Pork loin, dry cured for back bacon · 5.3 lb / 2.4 kg · Insulated cabinet
Back bacon from a dry-cured pork loin
A 2.4 kg loin dry cured for three days at 2.1% salt, smoked over maple at 95°C for four hours to 65°C internal, then chilled overnight and sliced at 3 mm. Half the work of pastrami and a better return per hour.
- Cook date29 Sep 2026
- Published5 Oct 2026
- Raw weight5.3 lb / 2.4 kg
- WoodMaple
- CookerInsulated cabinet
Cook timeline
- 09:00 Cured loin rinsed, dried, on the grate Rinsed 3 minutes, dried 2 hours on a rack in the fridge before smoking Pit95°C Internal6°C +0m
- 09:40 Two maple chunks in Low chamber and light wood: this is a cure being dried, not a cut being cooked Pit95°C Internal22°C +40m
- 10:30 Nothing done Maple is the mildest wood on the shelf and it is the right one at this temperature Pit96°C Internal38°C +1h30
- 11:30 Rotated the loin Cured meat colours fast; an uneven chamber shows up as a two-tone slice Pit95°C Internal52°C +2h30
- 12:30 Probe check every 20 minutes This cut goes from 62 to 65°C in ten minutes if you are not watching Pit96°C Internal62°C +3h30
- 13:00 Pulled, cooled 1 hour, then fridge overnight Twelve hours cold before the slicer; warm loin tears into ragged slices Pit96°C Internal65°C +4h
The dry cure, by weight
A dry cure is simpler than a brine and easier to get right, because you weigh the meat and multiply. For back bacon, 2.1% salt and 0.25% Prague powder No. 1 by weight of the loin, plus sugar at 1% if you want the rounder flavour that most people expect from back bacon.
The cure goes on as a dry rub, the loin goes into a sealed bag, and it is turned once a day for three days. The bag will fill with liquid drawn out by the salt — that is the cure working, not a mistake.
| Ingredient | Amount | % of meat |
|---|---|---|
| Kosher salt | 50 g | 2.1% |
| Prague powder No. 1 | 6 g | 0.25% |
| Brown sugar | 24 g | 1.0% |
| Coarse black pepper | 12 g | 0.5% |
| Juniper, crushed | 4 g | 0.17% |
Why the chamber stays at 95°C
Back bacon is not cooked to tenderness; it is cooked to set the cure and dry the surface, and then it is sliced and fried later. Pulling at 65°C leaves the loin firm enough to slice and moist enough to eat cold.
Push the chamber past 110°C and the outside of the loin cooks before the centre has taken colour, which produces the two-tone slice you see in badly made back bacon. Four hours at 95°C is boring and it is the whole method.
- Chamber 95°C to 96°C for four hours, never above 100°C
- Two maple chunks only — this is a light smoke
- Pull at 65°C internal; every degree past that is moisture lost
- No wrap, no spritz, no basting
Chilling and slicing
Twelve hours at 4°C makes the difference between slices and shreds. Warm loin has fat that has not set and muscle that compresses under the blade; cold loin cuts at 3 mm in clean, even rounds.
Cut across the loin, which for back bacon means across the short axis, so each slice has the eye of the loin and a strip of the fat and cure on the outside. That strip is where all the flavour is.
| Slice | Best for | Cooking |
|---|---|---|
| 3 mm | Sandwiches, cold | No cooking needed |
| 6 mm | Breakfast, pan fried | 2 min a side, medium heat |
| 10 mm | Diced for carbonara | Render first, then add |
| Offcuts | Stock, or sausage | Simmer 40 min |
What it costs and what it keeps
A 2.4 kg loin produced 2.15 kg of back bacon after trimming and shrinkage, about 90% yield, which is far better than any wet-brined or cooked equivalent. Vacuum sealed it keeps three weeks refrigerated and three months frozen.
Salt level is the only variable worth adjusting between batches. If you are going to eat it cold in sandwiches, 2.1% is right. If it is always going to be fried and served with something sweet, 2.4% holds up better.
- Yield: 2.15 kg from 2.4 kg raw (90%)
- Keeps 3 weeks refrigerated vacuum sealed, 3 months frozen
- Freeze in 3 mm slices interleaved with baking paper — do not freeze it whole
- The cure liquid in the bag makes an excellent base for a braise; it is very salty, so use 50 ml at a time
Cross-section notes
A three-day dry cure at 2.1% salt and 0.25% Prague powder gives a loin that is pink from edge to centre with no grey core. The eye of the loin is very lean — about 10% fat — so the slices look dry on the board and are not, because the cure has bound the water.
- Stall
- 60°C
- Wrap method
- No wrap (bare bark)
- Wrapped at
- never wrapped
- Pulled at
- 65°C
- Rest
- 12h 00m
- Score
- 4.6/5
Verdict: Back bacon is the most reliably repeatable cure on this site: three days, four hours of smoke, overnight chill, done. It is also the cheapest way to make a very good sandwich, at about a third of the price of shop back bacon.
Adjacent entries
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