Found the wifes weakness....Bacon!

uwanna61 · Post by **uwanna61** » Sat Nov 30, 2013 19:59

In past years, I have made bacon once or twice. Back in early October my wife and I attended a local beer & bacon festival, what a combo! We stopped by the Dakin Farm booth (they specialize in Vermont cob smoked hams & meats), the Dakin Farms rep, was frying several pounds of cob smoked bacon. My wife went nuts over there bacon, I myself had several strips, and it was good stuff, compliments of Dakin Farms. This got my gears turning toward bacon, so the following weekend, I ordered a case of pork belly from a local butcher, and as luck would have it, the butcher also had dried corn cob (for smoking) on hand. The first 12lb batch was a bacon cure with honey. The kids & wife liked the flavor, I thought it was good, but did not care for the way it cooked in the frying pan, it would easily burn due to the honey glaze on the bacon!
I moved on to another recipe, for curing bacon. I used "Big Guy`s brine" following the recipe but with a few adjustments. In the place of the sugar, I used a maple sugar (similar to a brown sugar) and also added 2 Tbls "concentrated liquid smoke" to the 1 gallon brine, then let the bacon set in the brine for 5 days. After 5 days, rinsed and let the bacon set for 30 minutes in cold water. After 30 minutes, let the bacon hang over night in the fridge, and smoke the next day, using the corn cob for the smoke that I got from the butcher.
My next bacon recipe was a maple cure/rub that I picked up from Butcher packer, this was my personal best bacon to date, the flavor was fantastic and pan fried perfect!
If you haven`t made your own bacon, try it! It beats the store cost at 6-7 dollars a pound, and it`s simple to make! Start with a small batch until you get your favorite recipe. Believe me, the family will love you for it!

Divey · Post by **Divey** » Sun Dec 01, 2013 04:54

That Bacon looks fantastic. Well Done.

I bought myself a smoker yesterday and have been looking at some recipes for a decent bacon cure. I have searched here and everywhere else to find a brine that is highly recommended.

I liked the look of your bacon that much that I did a search for "Big Guy's Brine" here and on google......... no luck.

Now, can you do me a favour and post the recipe you used with your tweaks. When you say Maple Sugar, do mean Maple Syrup.

I am only going to use small pieces (1 Kilo) of Pork Belly before I am satisfied to go the whole hog and feed the entire neighbourhood.

If there is anyone that can head me in the right direction here it would be very much appreciated.

uwanna61 · Post by **uwanna61** » Sun Dec 01, 2013 05:26

Divey

Big Guy is a forum member here on this site. The maple sugar, I bought at www.butcher packer.com.

Big Guy`s Brine
Turkey /Pork hocks
1¼ gallon water
1 cup Kosher salt
1 cup sugar
Cure 1 (1/8) cup?
Keep refrigerated for 7 days

Adjustments: Used maple sugar in place of sugar. Added 2 TBLS of liquid smoke