good size both for salting and for hanging and storing.
It's hard to give exact quantities for the dry-cure mix, but these quantities should be about right for three pieces of belly. You may need to make up a little more, in the same proportions, after the first few days. Incidentally, my bacon doesn't require sodium nitrate (aka saltpetre); salt alone will do the job. The resulting bacon will lose its pinkness when cooked (saltpetre preserves colour, salt does not), but the taste will be better.
1 whole free-range or organic (and preferably rare-breed) pork belly, cut into three equal pieces
Around 750g salt
Around 250g soft brown sugar
25g freshly ground black pepper
Optional aromatics
A few bayleaves, finely chopped
20 juniper berries, lightly crushed
25g coriander seeds, crushed
In a clean, non-metallic container, and with clean hands, mix the salt, sugar, pepper and any of the optional ingredients you are using.
Place one piece of belly at a time on a clean work surface. Grab a good handful of the dry-cure mix and rub it all over the surface of the meat. When the belly is thoroughly salted all over, place it in a clean box or tray, again non-metallic (wood, plastic or ceramic is ideal), and repeat with the other pieces. Stack the finished bellies on top of each other and leave, covered, in a cool place, safe from flies. Keep any left-over cure.
After 24 hours, the meat will have leached salty liquid into the container. Remove the bellies, pour off this liquid and rub the meat all over with more cure. Re-stack the bellies, preferably moving the one that was on the bottom to the top. Repeat the process daily. The bacon will be ready in just four days, though if you cure it for longer (up to 10 days), it will keep for longer.
Bellies cured in this way should be rinsed of excess salt, patted dry, wrapped in clean muslin and left to hang in a cool, well-ventilated place, such as a larder, garage or outhouse. Cut pieces off the belly as you need them, then rewrap and rehang. Alternatively, wrap the belly in cotton, muslin or greaseproof paper and store in the fridge.
Bellies cured for more than 10 days will keep for months in this way but tend to be unpalatably over-salty. Counteract this by soaking pieces cut from them in fresh water for a few hours. My preference is for a lighter (four- or five-day) cure. Any I'm not likely to use within a month get vacuum-packed and frozen.
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