If bacon had its own Twitter account, it would have more fans than Barack Obama, Katy Perry, and Justin Bieber put together. Everyone loves those slabs of salty goodness. Even those forbidden to eat it have been known to long for it. The photos below show that I lost more than 20 pounds. I ate all of that food before I finished my first draft a week later (with the help of family and friends, of course; I’m not that greedy).
The many good things about bacon are so important to me that it was hard for me to write about them because the words never seemed good enough. Then I remembered: Bacon is great, and you’re not here to read my bad writing; you’re here because you love it too, so let’s get it started!
There is so much to say about bacon, I’ve divided the process into two parts: curing and smoking. In this post I’ll cover two methods of curing. I’ll cover smoking in part 2.
Bacon was the first meat I cured myself, and it’s the best cut for someone who has never done it before. It’s very simple and doesn’t need any special tools to make a great product that beats everything in your local grocery store. All that’s needed is access to a refrigerator, a smoker, and a handful of ingredients.
Homemade bacon is deeply satisfying with customized flavors and that perfect balance of saltiness. But an essential step in curing bacon is using the right amount of pink salt. Pink salt not only gives bacon its signature pink hue but it also serves an important food safety purpose. So how much pink salt should you use when curing bacon? Let’s take a detailed look.
What is Pink Salt and Why Use it for Curing Bacon?
Pink salt also known by the names Prague Powder #1 and Insta Cure #1 is a special curing salt used for meats like bacon, ham, corned beef and more. It contains sodium nitrite, which serves two key functions
1. Gives cured meats their characteristic color
Sodium nitrite interacts with the meat’s proteins to give cured meats like bacon and ham their iconic pink color. Without it, the meat would turn an unappealing grayish-brown.
2. Inhibits bacteria and botulism
Sodium nitrite blocks the growth of harmful bacteria that can cause foodborne illness, like salmonella and E. coli. It also prevents the growth of the bacteria that causes botulism, a potentially fatal illness caused by a toxin.
Botulism is a particular concern with cured meats, as the anaerobic environment needed for curing makes it easier for botulism-causing bacteria to thrive. The sodium nitrite in pink salt inhibits this harmful bacteria, making the meat safe to eat.
Given pink salt’s important safety benefits, it’s a must-use ingredient when curing your own bacon at home.
How Much Pink Salt Per Pound of Bacon?
When curing bacon, you’ll use a basic dry cure recipe that contains salt, sugar, pink salt, and any other desired seasonings.
The specific amount of pink salt needed per pound of bacon is:
0.25% of the bacon’s weight
This equates to:
- 1⁄4 teaspoon pink salt per 1 pound of bacon
- 1⁄2 teaspoon per 2 pounds bacon
- 3⁄4 teaspoon per 3 pounds bacon
To calculate the amount needed for any quantity of bacon:
- Weigh bacon in pounds
- Multiply weight by 0.0025 to get percentage
- The result is the number of teaspoons of pink salt needed
So for 5 pounds of bacon, you would multiply 5 x 0.0025 = 0.0125 tablespoons pink salt.
Use a sensitive digital kitchen scale to carefully measure pink salt for accuracy. Estimating spoon measurements can lead to using too much.
Complete Dry Cure Recipe
Here is a basic dry cure recipe for bacon:
Per 1 pound of pork belly:
- 2% of weight in salt (about 3 tablespoons per pound)
- 0.25% of weight in pink salt (1⁄4 teaspoon per pound)
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1⁄2 tablespoon pepper
- Any other desired spices
To make the cure:
- Weigh pork belly
- Calculate 2% of weight for salt amount
- Calculate 0.25% of weight for pink salt amount
- Combine calculated salt, pink salt, brown sugar, and spices
- Rub cure mix evenly over pork belly
- Cure in fridge for 5-7 days per inch thickness
- Rinse, then smoke or cook as desired
The salt amount can be adjusted based on taste, but the 0.25% pink salt ratio should remain fixed for safety.
Curing Salt Safety Tips
When using pink salt for bacon and other cured meats, follow these tips:
- Clearly label pink salt container to avoid confusing with regular salt
- Measure carefully using digital scale
- Avoid double dipping measuring spoon in pink salt container
- Wash hands and surfaces thoroughly after handling
- Store pink salt securely away from children and pets
While a small pinch of pink salt likely won’t cause harm in healthy adults, it should still be handled carefully as excessive intake over time could potentially be dangerous.
Other Uses for Pink Curing Salt
While pink salt is most commonly used for bacon, it can also cure these meats:
- Ham
- Corned beef
- Pastrami
- Salami
- Hot dogs
- Jerky
- Salami
Refer to specific recipes for pink salt quantities needed. And as always, use the minimum amount needed for the food safety benefits.
DIY Bacon Bliss
Now that you know precisely how much pink salt to use when curing bacon at home, you can craft your own customized bacon masterpiece. Play with different wood smoke flavors, spice rubs, even maple syrup or coffee glazes.
Just be sure to enjoy your homemade bacon in moderation, as the pork belly and salty curing process make it less waistline-friendly. But for an occasional weekend breakfast or BLT, homemade bacon can be tough to beat.
Follow sound pink salt measurement practices, and you’ll keep your bacon not only tasty, but also nice and safe to eat. So get ready to fry up some Friday morning bacon bliss!
Two methods to choose from
There are two curing methods to choose from: Dry and wet. Both have their pros and cons. A dry cure is just like it sounds – dry. Salt, sugar, pepper, and Insta-cure are rubbed all over every surface of the belly. It’s then wrapped up and set in a refrigerator for 6-7 days to cure. With a wet cure, the belly is put in a solution that is mostly water and then put in the fridge for 10 to 14 days.
- Shorter cure duration
- Easier to store in smaller refrigerators
- Exotic flavor profiles are easier to achieve
- Can be a bit messier
- Sometimes bacon gets hot or cold spots because it has too much or too little cure.
- Not as messy
- Cure is distributed more evenly
- Large enough to take up a lot of room in the fridge
- It can take up to twice as long to dry than a dry cure method.
- Exotic flavor profiles are hard to achieve
Since I purchased a giant belly I used both methods. For the dry cure I prefer to use honey and brown sugar to punch up the sweetness. Start by combining ½ cup of salt ½ cup of brown sugar, 1 TBS of black pepper, and 1 tsp of Insta-Cure #1. This amount of Insta-Cure is specific to a five-pound belly. Please be sure and use the correct amounts for the size you have.
After the dry rub is mixed set it aside. Pour the honey over the belly and coat evenly. Then sprinkle the cure over all parts of the meat front and back. After it is completely coated using all the cure and honey, wrap up the soon-to-be bacon. Plastic wrap is perfectly acceptable to use. I found jumbo 2. It’s much easier to fit a thick piece of bacon inside a bunch of 5 gallon Ziplock bags than the other way around. Want to turn up the heat? Substitute this Hot Honey.
Find a local farmer if possible
Procuring the pork belly is the hardest part of curing bacon at home. Most big-box grocery stores do not carry pork bellies. There is simply not enough demand to keep them in stock. This is where a local butcher or farmers market comes in handy. Local butchers have an advantage over supermarkets because they work with local farmers to source their meat. Nine times out of ten, local sources of pork are a much higher quality.
There is no doubt that heritage breed pork from Berkshire, Duroc, Red Wattle, or Mangalitsa pigs that were raised with love and care will taste great. Of course, it will probably cost a little more, but the taste and texture will be much better, the animals were probably raised in better conditions, and the money will help your local farming community. It’s a win all the way around.
If you don’t have a butcher or farmer’s market close by, big restaurant supply stores will probably have meat. They are also likely to have the best prices. But it’s normal for these stores to only sell pork bellies by the case, which is 50 pounds, and the pork is usually not very good. Some people might not mind having a case of pork, but for others it might cost too much or take up too much room.
Yet another option is to try a local ethnic grocery store. For the most part, Latino and Asian grocery stores will keep bellies in stock and sell them in much smaller sizes. I recommend buying at least a five-pound slab, which is normally half a belly. The thicker the better.
For this walkthrough I lucked out at my local butcher shop. I asked the butcher for a nice, thick pork belly because I was going to cure some bacon with it. He went behind closed doors and came out with the biggest pork belly I’ve ever seen. He tossed it up on the scale and it came in at 25 pounds. Yahtzee!.
Trying to cure a whole belly this size is generally too much to handle. Trying to wrap it up is hard, and most home cooks don’t have room for such a big cut in their fridge or smoker. I wanted to use pork belly in a few more recipes, so I cut the huge piece of meat into five-pound pieces. If you want to be generous, I suggest cutting bellies into five-pound pieces. They are the perfect size for easy handling and will be enough for you, your friends, and family.
After slicing the belly, the first step in the process is to remove the skin. A sharp fillet knife and a slow and steady pace are key. Leave as much fat as possible on the belly. Once the skin is removed don’t throw it away. It will make an excellent batch of chicharrones. Put it in a ziplock bag and toss it in the freezer until you need it.
Now it’s time to cure. At this point, cutting off a piece of the belly and frying it would not make it taste like bacon. It would have a delicious fatty porky taste. That’s not what we are after here. In order to get that salty pink-colored goodness, it needs to be placed in a cure. It’s like a caterpillar that needs to go into a cocoon of cure before it can turn into a beautiful bacon butterfly. “Your pork belly is like a caterpillar that needs to cure in a cocoon before it can turn into a beautiful bacon butterfly.” [/pullquote].
So what is a cure exactly? Essentially a cure is salt, sugar, and sodium nitrite. Insta-Cure #1 is the most commonly used type of sodium nitrite. The Insta-Cure is what gives bacon that pink color we all know and love. The benefit of adding Insta-Cure #1 is food safety. It prevents nasty things like botulism that can grow in warm and moist environments with low oxygen. Sounds a lot like a warm smoking cabinet doesn’t it?.
How To Cure Bacon the Traditional Way: Just Salt; No Artificial Preservatives
FAQ
What is the ratio of curing salt to bacon?
How much pink curing salt to use?
How much curing salt for 5 lb of pork belly?
What happens if you use too much pink curing salt?