Bring home the bacon pt.1

I LOVE bacon! I love it on sandwiches, pizza, pasta, in chocolate. I love everything about bacon – except maybe what it does to my waist line. And I think bacon is taken for granted. I mean, how many of us really now what that pork had to go thru before it was vacu-sealed in cellophane? With my snazzy new smoker (Thank you Mom) I plan to try and figure it out. Luckily the recipes aren’t at all tough, it just takes time.

Maple Cured Bacon
makes 5 pounds of bacon

• 3 oz Kosher salt
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup maple or brown sugar
• 5 pounds of pork belly or pork side
• You are also going to need one 2-gallon zip-lock type bag.

Combine first 3 ingredients in small bowl and mix. I got a little carried away with the syrup so my cure is a little more moist than it should be.

Lay out your pork belly or side on a lined cookie sheet – this just makes it easier to clean up later.

Now rub your maple cure all over the pork and stash in a 2 gallon bag. This goes strait into the refrigerator.

Turn every other day for 7 days, or until firm to the touch. This is a good time to be thinking about smoking and what flavor of chips you might want. Be back next week for the smoking. =)

Part 2 over here.

This entry was posted by Liberty in Create a Home, Food, Tutorials and tagged Food.