Bradley Maple Cure bacon....

[Tenpoint5]

Looks really good, So how does it taste?

[westexasmoker]

Mighty fine looking bacon!

C

[ExpatCanadian]

It tastes amazing....

My only SMALL complaint might be that it's not actually salty enough.  I was really worried that it would be too salty, as I've had a lot of home produced bacon and I often find the salt level just too high.  Of course some of these are actually completely salt cured, rather than nitrite cured....  so that would make some difference.

But, salt is easily adjusted....  the flavour itself is perfect.... and the smoke level is just right.  I used 2 hours of maple.

This was my first attempt, so I'll make a few adjustments on the next batch and probably do a couple bellies at once.  I do have the luxury here of having fresh pork of any description basically "on tap"...  my local butcher is the retail front of a pork farming operation in Yorkshire (UK).....  so I consider myself very lucky, I can order anything I want and if they don't have the piece in the shop to cut it from, it'll be on the next delivery.  I've been reading on here of it actually being a bit difficult to for some to even get pork belly....  let alone any specialized cut.

My next project is going to be guanciale.... really getting into the whole charcuterie thing....

[Quarlow]

Awesome looking bacon there Ex, you got to be proud of that for sure.

[OU812]

Thats some damn fine lookin bacon Ex, the packaging is a work of art too.

[oakville smoker]

That packaging is amazing !
You should see mine all crunched up in a bag    LOL
But damn it still tastes good

I wonder if Martha Stewart has a bacon packaging school ?

[OU812]

That packaging is amazing !
You should see mine all crunched up in a bag    LOL
But damn it still tastes good

I wonder if Martha Stewart has a bacon packaging school ?

It really aint that hard, just try to lay the slices on the board as they come off the slicer. The bacon sticks together and you just slide in the package.