—Order five pounds of fresh pork belly from your grocery store, the pork guy at your farmers market, or from a local butcher shop.—Buy a box of 2-gallon zip-top bags if you don’t have a container big enough to hold the belly.
Prep time: PT10080M
Rating
5 stars (5 reviews)
Keywords
bacon, cured, homemade
Ingredients
4 tbsp coarse kosher salt ((I like Morton or Diamond Crystal))
2 tsp pink curing salt ((order from butcherpacker.com, sold under the name DQ Curing salt))
4 tbsp coarsely ground pepper
4 bay leaves (crumbled)
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 cup brown sugar or honey or maple syrup
5 garlic cloves (smashed with the flat side of a chef’s knife)
Combine all the ingredients except the pork belly in a 2-gallon zip-top bag. Shake the bag to distribute the ingredients. Put your belly in the zip-top bag (you could also do this in a plastic container, or on a sheet tray with plastic wrap. Rub the salt and spice mixture all over the belly. Close the bag refrigerator it for seven days. Redistribute the seasoning twice or more throughout the week.
After seven days, take it out of the fridge, rinse off all the seasonings under cold water and pat it dry.
Cook the belly in a 300˚F oven to an internal temperature of 150˚F, about 40 minutes.
Let it cool and refrigerate it until you’re ready to cook slice and cook. But I know. You won’t be able to wait. So cut off a piece and cook it. Taste it, savor it. Congratulations! It’s bacon!
Reviews
Rob on 2023-06-18 (5 stars): What about adding some sake to the brine? I heard of people adding spirits, but sake is usually about 14-15% and could be doubled up for the same strength... Love the koji flavor in everything.
Jacob Alzamora on 2021-12-27 (5 stars): My first experiment with curing was mostly a success! I will admit the finished product is a bit too salty for my taste. I started with about a 5lb slab of belly, skin off. I mixed up a batch of the basic dry cure from your book, but that's when I hit a bit of a bump in the road. The amount of cure indicated in the book wasn't enough to cover the surface of the belly, so I switched to a pseudo salt-box method where I dusted the belly with enough cure to cover and then shook the excess off. I see two potential remedies - less time, or less coverage. With the latter I'm concerned about uneven curing so I'm inclined to stop at 4 days next time and note the results. Any input would be greatly appreciated!
TexNOz on 2021-03-04 (5 stars): Hey Mate, can you give us the ingredients in grams as well? Kosher salt is impossible to find here in Australia and weights of everything would be super helpful. Cheers.
Robert Grenader on 2021-02-10 (5 stars): Not at all. I have been following this mix for like 5 years and have never gotten sick. I've found that cured bacon is excessively salty after it comes out of the curing mix. I soak it overnight in tap water which desalinates the pork belly prior to smoking.
