I have been making bacon for about a year. Don't get the store bought mixes, they tend to be on the salty side. I use the Equilibrium curing method. This cure is based on the weight of the meat in Grams. I use the calculator at: http://www.diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html . Input the weight of the meat, and calculator will give you the weight of salt, curing salt (cure #1, Prague Powder #1, "Pink Salt"), and sugar. I do a dry cure in vacuum sealed bags. Don't pull a complete vacuum on the bag. Buckboard bacon will take 14 days or more to cure. The nice thing about this curing method is Once the meat comes to equilibrium, it will not absorb more salt, or liquids. Use the percent of salt and sugar set in the calculator for your first attempt. Don't forget to do a taste test once the meat comes out of the brine, and before it is smoked. If it is too salty, soak the meat in cold water until the salt level comes down to an acceptable level. Keep good notes as you go through this. You can look back at your notes on the next bacon and adjust the percentage of salt and sugar. Don't mess with the amount of cure. You can use the method for any kind of bacon you want to make. I currently have close to 40 pounds of bacon getting ready to come out of the cure. This is belly bacon. I have the straight cure, the cure with orange blossom honey and Bourbon, The cure with powdered Black Rifle Coffee, and the cure with sweet heat. This was my last bacon.
