Maple-Syrup-Cured Bacon

You will need a piece of pork Belly (size is up to you but 1 to 2 kg is a good maneagable size to start with), a large 'zip-lock' bag to hold the pork belly and some wood chips or a 'Smoke in a Can'.

subheading: For each kilogram of pork belly, you will need:

1 tablespoon (15ml) only of plain salt with no additives (you can use my preserving/pickling salt or you can hunt out your own)

½ (2.5ml) teaspoon Curing Salt #1

½ (2.5ml) teaspoon onion powder

½ (2.5ml) teaspoon garlic powder

½ (2.5ml) teaspoon white pepper

2 tablespoons (30ml) maple syrup (the real maple syrup, not the flavoured one

CURING THE BACON

Remove the skin from the belly pork with a sharp knike and remove the rib bones from the underside if they are still there, try to remove as little meat as possible in this step.

Weigh, your piece of belly pork, this is important as the quantity of cure ingedients you use depends on the weight of the pork.

Measure the amounts of curing ingredients you need based on the weight of your pork belly.

Mix all the curing ingredients to form a thick liquid.

Rub the liquid on the meat evenly to ensure equal distribution of the cure.

Now you need a container to keep the pork in while it cures, I have found by far the best is to get a large 'zip-lock' bag, it is easy to use, you can remove most of the air from the bag and you can redistribute the cure mix on the meat without having to open the bag. If you can't get a 'zip-lock' bag, then use a non-reactive container (plastic or glass) that will hold the pork as tightly as possible.

Refridgerate the pork belly.

Overhaul (rub/redistribute) the cure on the pork after 12 hours - if you are using a 'zip-lock' bag you don't need to open the bag

Repeat the overhaul process once a day during the curing period - the pork needs to be cured for seven days for every 2.5cm of thickness.

At the end of the curing period, rinse the pork well in lukewarm water and drain in a colander or on a rack. Wrap in Paper towels and refridgerate overnight.

SMOKING THE BACON

You don't need a real smoker to do this, if you have a covered BBQ or a Weber, you can use that to do the job. If you are using a BBQ, just use a few heat beads or have the gas very low and don't have the heat source directly under the bacon.

Heat the bacon in the BBQ at around 60 degrees C. for about one hour until the surface is dry.

When dry, smoke at less than 30 degrees C. for three to six hours depending on how smoky you want the bacon. If you are using a covered BBQ to do the smoking, you need to generate some smoke. You can use wood chips or you can use my 'Smoke in a Can'. If you are using chips, you soak the chips in water for a few minutes and then place these in a smoke box or just wrap them loosely in a foil bag with a few holes in the top. You put the chips directly over or on the heat source so they smolder and generate the smoke. Now you don't need much smoke to get the job done.

Increase the temperature to about 60 degrees C. and continue smoking until the bacon takes on a reddish brown colour (around two hours).

Cool the meat at room temperature for a couple of hours and then refridgerate uncovered overnight.

That's it - all you need to do use the bacon as you would any other - the only problem is that you will never want to buy commercially produced bacon again. And a word of advice, never make any of this bacon for your friends or they will never leave you alone!!

Bear in mind that this maple syrup cure is a type of sugar cure so if you fry it at a very high temperature, it may caramelise and char.

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