Bacon is pretty easy to do. I call my local slaughterhouse ahead of time and tell them to save me a coupla loin bellies when they get some lean, meaty ones. I like brines better than rubbing on cures because rubs tend to get the meat too salty and because they're messy. Brines just about require a dedicated refrigerator to accommodate 5 gal. buckets, but you can do rubs in a big plastic bag.
The brine a friend of mine uses for everything is 1 part Instacure #1 (available from Butcher-packer.com), 2 parts non-iodized salt, 1 part sugar (sometimes white, sometimes brown). It probably comes out pretty close to TenderQuick. So for one gallon of brine you'd go 3 oz. Insta#1, 6 oz. salt, 3 oz. sugar. That makes good bacon, good ham, good smoked chicken, etc. Simple and effective. Or you can just buy some TenderQuick from the grocery store (if you live in a rural area, I guess) if you don't want the hassle of mixing. Mixing your own is cheaper, and you never have to do it twice the same way.
Here is my basic cure and the process I use.
2 slabs (approx. 15 lbs) belly, each slab squared up and cut in half crossways
3 cups non-iodized salt (I buy it by the 50 lb. sack for about $2.50. It's Fine Stock Salt from the local feed mill. You go through a lot of it smoking fish, chickens, etc. Virtually indistinguishable from table salt, except in price)
3 cups dextrose (which I prefer over honey, sugar or maple syrup because I don't like sugar burning on bacon)
1 jar unsulphured molasses
3-4 TBS coarse ground black pepper
6 qts water
4 oz sodium nitrite (6.25%)
If from old sows (or hogs over 300 lbs), use 2 qts cider vinegar and 4 quarts water in place of straight water.
Dissolve everything but pepper in water and then chill brine in 5 gal. bucket. Rub coarse pepper into the fat side of belly if you like it. Otherwise, fergit the pepper. Submerge and lightly weight slabs with a crock-pot lid or sumpin similar.
Soak for three days at approx 38*F., turning occasionally.
After three days, remove sides, pat dry and hang in cool place (basement) overnight for about 6 hours with a fan on low directed to dry them off and form a pellicle. Place in smokehouse early in the morning at about 125*F with a good smudge and vents open. After two hours begin slowy raising smokehouse while you correspondingly close down vent, keeping a good smudge going all the while. About the last four hours, keep at 150*F with vents 1/3rd to 1/4th open, maintaining this condition until internal temp reaches about 128-130*F. Takes about 8 hours in the smokehouse. (In winter, I close them down pretty good at the end.)
I quarter each slab, vacuum it and freeze it whole (about a pound each), then slice it all with a large Forschner steaking knife before it thaws. Soak each piece for just a little bit in warm water before frying at low temp. Keeps the flavor and removes a good bit of the salt. Also, when trimming up to freeze, put bacon ends in separate bag. They're great for beans as they have plenty of smoke.
That cover it, Brandt? Prolly more than you wanted to know.