[lomanagh]

hi will be killing two pigs next week.i am looking for advice for dry curing bacon and wet curing ham this be my first time curing thank

[benkt]

Argh, computer ate a long post on how we dry cure bacon, I'll cut it short this time!

3l tupperware tub
500g curing salt (e.g. http://www.weschenfelder.co.uk/content/organic-curing-salts-2kg)
50g brown sugar
1tsp peppercorns

Cut the side of bacon into two of three so that each chunk fits in the tub - keep one chunk out freeze the rest.
Mix up the cure in the tub, put in the bacon and rub it all over with the cure. Stick it in the fridge. Every morning open the tub and pour off the liquid, rub more cure into the bacon and turn it over so that the other side is resting in the salt. After 3-4 days it will be good to fry for breakfast but still won't keep for a long time - we start cutting bits off as needed at this point. After 7-10 days in the cure it will be done pretty well and will keep for a long time in the fridge (never found out exactly how long as it all get eaten before then). So at this stage I take it out of the cure, rinse all the salt off and put back in the fridge to be used.

When its finished, defrost one of the other chunks and repeat.