The cure: make your own bacon

boneless pork loin covered in maple syrup
Creating your own rashers from scratch means big savings, bold flavours - and no worries about nasty preservatives

Bacon has been all over the news lately and I defy anyone not to be a little concerned. Last month, the World Health Organisation published a report classifying processed meat (which includes bacon, sausages and ham) as "carcinogenic to humans" - the highest ranking, shared with alcohol, asbestos, arsenic and cigarettes. These are worrying times for lovers of green back, smoked and streaky.

The idea of not eating bacon is unthinkable - many a vegetarian has turned back to the dark side by the smell of a bacon sandwich, which I would also argue is Britain's true national dish. Crisp rashers between two slices of heavily buttered bread and a smear of ketchup is our real contribution to gastronomy.

Formula for the perfect bacon sandwich revealed

But don't banish bacon too hastily. As far as I can make out, the problem comes with the addition of nitrate salt in the curing process. This is a bright pink slat added to the brine in the case of a wet cure and added dry in the process of making dry cured bacon. The purpose of the salt is to extend shelf life, to give the meat a rosy-pink hue and to prevent bacterial growth.

I have been making bacon at The Sportsman for about 12 years and I have never used nitrates. Our turnover means it never hangs around for long, so we don't use any preservatives apart from salt and syrup. People sometimes ask why I bother to make my own bacon: once they taste it, they understand. My home-cured bacon can be thick sliced or thin, and it tastes of pork but with a perfect sweet-salty balance. The texture is firm, with none of the wetness you find in factory-made bacon.

I don't like to make health claims about food as I think good eating is common sense. All I can say is that it's so delicious that if it's wrong then I don't want to be right.

This week, I tried to think back to why we started making a lot of our own products and so developed a reputation for reviving artisan food techniques. It all springs from the fact we are surrounded by good farms - as a result, we started to buy whole animals, including pigs. When you're dealing with an entire carcass, you've got to grapple with some of the more unusual cuts: the cheeks are great in a long, slow braise, the hands and knuckles make gelatinous terrines, and even the blood is used for black pudding. Although the boneless loin used in this recipe is not unusual, it's part of this whole process. 

A second reason for reviving small production techniques is that they produce ingredients that taste better than anything made in a factory, where additives to lengthen the shelf life as well as the quality of produce affects the flavour. The third reason I chose to go down this path was because it meant I was cooking with different - and I think better - ingredients than other restaurants. Even though each bowl of chowder contains just five batons of bacon, they make a big impact. They are thicker than any pre-sliced bacon and the result is a salty sweet tingle to the gums.

Lastly, good-quality dry-cured bacon can cost up to £24 per kilo. Top-quality pork loin can be bought for £6 a kilo - even when you factor in the cost of salt, maple syrup and a bit of moisture loss, it's much cheaper.

There are many good reasons why making your own bacon is worth doing and the latest health advice just adds to them.


Stephen Harris's bacon recipes

Maple cured bacon

 Mussel and bacon chowder

Boneless pork loin with maple syrup Credit: Andrew Twort
Mussel and bacon chowder Credit: Andrew Twort