The links in these recipes are for products that I use and recommend.
This dry-cured slab bacon recipe is sweet, savory, and herbacious with pure maple syrup, fresh garlic, and lots of fresh herbs. This was one of my original products when I opened Smokey Ridge Charcuterie and The Farm Table and it continued to be the most popular product I made for 10 years running. I’ve adapted it here for the home kitchen and hope you enjoy it.
Curing your own bacon is a great “Intro to Charcuterie” project. It takes a solid week (8 days to be precise) but is really easy so long as you have a kitchen scale, a thermometer, and some refrigerator space that you can spare for a bit.
Before starting this recipe…
The recipe below is scaled for 10 lbs which is the approximate weight of one pork belly, but it is also an easy unit for scaling. For best results and safety, please scale this recipe to the actual weight of your pork belly. For example, if your belly weighs 9 lbs, you would multiply the quantity of each ingredient by 0.9. If your pork belly weighs 12 lbs, you would multiply the quantity of each ingredient by 1.2. If you were making a whole pigs worth of bacon, say 24 lbs of belly, you could scale this recipe by a factor of 2.4.
This recipe calls for curing salt #1 (check out this post for a comprehensive discussion on salt). The actual amount of sodium nitrite is 200 parts per million – a very small amount. This ingredient adds to the rosy hue of ham and bacon and in my opinion, makes a better-tasting product by preventing oxidation. In some products, sodium nitrite plays an important role in food safety by preventing the growth of clostridium botulinum (the bacteria responsible for botulism). However, it does not add much to food safety for this product as you are curing it under refrigerated temperatures and cooking it and cooling it relatively quickly so if you would like to omit it, go ahead. Just be aware, that bacon made without it will not be pink (or quite as tasty).
If you would like to use the curing salt, but don’t want to buy a large amount to try out this one recipe, I have scads of it and can mail you some for free if you are one of my subscribers. Just update your preferences to include your mailing address and shoot me an email requesting some curing salt.
You will want to get a pork belly without skin for this recipe. If you can only find skin-on bellies, it is easier and you’ll lose a lot less if you cure and cook the belly with the skin on and then cut it off than it is to cut it when raw (and slippery).
How to use dry-cured slab bacon.
Having slab bacon on hand in the refrigerator is a real treat! Here’s a couple of ideas of what you can do with it:
- You can slice it into strips and fry it as you would store-bought bacon.
- Make lardons to top salads or soups. Simply dice it 1/4″ or so, and fry it until crispy.
- Use it in place of ham in soups and bean dishes. Start the soup by sauteing the bacon. Then add your veggies and sautee in the bacon fat before adding your broth.
- Bacon skewers. Cut strips 1/8 inch thick, thread them onto a skewer, brush them with maple syrup, bake until crispy and serve them as an appetizer. This makes a great party appetizer.
- The possibilities are really endless.
Dry-Cured Bacon vs. Wet-Cured Bacon
The bacon you buy in the store is wet-cured or brined. This process adds water weight. The dry-curing process pulls water out of the pork belly, creating a more concentrated bacon flavor. This means that when you are cooking bacon in the pan, it will not release nearly as much water. You will want to use a lower heat when frying this bacon and watch it as it can go from perfect to overdone quickly, especially if you are cooking at high temperatures.
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Dry-Cured Bacon
- Prep Time: 8 days
- Cook Time: 4 hours or so
- Total Time: 8 days 4 hours
- Yield: 1 belly (about 10 lbs) 1x
- Category: Meat
- Method: Smoker
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
This is bacon for bacon connoisseurs.
Ingredients
10 lbs pork belly (skin-off)
100 grams salt
100 grams brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 bunch fresh thyme (about 20 sprigs or so)
10 crushed garlic cloves
12 g pink salt
10 grams whole black peppercorns
10 bay leaves
Instructions
Get a weight on your pork belly and scale the recipe accordingly.
Remove the pork belly from the package and pat it dry with paper towels. Transfer it to the container you will be curing it in. You may want to cut the pork belly into more manageable sized pieces and that is fine to do so in this step.
In a mixing bowl combine all the dry ingredients except for the bay and thyme. Mix this around to evenly distribute the curing salt and break up any clumps of brown sugar.
Add the maple syrup and mix. It will form a grainy paste.
Spread this paste all over the belly, top and bottom. Sprinkle the thyme sprigs and bay under and over the belly. Cover and refrigerate for 3-4 days.
Remove the curing belly from the refrigerator. The salt will have pulled water out of the meat and created a brine in the container. Using your hands, turn all the pieces of bacon (so what was on top is now on the bottom) and rub everything with the brine. Cover and refrigerate for another 3-4 days for a total cure time of 7 days.
Remove the bacon from the refrigerator. Rinse the cure off of the pork belly. Pat it dry and lay it out on a rack in a single layer. Refrigerate for one day. If you are doing this during the winter in colder climes, you can leave the bacon out in your garage for this step, just make sure the area is clean and the overnight temp in the garage is under 41 F but not freezing.
Preheat your smoker to 180-225. Smoke until the bacon reaches an internal temperature of 140-145 degrees.
Cool the bacon.
At this time bacon can be cut, used, wrapped, vacuum sealed and/or frozen. This bacon will last at least 2 weeks in the fridge (longer if vacuum sealed and unopened), or 6 months in the freezer.
Equipment
Buy Now → Notes
If you do not have a smoker, you can cook this in an oven set to 225, on a rack placed over a sheet pan. Add half of the salt as smoked salt to add a smokey flavor.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, Kara! We’d be lost without your amazing bacon and our stash in the freezer is almost gone. Can’t wait to try making it at home. Very sweet of you to think of us bacon fans!
My pleasure! Let me know it works for you.
My son is a HUGE bacon fan and loves all things bacon. He’s going to love giving this a try!
What flavor of wood do you use?
Great recipe! Nice to finally see one for a full slab with good herb and spice.
It sure lwsts a much longer time that a few weeks in the frig. If using curing salts it will last for months h7ng in a cool room. It will dry more but its still good. Inntge frig vacuum sealed it will ladt many months. I tge reezer practically indefinitely.
I cold smoke mine and check for a certain moisture loss. Usually 15-20%. Usually will hang for a few days more if needed.
I tried a slight variation in the cure mix application. I smeared the slab first with the maple syrup tgen shook the dry cure on. Seemed to work well. I then put it in a vacuum seal bag. Every couple days massaged it and flipped it. As this recipe is equilibrium salt cure no worries about over salting unless you cure it way too long 3 wks plus. Running cure salt #1 @ 0.25% and reg salt @ 2.25%. I normally run the same ratio of sugar salt ax yours in tge padt but I really like your herb/spice blend. Better than what I was using. Its a great savoy sweet taste without too heavy pepper flavor
Thanks again for making your recupe available!
Cheers!
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