Old Fashioned, Salt and Sugar Home-Cured Bacon

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About this Recipe

Home curing meat is a skill that is not generally known or used today, in the past, it was a basic skill that home cooks used weekly. It would be comparable to the way people use crock pots today. But, back in the day, people knew how to do cool things. Okay, so I believe that the old skills still have a place in life today and are of course super cool! But this was how it was done for thousands of years before the luxury of refrigeration. And I’ve discovered the taste to be unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.

When I fried up some of my bacon for my grandma who is 101 years old the first thing she said was “this takes me back.”

 She said food used to have a fuller, richer taste, BLTs were made with “real” bacon and homegrown tomatoes and lettuce. It all naturally had amazing flavor with none of the preservatives and flavor enhancers that are found in food today. We have lost some things in the name of progress, tomatoes that ship well are not what a tomato was meant to be. The subtle flavors of this bacon are much more pronounced and will only get better with a bit of time. It is life-changing!

Food Preservation Safety

There is one main concern when curing and preserving meat, and that is toxic botulism. Botulism is usually associated with improperly canned food but food-borne botulism also occurs in meat that has been improperly cured.

To prevent this, and other food born bacteria commercially preserved meat contains sodium nitrite (sometimes called “pink curing salt”), which acts both as a preservative and a color fixer. This is what gives store-bought bacon that bright red color.

Sodium nitrite is toxic in high quantities, and has been linked to health issues from migraines to cancer. Some organic “uncured” bacon brands use celery juice in place of pink salt, but celery juice often contains more naturally-occurring sodium nitrite than the curing salt! .

Health benefits of home-cured bacon

The concern with sodium nitrite ( is that when it is exposed to high heat in the presence of protein (like a piece of fried, nitrite-cured bacon), proteins in the meat bond with the sodium nitrite to produce toxic nitrosamines—and certain nitrosamines have been proven to be deadly carcinogens. That sounds terrible, right?

The sodium nitrite is necessary in a large industrial setting, where different people, machines and industrial processes are involved in getting the meat from the processor to the store, free of botulism and other harmful bacteria.

But and here is the most awesome news, the home cook can much better control the variables and can get those assurances WITHOUT the addition of nitrites. And your bacon will taste soooo much, better than anything you’ve purchased in a package. I guarantee it!

Food Preservation Safety

The process of “curing” anything simply means to draw the moisture out, so that the food lasts longer. And this is what we are going to do with your pork belly to make it into bacon. The dry salt curing takes care of the bacteria in the meat. As the bacon sits out, the surface dries out, and this prevents new bacteria from forming. It’s incredibly, really, that the salt can make the meat and fat stable at room temperature. Think of it just like a meat jerky – but not quite as hard (same concept). We’re simply using salt and air to moderate bacteria growth.

Local Farm Raised Pork

If possible try to find a local farmer or independent processor that you can purchase a farm-raised pork belly. The Coffee Homestead kids are in FFA, so we have show hogs every year that we feed out and have processed locally. Pork belly is not expensive and the curing process utilizes salt and sugar as the largest part of the curing ingredients, so home-cured bacon is much more economical than store-bought. 

Home Cured Bacon

Kara Coffee
I know I had you at bacon, but you don’t know bacon till you have tried home cured bacon!
4.74 from 23 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 days
Course Breakfast
Cuisine American

Ingredients
  

  • 1 Pork Belly
  • 4 Cups Course Kosher Salt or Course Sea Salt
  • 3 Cups Sugar in the Raw
  • 1 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
  • 3 tbsp Nutmeg
  • 3 tbsp Smoked Paprika
  • 2 tbsp Ground Black Pepper

Optional Ingredients

  • 2-3 tbsp Ground Cloves
  • 3 tbsp Ground Ginger
  • 2 tsp Liquid Smoke

Instructions
 

  • 1. Rinse pork belly and pat it dry. Place in glass dish.
  • 2. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl until they are uniformly combined. Scoop out with a measuring cup enough of the dry mixture to thoroughly coat the pork belly reserve remaining salt mix to use in the next couple of days.
  • 3. Rub the sugar and salt mixture into the flesh some more. Did I mention you need to rub that ‘ol pork belly down with the sugar and salt? Rub, rub, rub. The sides too. Make sure to get any pockets or under bits of fat – anywhere where water could accumulate. All of it, man
  • 4. Stack the pork belly slab into the large glass baking dish. Stick it in the refrigerator and forget about it until the next day uncovered.
  • 5. Next day dump the accumulated liquid out of the dish and rerub the flesh with the sugar and salt, and place it back in the refrigerator.
  • 6. The next day, dump out any accumulated liquid and rub the sugar and salt mixture on any part of the pork belly where the salt and sugar has been completely dissolved. A thin layer will do. Repeat this process every day until liquid stops accumulating in the bin. Ours takes about 8-10 days.
  • 7. Rinse the pork belly under water, using your fingertips to scrub off any remaining sugar and salt. Pat dry. Voila! Cured bacon

Smoking Cured Bacon

  • Only smoking will give the pork belly that smokey flavor most are used to. We have tried the bacon both ways smoked and “green” and as much as I love all things grilled and smoked we actually prefer the “green” bacon. So just know that if you don’t have a smoker this bacon is still and absolute winner!
  • If smoking, smoke over hickory or apple-wood at 175-200 degrees until meat reaches an internal temperature of 150 degrees F, or about 3 hours. 
  • The meat should be cooked a bit on the outside, but not all the way through.
    Let the bacon cool to room temperature on a wire rack over a baking sheet, tightly wrap in parchment paper, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. (This sets the flavor and texture.) 
  • With a long, very sharp knife, slice it thin or thick, as desired. Use hard-to-slice pieces in pots of beans or soup.

Homemade bacon will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator and even longer in the freezer.

    Keyword Bacon, Cured Meat, Home Cured Bacon