Cured Pork Belly
Jun 12th, 2010 by Paul
I’ve been looking for a decent quality pork belly for a while now to make a good slab of bacon ( well not really bacon because it’s not smoked, but cured and dry hung ). I was about to hunt down some from a local farm when I found a secret stash down at wholefoods.
The process is extremely simple, just make up your cure following Ruhlman’s recipe in Charcuterie. I added some bay leaves, some juniper berries and pepper. I drenched the belly in the cure and then bagged and sealed it under vacuum. I refrigerated it for two weeks, agitating the bag frequently to ensure it was evenly cured.
After two weeks I took it out of the fridge, washed it down and hung it in my coat closet for another two weeks. I then sliced it into managable chunks and it was ready to store. Some in the fridge and some in the freezer for longer term storage.
Since making this I’ve eaten it thinly sliced on sourdough, I’ve used it in braise, and I made a killer pizza topped with thin slices of it.
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