I posted these in another thread on bacon:
I get local Berkshire hog from my sister's CSA. From a 1/2 belly, I usually get 4 trimmed slabs. Scraps and skin get rendered for the best lard and doggie treats ever. If you haven't made biscuits or pie crust with lard (I use 50/50 butter/lard), you don't know what you're missing. Also, because it's not hydrogenated, it's actually much better for you than shortening or commercial lard.
The slabs get 7-9 days in a simple dry cure (2% salt, 1% brown sugar, 150ppm Nitrite from Cure #1) bagged in the fridge and overhauled daily. After, they get a quick water wash, dry over night to form a pelicle, then 3 or so hrs of Hickory/Oak smoke over low heat to an internal temp of 120°:
And if you like bacon, you gotta have good Pancetta. Store bought is shit compared to the real deal. This slab was cured with lots of pepper and juniper berries, then hung for nearly a month. I fry it up diced into lardons, then saute onion and garlic in the grease as a base for tomato or roasted pepper sauces for pasta: