Being or will be a complete newbie to pig keeping (haven't got them yet - coming in the spring)
I'm reading with interest the bacon threads, I remember when the bacon my mum cooked the fat was always crisp and crunchy leaving some fat in the pan (which we mopped up with bread ) - not the watery stuff you get now with the bacon sticking to the pan...
This was way back in the 50's with five of us to feed money was tight so we only had streaky bacon.
Would this have been 'dry cured' and if so HOW do you do that?
Yup, I'd bet it was dry cured stuff
The easiest way to make it is buy a pack of ready mixed cure (you can always have a go at mixing your own later, but for first attempts & to save getting it wrong play safe with the ready mixed stuff - check ebay
) then you get your piece of loin or belly, rub the cure into it - really get into all the nooks and crannies. Then either pop it in a big tuperware box (or large size ziplock bags work really well) and turn it every day, opinion differs as to whether to drain off the juices or leave them - I've tried both ways and not noticed much difference to be honest. After about 2 weeks (depending on the mix and the size of the piece of meat) all you need to do is soak it in clean water then 'temper' (put in the freezer til it's
almost frozen) and slice (makes cutting much easier)
There's bound to be lots of other ways of doing it too - but that's my (ever so technical) method
HTH
Karen