Curing Bacon.

[Mikey063]

I have decided to make my own bacon. For this I purchased 2 slabs of pork belly. I decided also to not use any nitrates in this. After the cure/brining process I will be smoking them using apple wood.

I am doing a wet cure and a dry cure method.

I will be brining the pork for 4 to 7 days, then drying them, then applying a dry cure for 48 hours.

This is the ingredients for each.

wet cure/brine:


Best ratio for brine: 3/4 quart salt to 1 full quart of brown sugar, per gallon of water. This is the La Laiterie *secret* brine recipe...although I guess not that secret anymore! You should of course heat up your brine in a pot, steep it with fresh herb sprigs, shallots, garlic, juniper berries and the like. Then cool down your brine, strain it and once cool- submerge the belly. Let it sit for anywhere from 2 to 4 days (depending on the size of the belly).



Dry cure:
50g kosher salt
60g turbinado sugar
40g ground tellicherry peppercorns
8g pink salt


The dry cure will be vacuum sealed.


I found the above recipe from another website forum, while I am unsure if I can post a link, I won't, needless to say the recipe is a winner. The reason I know this is the fact that my neighbor tried it and it tastes great.