I picked up a 10.5 lb pork belly from Costco to make bacon. I split the pork belly in half so I had 2- 5lb chunks. I planned on doing maple bacon so mixed together the ingredients:
2 oz Kosher Salt
2 tsp cure #1
1/4 C Maple Sugar
1/4 C Maple Syrup
Did two batches of brine, one for each 5lb belly and spread over the pork belly and put it in a zip loc and in the fridge for seven days. Esch night I flipped them over to distribute cure properly. After the 7th day, I removed from cure and rinsed with water. Then i put them on an inverted bradley rack into the fridge overnight. The next day I fired up the Bradley and smoked at 120 for 3 hours with maple, then continued to cook at 160 until IT of 140. Put the bellies in the fridge overnight and then the next day I put them in zip locs. They sat in the fridge about 48 hours and then I sliced. I left out about 8 pieces and vacuum packed the rest and put in the freezer. I cooked some up this am and the flavor was amazing, but the texture was a little firm, so I just need to work on the best way to cook. I think I will try lower temps the next time around. Overall I consider it a success and will be doing more.
Here are pics of the process:
Pork Belly
Out of brine
Out of smoker
Bacon Jig
Sliced Up
