How to cure your own bacon at home

There are a few places on a pig that bacon is produced from but for the purposes of this blog we will be talking about pork belly.

Usually for home curing you will want your pork belly in one big slab of meat but in the case that you have bought uncured fresh bacon from a local farm or your butcher made a mistake you’ll want to adjust your method slightly.

When you are working with fresh sliced pork belly you will want to keep the slices together to represent a slab, you can also tie the slices together if they are prone to fall apart.

The purpose of curing

There are many different recipes for curing and seasoning meat. Curing meat is simply the application of salt to meat which essentially preserves it by removing moisture from the meat which otherwise promotes bacterial growth, and so once cured your meat will last longer without spoiling, maintain its colour and also enhance the flavour. You can use different types and blends of salt for curing meat however for this article we are using a salt only cure.

Salt only cure

What you need

Salt -1 box kosher salt ( without iodine)
2 food grade plastic totes ( to fit on a shelf in your fridge)
4lbs fresh sliced pork belly

Prepare your totes so that one fits inside the other. The top tote will hold the bacon and salt and the bottom tote will catch the liquid. Prepare your totes so that the top tote has holes all over the bottom ( like a colander) and allow the fluid that comes out of the meat to drain through to the bottom layer.

Method.

Assemble your containers as described above
Place a layer of salt in the base of the top tote - should be a couple of table spoons depending on the size of your container (you want to cover the base of the tub but not a super thick layer)
Add half your bacon ( 2lbs) as a slab or layer ( fat side down into the salt)
Add another layer of salt over the bottom layer of bacon ( approx 2tbsp)
Add another 2lb slab or layer of bacon
Add a final layer of salt over the bacon ( approx 2tbsp)

Do not cover with a lid

Set tubs on a shelf in your fridge for 5 days

After 5 days remove bacon from totes and set on a plate.
Discard the liquid from the bottom tote and throughly wash and dry both totes.
Repeat process over again as above for another 5 days but this time switch the layers of bacon around so that the meat that was on the top layer now goes on the bottom and vice versa. You will notice a colour change in some of the meat from bright red to dark red/brownish this is normal.

After another 5 days remove from fridge.
Wash the salt off your meat with water and pat your bacon dry with kitchen towel

You can now cook your bacon either on the stove top or bake in the oven. If not using immediately keep in the refrigerator for upto 7 days or store longer term in the freezer.