I found this instructable on making your own cured bacon. It was taken from a recipe out of Charcuterie. This would make for a really neat weekend project, plus it will give you the option to add your own seasonings and flavors…. maybe a Sweet Habanero Breakfast Bacon.
Ingredients:
- 5 lbs Fresh Pork Belly
- 1/4 Cup coarse kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons pink curing salt #1 (I use this DQ Cure from Butcher-Packer, $2)
- 4 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper
- 4 bay leaves, crumbled
- 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/4 cup brown sugar or honey or maple syrup
- 5 cloves of garlic, smashed with the flat side of a chef’s knife
- Box of 2 Gallon Zip-Lock Bags
Directions:
- Mix all ingredients together, and dredge Pork Belly thru the mix until it is thoroughly coated.
- Place Pork belly in a large Zip Lock Bag, massage the meat and press out all the air before sealing.
- Leave this in the back of the fridge for a week, massaging the meat once a day to mix up the spices/salts.
- After one week, remove from the bag and rinse off all the seasoning and salt.
- Place this on rack in a 200 degree preheated oven and let the internals heat up for 90 minutes or so.
- Cut into more manageable pieces and store in a zip lock bag in the fridge, then slice as you need.