Peameal Bacon Brine

• Basic Sweet Brine for One Gallon:

Ingredients:

• 1-gallon water

• 1 cup kosher salt

• 1 cup dark brown sugar

• 3 tbs cure #1 (pink salt)

• 1 tbsp allspice

• 1 tbsp juniper berries

• 1 tbsp mustard seed

• 1 tbsp whole coriander seed

• 1 tbsp whole pepper

• 1 tbsp whole clove

• 5 whole bay leaves

Directions:

1. Put all of the ingredients into a large stockpot and bring to a boil to dissolve the salt and sugar

2. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes and chill (DO NOT put your loins into a hot brine; it will ‘draw’ in the brine at too fast a rate, not to mention that this is just not safe from a safe food handling standpoint)

3. Place the cold brine (35-38F) covered loin in refrigeration for at least 5 days, but no longer than 8, depending on the size of the loins (you may need to use a non-reactive plate or bowl to hold the loin under the brine liquid; it will want to ‘surface’ if you don’t

4. You can consider injecting 10% of the raw weight of the loins with the chilled brine to speed the process (I do not; I find that 7 days submerged in the brine is sufficient)

5. Take them out, let them dry a bit, and then roll in fine cornmeal for as much as they can take