Bacon Curing Calculator

This bacon curing calculator is a helpful tool for guiding you in your dry curing and wet brining adventures. It tells you exactly how much salt and pink curing salt you need and how much water you will need for wet brining.

Keep reading this article on bacon curing to discover different homemade bacon recipes and find out how to cure bacon.

There are different ways to cure bacon, but they all involve three main ingredients: salt, sodium nitrite (pink curing salt), and time. Let's see what the most common methods are:

• Dry curing is a classic method to ensure your bacon has a deep and concentrated flavor. As the name suggests, the process entails rubbing the meat dry with salt, pink curing salt, and spices and leaving it to cure in a refrigerator. The meat must be flipped and cured daily (reapply the cure to the meat), and the cure can last anywhere from one week to three weeks. You can check the safe and recommended amounts of salt and pink curing salt (sodium nitrite) on this bacon curing calculator.

• Wet brine curing is a faster method than dry curing. It involves submerging the bacon in a brine solution containing salt, pink salt, and water. This method allows the meat to absorb the flavor faster, but it can become soggy if left in the brine for too long. To determine if the bacon is fully cured, you should check for a firm, dense texture, and pink or reddish color.

• Injection curing is the fastest method for curing bacon. It works by injecting the curing solution directly into the meat. However, this method might not obtain the same depth of flavor as dry curing.

Curing meat was a technique used thousands of years ago: ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans practiced it, but it became more popular in the Middle Ages when bacon was a primarily homemade product, cured with salt to preserve the meat even when fresh food was scarce.
Bacon curing techniques became so widespread that they diversified depending on region and culture.

This bacon curing calculator is based on the typical American bacon recipes for dry curing and wet brining, but here are some other types:

• British bacon has a leaner cut and milder flavor, suitable for breakfasts;
• Canadian bacon is actually made from ham and has a round shape;
• Irish bacon is similar to the British one but has sugar and herbs in addition to the traditional salt; and
• Italian pancetta is a different cut cured with a mixture of salt, black pepper, and, at times, garlic.

Figuring out the amount of salt and pink salt needed to obtain the perfect bacon cure couldn't be easier with Omni's bacon curing calculator. Follow these simple steps:

1. Choose either Dry curing or Wet brine.

2. Weigh the meat you want to cure and insert it into Meat weight.

3. Check if the Salt percentage corresponds with what you want. We suggest you keep the value to 2.5% if you have no prior experience with bacon curing.

4. Watch as the calculator returns the exact amounts of salt, pink salt, and water (for wet brining) you will need for your bacon curing needs!

If you want to know how much salt you will need in cups, you can use our ounces to cups converter.

In this calculator, the default salt percentage level is 2.5%; if you choose to change this parameter, we recommend remaining between 2% and 2.75%. A minimum of 2% salt is needed to ensure the meat will remain safe to eat and preserved, and a maximum of 2.75% is suggested to avoid making the meat too salty.

Furthermore, we calculate the amount of water for the brine based on 40% of the weight of the meat, and pink curing salt amounts are fixed at 0.25%.

If you want to accompany your homemade bacon with a delicious breakfast, check out our perfect pancake calculator and egg boiling calculator.