The Austrian cure

An Austrian colleague and I were talking about bacon (somehow this always comes up), and she was reminiscing about how her parents made bacon when she was a child in Austria. She called her mom a few days later, and sent me notes on their process and spicing. Tonight I set a batch curing with those spices:

• 2437g pork belly
• 74g cure
• 10g juniper berries
• 4 bay leaves
• 20g black pepper
• 6g caraway
• 10g garlic powder

I only had enough caraway for the one batch (I guess — the quantities are my guesses), so the other half of the belly got some Sichuan spices as a substitute:

• 2050g pork belly
• 61g cure
• 10g juniper berries
• 3 bay leaves
• 16g black pepper
• 10g garlic powder
• 6g coriander seed
• 2 stars anise
• 4g Sichuan peppercorns

These bellies will come with us down to New Orleans for a rendez-vous with Budd’s smoker, and hopefully some good breakfasts over Mardi Gras.