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Recipes · Bacon

Bacon, Wet and Dry Cure

Bacon · Cured · Meal Prep · Pork · Smoked Foods

★★★★★

Bacon, Wet and Dry Cure
Prep 15 mins
Cook 3 hrs
Serves 100 slices

Ingredients

For the Wet Cure Method

  • 5 pounds pork belly , skin removed
  • 6 cups cool water
  • 1/2 cup kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar (optional, if you want a sweet bacon)
  • 2 teaspoons Prague powder #1 (measure carefully)
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

For the Dry Cure Method

  • 5 pounds pork belly , skin removed
  • 1/4 cup kosher salt
  • 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar (optional, if you want a sweet bacon)
  • 1 teaspoon Prague powder #1 (measure carefully)
  • Coarsely crushed black peppercorns (optional and amount according to personal preference)

Directions

  1. You can vary the flavors according to your preferences (see Recipe Notes) but do not adjust the salt or Prague powder amounts

For the Wet Cure Method

  1. Add all the cure ingredients together in a large bowl and stir. Place the pork belly in gallon ziplock bag or container that just fits the size of the pork belly and pour the brine over it. If using a ziplock bag, place the bag in a container in case there is any leakage. Place it in the refrigerator for 7 days, flipping the bag over (or the pork belly itself if curing it in a container) every 2 days to ensure both sides of the pork belly are equally cured.
  2. **A one-gallon bag will hold a 3-pound pork belly. If you’re following the recipe to use a 5 pound pork belly and plan on using the wet cure method with ziplock bags you can cut the pork belly in half and divide the brine equally between the two bags.
  3. After 7 days the pork belly will have firmed up. Remove the pork belly from the brine and thoroughly rinse it off. Some people say you should let the slab of bacon air dry for up to 24 hours before you smoke it. But many experts agree there is no need to do this. These experts argue that in leaving it wet the smoke actually sticks to the bacon better than if it’s dry. At this point if you like you can rub it down with some cracked peppercorns and, if you want it sweeter, some brown sugar, honey or maple syrup. Proceed to smoking (see below).

For the Dry Cure Method

  1. Place all the dry cure ingredients in bowl and stir to thoroughly combine them. It is essential that the pink curing salt is evenly distributed across the whole pork belly. We recommend using a spice/coffee grinder, a small blender or a mortar and pestle.
  2. Thoroughly and evenly rub down all sides of the pork belly with the dry rub. Place it in a ziplock bag or container (like a casserole dish), with the fatty layer side down, and cover it with plastic wrap. Refrigerate it for 5 days. Flip the bacon over, redistribute the liquid that will have formed (if it’s in a ziplock bag simply turn the bag over and give it a massage), and refrigerate for another 5 days. After 10 days the pork belly will have become quite firm and stiff. Remove it from the the container or bag, rinse thoroughly, and pat dry with paper towels. At this point if you like you can rub it down with some cracked peppercorns and, if you want it sweeter, some brown sugar, honey or maple syrup. Proceed to smoking.

To Smoke the Bacon

  1. Preheat your smoker to 175-180 degrees F (do not exceed 200 F). (We use and love the Masterbuilt Digital Smoker). Smoke the bacon fat side up (as the fat renders it will run down over the meat) for 3+ hours or until the internal temperature of the bacon reaches 150 degrees F. (We use and recommend this instant read thermometer.) Add a handful of wood chips a couple of times during the smoking process. (Good options include hickory, apple or cherry.)
  2. If you’re using a grill, set up it up for 2-zone cooking and smoke the bacon over indirect heat at 175-180 degrees F (don’t exceed 200 F) for about 3 hours or until the internal temperature of the bacon reaches 150 degrees F.
  3. Once the bacon reaches an internal temperature of 150 degrees F, transfer the bacon to a plate and immediately place it in the fridge to cool down.
  4. To slice the bacon, slice it across the grain. You can use a large sharp knife or, for perfectly uniform/professional slices use a meat slicer.
  5. To store the bacon: If you plan on using the bacon within 2 weeks, wrap it in several layers of plastic wrap followed by an outer layer of foil and keep it refrigerated. If you’re not going to use it within 2 weeks you can freeze it for up to 3 months.
  6. To freeze the bacon: You can either use a vacuum sealer like Food Saver or you can lay the slices out on wax paper in the same fashion as store-bought bacon and place another sheet of wax paper over it. Fold the sides around the bacon. Place the wrapped bacon in a ziplock bag. If you prefer the pieces not to stick together you can cut strips of was paper and place them between each slice of bacon. When you’re ready to use it, simply remove the bacon from the freezer and let it thaw.

Notes

*Important Note: If you’re using more than one slab of bacon do not overlap the slabs while they’re curing, let them cure in a single layer.

About the pork belly. Look for pork belly that has about a 1:1 ratio of muscle to fat. The muscle should be pink and the fat creamy white. My favorite bacon is made from the layers of fat and meat that lie on top of the spare ribs, called “side bacon” or “streaky bacon”. It can be about 1:1 or 1:2 with more meat, depending on the breed of hog, age of the hog, feed, and other variables. When shopping, ask your butcher to order some fresh, unfrozen, raw side or belly bacon slab, unsliced. It should be about 1 1/2″ (3.8 cm) thick and 6 to 8″ (15.2 to 20.3 cm) wide across the grain to make slicing easy and to make sure it fits in the frying pan. It should look like the picture shown here.

raw bacon

Make sure you explain that you want raw bacon, not cured, and definitely not sliced. Ask your butcher to remove the skin but save it for you so you can make cracklins. You can freeze the skin until you are ready to make the cracklins. If you got sliced belly by mistake, marinate it in your favorite marinade, grill it in idividual slices, fast, or adapt this recipe for pork belly. An Asian marinade like teriyaki/huli huli is great. But don’t try to cure sliced pork belly.

As soon as you get your slab home, start the cure because raw pork fat does not age gracefully. It gets rancid and smells funky in only 5 to 6 days. That’s a flavor beloved in many European and Asian countries, but not so much in the U.S.

If you want to have fun, order pork jowl instead, which tends to be 40 to 60% muscle. It is called guanciale in Italy and is standard in carbonara.

About the Prague Powder. Commodity grocery store bacon uses Prague Powder #2 which has a blend of salt, sodium nitrite, and sodium nitrate. It is often injected with the cure and sprayed with liquid smoke. The cured belly goes into the smoker at 100°F (37.8°C) for 30 minutes, then the temperature is reduced, after drying, to between 80 and 90°F (26.7 and 32.2°C). That low, or cold, temperature is maintained for about six hours. The result is a raw cured meat that must be cooked before eating, and cooking it long enough can produce really crispy, bacon.

This old fashioned recipe calls for Prague Powder #1 only and smoking at 225°F (107.2°C). That cooks and pasteurizes the meat and makes it safe to eat right off the smoker. I do not recommend cold smoking at home. Yes, I know your Ukrainian neighbor cold smokes his bacon the way his Papa taught him, but he is playing Russian roulette, especially with today’s meat supply. Click here for more on cold smoking and why I do not recommend it. After smoking it will not get as hard and crispy as commercial cold smoked bacon with nitrates. Of course, if you are like me, you don’t want your bacon crumbly, so this is not a problem.

About the salt. Remember, kosher salt is half the concentration of table salt so if you use table salt, use half as much. Click here to read more about salt and how it works.

A note about saltiness. Occasionally we get a reader saying it is too salty. Occasionally we get a reader who says it is not salty enough. We have learned that saltiness is a matter of personal preference. Make the recipe the way I like it and if you feel salt needs an adjustment, then add or subtract the Morton coarse kosher salt, not the Prague Powder #1.

Optional. Make your first batch according to this recipe. For your second batch, if you wish you can add fresh garlic or dried garlic, citrus zest, herbs such as thyme, bay leaf powder, celery seed, chile pepper, fennel, or coriander. Or try my Maple bacon or Asian Bacon, linked at the top of the page.