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Recipes => What's Cooking? => Topic started by: sabireley on September 17, 2023, 07:28:48 PM

Title: Salt cured bacon
Post by: sabireley on September 17, 2023, 07:28:48 PM
This was my first shot at bacon.  I started with a 10 lb pork belly and used a recipe that is a dry brine of 50% sea salt and 50% dark brown sugar.  I let it brine for 7 days in the fridge, flipping it daily.  Then rinsed it, dried it, and put it on a rack to dry in the fridge for 24 hours.  I smoked it with hickory at 180 for an internal temp of 150.  It took about 5 hours.

I ended up with 9 lbs of thick sliced bacon about as salty as country ham. Next time I’ll use an equilibrium brine to back off the salt a bit, or test it before smoking it and soak in water to draw some of the salt out.  I might also use maple syrup to get a little maple flavor. 

Title: Re: Salt cured bacon
Post by: old sarge on September 20, 2023, 08:18:53 PM
Looks good from here. Keep trying till you get the exact flavor you want dialed in.