Rearing our own rare breed saddleback pigs is a great privilege, and one of the greatest benefits is the chance to cure our own bacon. Our four-year-old breeding sow, Iris, is a very gentle and generous mother. Both the back and belly bacon are excellent in flavour – the saddleback was never the most commercial bacon pig, because of its size, but it’s a great excuse just to have a couple of extra rashers.
Curing bacon is simple. The cure mix is cheap and easy to buy online. Weschenfelder is very well stocked in everything you need for bacon-curing, sausage-making and more. After a few days you’ll have your own (green – unsmoked) bacon, ready to cook. I prefer smoked bacon, and make good use of my shop-bought smoker for bacon and salmon throughout the year.
Home-Cured Bacon
- January 15, 2018
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Ingredients
- Boned bacon joint of your choice, either fore loin for back bacon or belly for streaky bacon
- Weschenfelder SupraCure
Directions
- Step 1
- Weigh your joint of meat.
- Step 2
- Work out 5% of that weight (i.e. divide it by 20).
- Step 3
- Weigh out this amount of cure and rub evenly around all of the joint.
- Step 4
- Place the coated joint into a dish and cover with clingfilm, or put into a food bag.
- Step 5
- Put it into your fridge, skin side down and leave for around 5 days (a little more if it’s a particularly thick joint). Check each day to see if much water has come out of the meat and pour away if necessary.
- Step 6
- When that’s done, remove, wash it down, pat dry and slice!
