Bacon and brown sugar?

[Meatatarian]

Having some friends over tonight for a visit and appetizers and my buddy has a severe allergy to pepper.  Yup, pepper, you should try going out for supper with them!  I try to make things we can all eat but cheese and crackers are getting boring.  I will have a sampling of smoked salmon, summer sausage, cheese etc. but was wanting to try doing a bacon appy.  Has anyone tried smoking plain bacon with a healthy dose of brown sugar on it?  I have seen some recipes that use a rub before brown sugar but all my rubs are pre made and have pepper in them.  Any suggestions appreciated.

[RedJada]

 Just what the doctor ordered. An easy bacon from 10.5.

http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?542-Maple-Cured-Bacon

[Meatatarian]

Thanks Red, I will give that one a go in the near future.

[dave01]

Quite frustrated, whenever I try to click on the recipe site this is what I get. Hope that someone will help me with this at some point, it's been months now.

[manfromplaid]

try smokinmeat.com  jeff philaps has a recipe for bacon candy

[TedEbear]

Quite frustrated, whenever I try to click on the recipe site this is what I get. Hope that someone will help me with this at some point, it's been months now.

Sorry about the access problem with the recipe site.  Here's the recipe I copied from there.

Maple Cured Bacon
From Tenpoint5

    Ingredients:

        2 oz. Kosher salt (about 1/4 cup)
        2 tsp. Cure #1 (aka pink salt, InstaCure #1, Prague Powder #1)
        1/4 C. Maple sugar or packed brown sugar
        1/4 C. Maple syrup
        5 lb. fresh pork belly
        (Makes enough for a 5 lb. belly)

    Directions:

        Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Add syrup and stir until well combined.
            If the mixture is too thick, you can add more syrup to thin it.



        Rub cure mixture on belly making sure to cover the entire surface. Place skin side down in a 2 gallon sealable bag, and expel all air, and fold the empty end of the bag under so that the belly is in close contact with the bag. During the curing time the belly will release liquid, and it is important that this liquid stay in contact with the meat.
            Note - The skin was already removed at the Locker Plant on this one.
            IMPORTANT:When using plastic sealable bags, place the bags on a rimmed cookie sheet or in a pan. This will catch any leakage from the bags, will keep your refrigerator clean, and you can also recover any lost liquid, and return it to the bag.




        Refrigerate at 34 – 40°F (the closer to 40°F the better) for 5 – 7 days, until belly is firm to the touch with no soft spots. During the curing time, turn the bag over once a day or once every other day to redistribute the cure.



        When belly is fully cured, rinse it thoroughly, and pat it dry. Place it on an inverted Bradley rack set over a baking sheet, and air dry uncovered in the refrigerator overnight (12 – 24 hours).
            If you don't have the refrigerator space to air dry the bacon you can do this step in the Bradley. Preheat the Bradley to 100 – 120°F with vent wide open, and place your room temperature bacon in the smoker. To get these low temperatures you will need to use the "cold smoke setup". Do not apply smoke at this time. You just want to dry the bellies until they are tacky when touched. Depending on the size of your load, this generally takes about 2 hours, but to be on the safe side check the bellies after one hour.





    Smoking/Cooking

        Once bacon has been "air dried" place into a 120 - 140° preheated smoker with vent half open.
            If air dried in the refrigerator, set the bellies out in room temperature for 1 - 2 hours before placing them in the smoker.
            If you air dried it in the Bradley, increase the temperature to 120 - 140°, close to vent to half open, and begin to apply your smoke.
            The amount of smoke is up to you. I generally will only apply 2 hours, using maple.



        After you have applied your smoke, increase the heat to 160°F, and smoke/cook the bacon until an internal temperature of 150°F is reached.
            Or increase the temperature to 150°F, and smoke/cook until an IT of 140°F is reached.

        After the desired internal temperature has been reached, remove from smoker and allow to cool slightly. When cool enough to handle, but still warm pull the skin off (you may need a sharp knife to help) making sure you leave as much fat on the bacon as possible.




        Sliced, packaged and ready to freeze.

[dave01]

Thanks for the recipe, I sure hope they fix the recipe site someday so everyone can enjoy it

[Meatatarian]

Thanks for the replies fellas.  Here is what I tried on a whim.  Uncooked bacon coated in brown sugar, nothing else.  Just enough to put a moderate coating on but not caked.  I let is sit for about an hour just so the brown sugar soaked up the moisture from the bacon and made kind of a glaze.  Next into the smoker at 225* with 1 hr of apple smoke.  I found it must be watched continually or it will over heat, turn blackish and be brittle like glass. Likely a scientific cooking term for what happened, I'm not sure.  Depending on the size of bacon slice, it will finish at different times, kind of like jerky.  Rotating of racks is a must.  I ended up taking it out earlier than my bacon cooking instincts told me to and it turned out perfect, it cools and firms up quite a bit on a plate.  Our guests loved it, definitely not a main coarse but extremely addicting to sit and nibble on while visiting.  Smoker mats are a mandatory, it is very sticky!  And the smoker, I won't even get into the mess on the tray....

[ragweed]

That's a neat idea!  Gonna try it for sure.  Next time try a layer of aluminum foil on the V tray, cutting a hole for the drain and the slots.  (Recommended by Tailfeathers when making his honey glazed almonds)  Really helps with the clean up.

[Salmonsmoker]

Meatatarian,
What you made is affectionately known as pig candy. Many smokers/grillers initiate a new grill/smoker etc. with the first cook having to be a pork product for good juju.

[Meatatarian]

Candy indeed!  I did up another batch today, sure is good.

[Salmonsmoker]

Candy indeed!  I did up another batch today, sure is good.

:) :)

[Meatatarian]

Also did up a slab of 10.5's maple cured bacon, should be ready to smoke in 3-4 days.

[Smokeville]

Also did up a slab of 10.5's maple cured bacon, should be ready to smoke in 3-4 days.

And??????

[Meatatarian]

On the docket for tomorrow.  I will post some picks as I go.