Here’s how I make my own bacon (Recipe/How-To):
Homemade Bacon Recipe/How-To
Seasoning:
- 2,5 kg skinless pork belly
- 30 g/kg curing salt (0.5% sodium nitrite, please read here for food safety!)
- 10 g/kg brown sugar
- 3 g/kg freshly ground black pepper
Curing:
Vacuum-seal and store in your fridge for 14 days, or for calculating 2 days per cm thickness plus 2-3 days safety. Flip over daily. It should become firmer to the touch and give off some liquid, which cures the bacon.
Drying:
Take out the bacon, pat dry and hang up to dry using kitchen thread for about 24 hrs. A fan will come in handy.
(Cold-)Smoking:
Prepare your smokebox/Smoker with your favourite wood-chips (I used cherrywood – very delicious) and smoke for 8 hours or more, as desired. In my very small smokebox, only 5-6 hours were fully sufficient (there was an atmosphere like on Titan in it). Let sit to rest over night.