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From-Scratch Cold-Smoked Bacon

Name: From-Scratch Cold-Smoked Bacon
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 9 h
Total time: 9 h 30 min
Yield: 16 servings
Cuisine: northern-european
Ingredients: — DRY CURE (per 5 lbs belly) —; 0.25 cup kosher salt; 2 tbsp brown sugar; 1 tbsp coarse black pepper; 1 tbsp juniper berries, crushed; 1 level tsp pink curing salt (cure #1, Prague Powder #1) — REQUIRED, follow package ratio; — MAIN —; 5 lbs skinless pork belly

Real bacon, cured and cold-smoked from a raw pork belly — a rite of passage in charcuterie. Beech and juniper give it deep northern character. Cure #1 here is safety, not flavor.

75°F9hServes 16

Ingredients

16servings

— MAIN —
5 lbsskinless pork belly
— DRY CURE (per 5 lbs belly) —
0.3 cupkosher salt
2 tbspbrown sugar
1 tbspcoarse black pepper
1 tbspjuniper berries, crushed
1 level tsppink curing salt (cure #1, Prague Powder #1) — REQUIRED, follow package ratio

Method

Confirm you understand the risks

This recipe involves a food-safety-critical technique — cold smoking, raw or lightly-smoked fish, or taro (luau) leaf cookery. Each carries real risk if cure ratios, sourcing, temperatures, or cook times are wrong. Before following these steps, please review our food-safety guide and confirm the technique with at least one other reputable source (USDA, FDA, or a published reference).

I understand the food-safety risks of this technique and I will independently verify ratios, sourcing, times, and temperatures before I begin.

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