Looking for the Perfect Cure: Local butcher shop proprietor talks bacon

Lauren Fisher

Brand-name bacon from your favorite chain grocery store might save you a few bucks at the check-out, but you may have noticed that what looks like a meal in the package shrinks down to snack-size in the frying pan. As it turns out, your money-saving choice might have cost you in the long run due to shrinkage during cooking. But why does this happen?

“I like to say, anything good takes time. no matter if you’re building a birdhouse or doing brain surgery.” – Bob Adrian,  Rump’s Butcher Shoppe

It’s all in the curing process, according to Bob Adrian, owner of Rump’s Butcher Shoppe in Altoona. Mass manufacturers use what is called wet curing, which involves injecting pork belly with liquid curing agents that take only hours to work. Although by federal law processors are required to ensure the added moisture has evaporated from the product before packaging, the meat that hits grocery store shelves are more hydrated than product that has been dry cured.

During the cooking process, the moisture evaporates out of the bacon, causing it to lose mass. The higher the moisture content in a slice of meat, the smaller the finished product.

Dry aging takes much longer than wet aging, but results in less shrinkage. During this process, pork bellies are rubbed with curing seasonings and cured for several days. Rump’s cures bacon for a total of 14 days before finishing it in the smoker for 10-12 hours. During the curing process, the pork bellies are exposed to the air, causing the moisture to evaporate and reducing the weight of the meat. Since there is less moisture in the finished product, less shrinkage takes place while you’re cooking the strips.

“The result is, in my opinion, a much better product,” Adrian said.

The key difference between the two methods is time. While wet curing at a large production facility can take as little as four hours from start to packaging, dry curing can take 16 days or more. In order to supply just the Altoona store during busy season, Rump’s has 500-600 pounds of bacon aging at any given time. The larger the operation, the more difficult it becomes to process enough meat to satisfy customer demands using dry curing. That’s what gives local shops an edge in providing a more specialized product. 

“I like to say, anything good takes time,” Adrian said. “No matter if you’re building a birdhouse or doing brain surgery.”

When it comes to bacon, you might have to spend a few more bucks, but you’ll get lots of extra bang (size-wise) by going with a dry-cured product.