AndrewOSpencer

The last two pigs I've shot have been pretty good sized. The bellies were really thick and I am curing some bacon in my fridge right now. For those of you who've never made bacon, you really should give it a go. I explain each of these a little more over at my silly blog, but here are the basic tools you need to make bacon:

1. Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing by Ruhlman.
2. Coarse Kosher Salt
3. Pink Salt (6.25% sodium nitrite)
4. Dextrose
5. Pork
6. An Electronic Scale
7. 2 gallon Zip lock bags
8. Refridgerator
9. Smoker
10. Fresh Spices

Its such an easy process, I hate to think of all the fine pork belly ground into sausage. Or worse left lying.

Here is some of the last batch I cut into lardons to add to a pot of pinto beans:


For those of you who've made bacon before, can you add to the tools above?

craig

Fine looking meat man!

Lots leaner than store bought, not a surprise there through.

I know they do a lot of damage to Ag and wildlife habitat, but sometimes wish we had some near me, but don't.

Murdy

How long do you let it cure? I used to work for a sausage maker, and we made bacon commercially too. We used a vacuum tumbler to speed up the curing process and it still took a while.

AndrewOSpencer

About a week, depends on the thickness.

olsaltydog

Looks like a good bit of information, always wanted to get my hands on a couple pigs but on the few we have gotten we ended up doing a full pig roast. Think that means I need to get more pigs.

Question: you mention curing time varies and in the blog you mention until it gets firm. Is there a method you use to check for firmness like with the beef for rare to well done. Any way you could make a similar comparison for the rest of us.

AndrewOSpencer

Sure, it goes from raw (squishy) to what I'd guess medium rare in firmness. The salts penetrate the meat and fat drawing out the water. If you cure it too long, it will be salty. It's not ruined, it just needs a quick blanching (about a minute) before frying.

Murdy

Thanks for all the good info.

olsaltydog

Thanks thought a comparison would clear and define what firmness means. Firmness can fluctuate from one individual to another. Also thought some people keep their fridges at different temps so a lower temp may give the impression of firmer meat earlier then a fridge at a higher temp. Thanks though and the information is very useful.

jls456

Thanks for the info. I will try it on my next hog.