Bacon Recipe

[LanduytG]

Well I bought a case of bellies and will have them Thursday. I made about 30# of triple smoked this past spring and summer and I really don't care to eat anything else. However someone else thinks I need to try something new. My question is whats another  popular bacon recipe?

Greg

[laserdoc]

Just did 5 pounds of this one and it turned out great. So easy a caveman could do it.
Per each pound of belly use;
1TBS kosher salt
1.5 tsp granulated sugar
Per each 5-pounds of pork belly use 1 level tsp of cure #1
2-cups honey per 5 pounds

mix the cure, salt, & sugar together, spread evenly on all sides of the pork belly, then smear a few cups of honey all over it, (yes, it is a friggin mess) roll the belly up to conserve space, wrap tightly in plastic, hide it in the lower depths of your fridge for 5-7 days, when the wait time is done, rinse the messy slab of belly in cold running water, hang it to dry at room temperature until the outer surface feels tacky. Smoke at temps of less than 100 degrees for 16-24 or until the desired color is met, remover, hang to let cool, refrigerate for at least 5 hours, slice, enjoy, eat so much that you feel sick, and get your next batch started cuz this is not going to last too long before it is all gone.

[Habanero Smoker]

The below link is a recipe by Michael Rhulman that I have been playing with. The cooking instructions are for cooking it in the oven. If smoking you can use any bacon smoking technique you like. You can cold smoke, or hot smoke to any temperature you desire.

For the first time, I always prepare a recipe as written. Since that first time I no longer add the nutmeg, make a garlic paste of the garlic. I do add the juniper berries and thyme. Sometimes I will add rosemary, but be careful that is a strong herb. I often make infused honey, and rosemary infused honey is one of them. So some times I will use an infused honey instead of the brown sugar or maple syrup.

Edited to correct link:
Home Cured Bacon

[LanduytG]

Habanero

Your link just goes back to this post.

Thanks
Greg

[Dano]

I recommend a triple-smoked pepper bacon.  Skip the maple syrup and use more brown sugar - works great if you like a bit of heat!  Tack the fresh cracked bacon on after the rinse and apply more as necessary during the cold smoke. 

[Habanero Smoker]

Habanero

Your link just goes back to this post.

Thanks
Greg

Well!! That's not to helpful. ;)

Let me try this again. :)
Home Cured Bacon

I also make infused salts, and tried that when curing bacon. Sometimes it seems to intensify the flavor of the bacon, other times it is not all that noticeable.

[Grouperman941]

After trying a couple of different recipes, I now generally do what laserdoc's recipe does. I use Basic Dry Cure from the recipe site. Sometimes I only use that, sometimes I add a little something like maple syrup. After 6 days and a soak, my go-to bacon is lightly coated with salt and pepper and then put in the fridge to dry a couple of hours. This is where I experiment with other rubs and stuff. Next time, I am going to try one with some of the rub ragweed sent in the gift exchange.

The best bacon will be the one you make exactly to your tastes.