Crumbly Bacon :(

[tricia108]

We recently tried curing and smoking our own bacon. We cured it for 7 days in a ziplock in the fridge and then smoked it. When fried, it is very crumbly and the texture is not good at all.
What could we have done wrong?

 

[dirtsailor2003]

Need to know more about your process. Hot or cold smoked? What was your exact recipe for curing.

 

[tricia108]

Heat smoked and we basically just rubbed a lot of salt into the meat for curing. We think maybe too much salt is our problem... :(

 

[dirtsailor2003]

First if you didn't add curing salt, like cure #1, or Morton's Tender quick you didn't make bacon. You made salt pork.

Secondly without cure and just salt the process you used isn't a safe method.