How to Season Pork to Make Bacon

Seasoning is added to pork at the curing stage

Pork is made into bacon during a curing process in which herbs, spices or other seasoning can be added to enhance the flavor of the meat. Salt is an integral part of the curing process as it draws moisture from the meat making it less hospitable to bacteria and gives bacon its distinctive flavor. You can either wet-cure or dry-cure pork to make bacon.

Things You'll Need

• 4.5lbs of salt
• 7.5oz grams of sugar
• 5 gallons of water
• Large saucepan
• Large fridge
• Large sealable plastic container
• 4.5lbs of pig belly
• Cool box
• Ice packs
• Peppercorns, honey, beer or other optional seasoning
• Meat hook
• Knife

Instructions

Dry Cure

1. Mix the salt and sugar together and add any additional seasoning to taste. The sugar helps to counteract the taste of the salt.

2. Rub generous handfuls of the mixture over the pork belly until it's fully covered and the salt, sugar and seasoning has begun to permeate the surface of the meat.

3. Place the pork belly into the the cool box and add the ice packs before sealing. If you have cured multiple pieces of meat, stack them on top of one another. Place the cooler in a cool, dark place like a garage.

4. Allow the meat to cure for between one to two weeks depending on personal preference. A longer curing period will result in a drier, saltier bacon. You'll need to open the box on a daily basis to drain any liquid that leaches from your meat and restack it in the reverse order.

5. Remove the meat from the cooler and soak in clean, fresh water for two hours. Then, replace the water and soak for another hour.

6. Hang the meat to dry for between 24 and 48 hours before slicing into bacon.

Wet Cure

1. Pour five gallons of water into your large saucepan and add the sugar, salt and any other seasoning you wish to flavor with to make a brine.

2. Put the pan on a stove and boil hard for 10 minutes.

3. Allow the brine to cool, and chill separately with the pork belly in a refrigerator overnight.

4. Decant the brine into a large plastic container and add the meat so it's fully covered. You may need to use non-metallic weights to achieve this before sealing the container.

5. Place the container in a fridge. As a general rule of thumb, pork belly should be left to wet-cure for 12 hours a pound after which time you can remove the meat and hang for up to 48 hours before slicing.

References

• Three Men: Makin' Bacon
• Accidental Smallholder: Dry-Curing Bacon
• Accidental Smallholder: Wet-Curing bacon