Bacon
So I decided I wanted to try and make my own bacon. It was a much easier process then I really expected. Mine turned out a little saltier then I would have liked, but it was still excellent. I skipped the water bath before smoking, and I probably would include it next time. That or I would cure it for 1 or 2 less days.
Ingredients:
- Pork Belly - 5lbs
- Kosher Salt - 1/2 Cup
- Maple Syrup - 1/2 Cup Grade A
- Dark Brown Sugar - 1/2 Cup
Instructions:
- Wash the pork belly with cold water
- Pat dry
- Cut into a manageable size (I had about 5 lbs, and I cut it into half so it would fit into 1 gallon ziplock bags).
- Mix salt, syrup, and sugar together.
- Rub mixture onto both sides of the pork belly.
- Put in bags and let it sit skin side down to start. Rotate the bags every other day for 5-7 days.
- After it's done curing, I HIGHLY recommend cutting a small peice off and cooking it on the stove to see if it's to salty. If it is, then soak the meat in cold water for about an hour to draw out some of the salt. If its not to salty move on to cooking it.
- If you have a smoker, then place the bellies on your smoker until they hit about 150 degrees. It should take roughly 2 hours if you're running the smoker at 225.
- If you don't have a smoker then just stick it in the oven at about 250-300 degrees until the meat hits 150 degrees.
