Who has done this to make bacon. My first venture stated with a wet aged pork belly.

I have, and I much prefer it to wet cured bacon. My starting recipe is this:

100% pork belly
2% kosher salt
1% sugar
0.25% sodium nitrite (Insta-cure #1)

You can play with the sugar percentage to your liking. I prefer less sugar as it tends to burn when you cook the bacon. But you do need some sugar to offset the salt.

Mix all the salts and sugar, coat the belly, and vacuum seal it if you can. Flip it twice a day, and let it cure for a week. Rinse it off, and smoke it just like you would wet cured pork belly.

HTownAg98 said:

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I have, and I much prefer it to wet cured bacon. My starting recipe is this:

100% pork belly
2% kosher salt
1% sugar
0.25% sodium nitrite (Insta-cure #1)

You can play with the sugar percentage to your liking. I prefer less sugar as it tends to burn when you cook the bacon. But you do need some sugar to offset the salt.

Mix all the salts and sugar, coat the belly, and vacuum seal it if you can. Flip it twice a day, and let it cure for a week. Rinse it off, and smoke it just like you would wet cured pork belly.

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Is this basically homemade pancetta? This is pretty much what I do when I make homemade bacon. What I figured out is after curing for a week is rather than just rinsing it off I soak it in water for a day, then air dry it in the fridge for a day. I couldn't get enough of the cure off by just rinsing it, it was still way too salty. Soaking it in water for a day definitely helped get the right flavor. Granted I might have used too much cure in the bag, that could have been my issue. I've played around with the sugars as well, usually with light brown sugar but I've also used honey and maple and they all work well.

Max Power said:

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HTownAg98 said:

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I have, and I much prefer it to wet cured bacon. My starting recipe is this:

100% pork belly
2% kosher salt
1% sugar
0.25% sodium nitrite (Insta-cure #1)

You can play with the sugar percentage to your liking. I prefer less sugar as it tends to burn when you cook the bacon. But you do need some sugar to offset the salt.

Mix all the salts and sugar, coat the belly, and vacuum seal it if you can. Flip it twice a day, and let it cure for a week. Rinse it off, and smoke it just like you would wet cured pork belly.

---

Is this basically homemade pancetta? This is pretty much what I do when I make homemade bacon. What I figured out is after curing for a week is rather than just rinsing it off I soak it in water for a day, then air dry it in the fridge for a day. I couldn't get enough of the cure off by just rinsing it, it was still way too salty. Soaking it in water for a day definitely helped get the right flavor. Granted I might have used too much cure in the bag, that could have been my issue. I've played around with the sugars as well, usually with light brown sugar but I've also used honey and maple and they all work well.

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Pancetta uses more herbs and spices (thyme, bay leaf, pepper, allspice, cinnamon, juniper) in the cure. You also roll and hang it (or roll and leave in the fridge) for 2 weeks after it comes out of the curing bag.

HTownAg98 said:

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I have, and I much prefer it to wet cured bacon. My starting recipe is this:

100% pork belly
2% kosher salt
1% sugar
0.25% sodium nitrite (Insta-cure #1)

You can play with the sugar percentage to your liking. I prefer less sugar as it tends to burn when you cook the bacon. But you do need some sugar to offset the salt.

Mix all the salts and sugar, coat the belly, and vacuum seal it if you can. Flip it twice a day, and let it cure for a week. Rinse it off, and smoke it just like you would wet cured pork belly.

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Thank you!

Bacon Thread

I pretty much do what HTown above, but like to experiment some with seasonings. I also, after rinsing the dry cure off, re-season lightly sans the pink salt before smoking. At the very least I put some pepper on the belly.

Bourbon and brown sugar make a good flavor, but you need to go light on the bourbon. I have learned this by trial and error. Have also used a dark rum that was pretty top notch as well in the curing process.

I've done this a couple times.

https://jesspryles.com/how-to-make-bacon/