Written by Alison of Mullacott Farm

I have been making bacon now for three years, for my bed and breakfast, and have experimented a lot, to get a flavour and texture I was happy with.

There are many different ways of doing it, but we found that this method produces good bacon, which is not too salty and doesn’t exude all the white scum on cooking like commercial bacon does.

I use a simple cure with sugar, salt and salt petre.

There are many discussions on which salt to use, but I think it doesn’t make much difference, and cooking salt produces just as good a cure as an expensive sea salt. Salt petre does not have to be used, but in our experience it gives a more palatable colour to the final product. Salt petre is the common name for potassium nitrate.

There are many different methods, but this has not failed me yet.

Choosing the meat for bacon making

Primarily I would advise buying the best quality meat you can. Any meat can be cured but some are better than others. In the pictures I am curing a piece of belly pork, although usually I cure the whole loin of bacon, for a long back bacon rasher. Leg of pork can also be cured, for a delicious ham joint.