There is nothing more satisfying than making your own sweet cured streaky bacon. It’s so easy. In fact the hardest thing in the process is having to wait 10 days before you can eat it.
This is an adaption of a Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall recipe which I find works great for smaller cuts of belly pork.
If you can’t hang the joint somewhere cool to air dry that isn’t a problem. It can be finished off wrapped in muslin or a thin tea towel and placed in the crisper drawer of your fridge.
SWEET CURED BACON
Makes 1-1.5 kg
1 teaspoon peppercorns
4 juniper berries
2 bay leaves
180 g sea salt
180 g light brown sugar
1-1.5 kg rind on belly pork
METHOD:
Lightly crush the peppercorns and juniper berries then mix all the ingredients together apart from the pork.
Using a fifth of the mixture sprinkle half in bottom of a glass or plastic container. Place pork on top meaty side down then sprinkle the other half of the mixture over the top, cover and leave for 24 hours.
Remove the meat from the container, drain off any liquid and and repeat the process, turning the meat over so that the skin side is down. Repeat for 3 more days.
After 5 days, take the belly out of the container and run it under cold water. Then clean the surface of the meat with a cloth soaked in malt vinegar and pat dry.
At this point, you can loosely wrap the meat in a thin tea towel or muslin and place in the fridge or pantry. Alternatively, the meat can be hung up in a cool, airy place, out of direct sunlight.
Leave it for another 5 days to finish off the curing process before slicing.
