Michael Ruhlman

Dry-Cured Bacon

Preparation info
  • Makes

    3 to 5 pounds

    • Difficulty

      Medium

Appears in
From Scratch: 10 Meals, 175 Recipes, and Dozens of Techniques You Will Use Over and Over
From Scratch

By Michael Ruhlman

Published 2019

  • About

This is also known as the salt box method. It is not as accurate as using percentages, but I’ve used it for years with great results.

Ingredients

  • 1 (3- to 5-pound/1.36- to 2.27-kilogram) slab pork belly, preferably skin-on
  • ¼

Method

Liberally sprinkle or even dredge the pork belly in the dry-cure mix until it is uniformly coated. Put it in a 2-gallon/7.5-liter zip-top plastic bag and add the remaining ingredients. Rub the ingredients around to distribute them. (If you don’t have a large enough bag, wrap the belly well in plastic wrap and put it on a rimmed baking sheet that will fit in your refrigerator.) Refrigerate the b