Recipe adapted from Ruhlman-5 pound belly (skin on, this actually helps protect the fat. Skin on especially if you hot smoke).
-50 grams Kosher salt
-12 grams pink salt
-50 grams Brown Sugar
-60 milliliters maple syrup (optional)1. Put belly in a large ziplock bag, Mix your cure and rub it on your belly good (put most of it on the flesh side). Then into the fridge it goes.
2. Flip the bag every other day for 7-10 days to overhaul.
3. After 7-10 days you are looking for a firm belly, doesn't have to be hard, just not mushy. Rinse off cure well (I like to soak mine for about 45 minutes after rinsing), and pat dry and set on a rack and let it dry in the fridge for about 24 hours to form a good pellicle.
4. Cold or hot smoke to your liking a mix. (For starters I recommend hot smoking around 175-185, pull it when IT reads 135-145) I used a mix of hickory and apple on this batch. I am not sure how much I used but I know I only used 1 hickory dowel and a 3-4 medium chunks of apple wood. After 2 hours I added 2 more medium sized apple chunks.
5. Once done remove the skin. Let it come to room temperature, wrap and let it sit in the fridge overnight.
You now have slab bacon and can cut however you like it. After it rests in the fridge overnight some like to put it in the fridge for a couple of hours to make slicing easier. My butcher loves my bacon, so he slices it for me and only asks for a dozen slices. This batch that I did in the smoking-it 3 yielded me about 130 slices of bacon
**Know the risks of curing and using pink salt**
