Well I really like bacon. their are 3 of us in the house & we go though bacon fast. I usually buy Wright's brand Maple Bacon @ Sams club & I buy alot. Well I'm wanting to try & make Maple flavored Bacon @ home. I've read over the recipe from 10 points, but have some questions. Is it better to dry cure or wet? Should I cold smoke or hot? I like my bacon kind of crispy, so what Temp. should I smoke it to? What would give the bacon the best Maple flavor? I bought 63Lbs of belly, so I got plenty to experiment with. Down the road a little I will be making different kinds, but right now want to perfect the Maple. I just got a new slicer: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002SMC1ZU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 mainly for this experiment. Next will be a stuffer- I already have a pretty good grinder. Want to try the sausage thing next. I have lots of other family members already wanting some bacon.
To answer a couple of your questions, a lot depends on personal preferences. Wet curing is faster, but generally you need more refrigerator space. When I have the option, I prefer dry cure method, I feel it gives the meat a better texture, others feel that wet curing provides extra moistness in the meat and the meat draws in more flavor.
Hot smoke or cold smoke is another personal preference. Cold smoking gives the meat a sweeter more mild tasting smoke and one will generally apply much more smoke, when cold smoking. While hot smoking will give you a stronger/sharper smoke flavor, using a less amount of smoke.
You can take your bacon to any temperature range you want, but to get the crispness you desire will depend on how you cook it before serving. If you cure your bacon with a lot of sugar, for example a maple sugar cure, the best way to crisp it is to fry it over a low flame or cook it in the oven. If you try to fry it with a flame too high, I find that the sugars will burn before the bacon is crisp.
I have no tips on increasing the maple flavor. Maybe use only maple sugar as the sweetener. I once tried a maple syrup based injection, but I didn't really noticed a major change in flavor.
Good advice from Habs. I tend to dry cure and hot smoke. Nothing I can add. Don't stress over it. Curing bacon is really easy.
I have to agree with all of the above, with 63 lbs of belly I would suggest that you pull a couple of 5 lb slabs out and try a wet and dry cure and see what you like best, then you have a base to tweak from.
I just got through curing and smoking 120 pounds of bellies. All were dry cured in zip loc bags for 11 days then smoked for about 7 hours at 1200. Meat came out very moist and tasty and everyone that bought it has raved about it
Quote from: rexster on August 23, 2014, 01:33:28 PM
I just got through curing and smoking 120 pounds of bellies. All were dry cured in zip loc bags for 11 days then smoked for about 7 hours at 1200. Meat came out very moist and tasty and everyone that bought it has raved about it
120 pounds?? Wow!! Did u smoke the bacon to a certain IT? Or just apply 7 hours of smoke at 120?
7 hours of smoke with Auber set at 1200
Hi new to this thread, it's great! I think it would be helpful if when giving a recipe you also give the Auber program settings. I think it would make it easier to duplicate the flavor. If recipes are already written with this format, please provide a link so that I can view them. [emoji2]
I guess the OP decided he had enough info, no more posts on this thread. Hoping he likes the slicer, I had a MTN that is the exact same slicer and it is one b***h to clean; one reason I got rid of it.