Homemade Sausage Making

Ingredients:
2 oz. Kosher salt (about 1/4 cup)
2 tsp. Cure #1 (aka pink salt, InstaCure #1, Prague Powder #1)
1/4 C. Maple sugar or packed brown sugar
1/4 C. Maple syrup


5 lb. fresh pork belly
(Makes enough for a 5 lb. belly)


Got my two pork bellies yesterday, 12.7 lbs. This is skin off pork bellies @ 3.99 a lb. Found the price went up since March when I did this last, it was 2.30 a lb back then.

Two slabs of pork bellies



Got my dry ingredient's adjusted for 12.7 lbs for maple bacon. Cut the two slabs in half so they are easier to work with.



Added the Canadian maple syrup to the dry and and mixed up real good.



Got them all rubbed down with the cure, brown sugar, salt and maple syrup. Using the big meat mixing tray sure helps on clean up later.



Going to transfer them into a extra large ZipLock bag. I get them from wally world. They can handle large loads.



All sealed up and ready for the 7 day wait in the fridge. Flip and massage them once a day.

Devo, maybe you can help me. This is my first try at bacon. I just purchased two "whole" bellies from Packing house, weighed about 22# ea. My problem is I don't know how to trim them up for bacon, seems a good bit needs to be trimed to me. Packer said about 1/3 would need to be trimmed off, but don't know if thats right. Iam also in need of directions to cure bacon to non perishable stage, similar to country hams. Any help would be great. BTW whole bellies w/ skin are a $1.45 per lb. in Memphis, Tn. Thanks again

Well I have never bought belly with skin on but others I know have and some trim before smoking and others will trim after smoking as they say this makes it a lot easier to trim. When ever I trim any kind of meat I always use my filet knife and go slowly. You do not want to trim all fat off as that's what makes bacon so good Just take your time and i'm sure you will do fine on the trimming of it.

On curing this is the way I do it.
Rub cure mixture on belly making sure to cover the entire surface. Place skin side down in a 2 gallon sealable bag, and expel all air, and fold the empty end of the bag under so that the belly is in close contact with the bag. During the curing time the belly will release liquid, and it is important that this liquid stay in contact with the meat. Refrigerate at 34 - 40°F (the closer to 40°F the better) for 5 - 7 days, until belly is firm to the touch with no soft spots. During the curing time, turn the bag over once a day or once every other day to redistribute the cure.

When belly is fully cured, rinse it thoroughly, and pat it dry. Place it on an inverted rack set over a baking sheet, and air dry uncovered in the refrigerator overnight (12 - 24 hours).

If you don`t have the refrigerator space to air dry the bacon you can do this step in the smoker. Preheat the smoker to 100 - 120°F with vent wide open, and place your room temperature bacon in the smoker. To get these low temperatures you will need to use a "cold smoke setup". Do not apply smoke at this time. You just want to dry the bellies until they are tacky when touched. Depending on the size of your load, this generally takes about 2 hours, but to be on the safe side check the bellies after one hour.
Once bacon has been "air dried" place into a 120 - 140° preheated smoker with vent half open.
The amount of smoke is up to you. I generally will only apply 2 hours, using maple.
After you have applied your smoke, increase the heat to 160°F, and smoke/cook the bacon until an internal temperature of 150°F is reached. Or you can finish it to an IT of 132*F if you plan on finishing it off in the frying pan, this is more like store bought bacon.

After the desired internal temperature has been reached, remove from smoker and allow to cool slightly. When cool enough to handle, but still warm pull the skin off (you may need a sharp knife to help) making sure you leave as much fat on the bacon as possible.

For me also this is very timely. I bought two butts today that I plan to cut a slab from each for bacon and the rest into rolled cured and smoked butts about 2 pounds each.

ssorllih wrote:For me also this is very timely. I bought two butts today that I plan to cut a slab from each for bacon and the rest into rolled cured and smoked butts about 2 pounds each.

Devo's process sounds great will try. However I still don't know how to trim the Packer Cut on the sides as they are 20" wide x 32" long with solid fat and lean on sides and ends. They don't look like Devo's. Someone the other day mentioned that you have to square a whole belly by removing fat w/ streakes of lean to be used for salt pork. Don't know where to put the knife? Thanks

Devo,
Just some advise from another newbie. You just cut the bellies where you think is right in either 2 or 3 pieces, whatever your smoker can handle.
You can even reduce the fat a bit and use this in your next sausages.
I personally prefer to skin them as well. It really doesn't matter what you cut off,
Cure and smoke that as well, smoked lardons are great and you won't waste any meat.
Experience is the best teacher.
Don't be afraid to cut the bellies to suit YOU.
Best Regards,
Jan.
Brisbane.

20x32 can be divided into 10x16 for four pieces or 10x11 plus 10x10 for six pieces or you could go with 10x8 and get eight pieces.

I just finished with 16 pounds of pork butts. From the fat side i removed a slab about an inch and quarter thick with a really thin place over the shoulder blade. Then I removed the shoulder blade and cut the remaaining piece into two more or less sme size pieces and trimmed the excess fat and connective membrain. . I mixed 5 ounces of salt 5 teaspoons of cure #1 and sugar and molassas I slathered everything with this mixture and realized that there is a pratical limit to the amount of salt, sugar and molassas that can be applied by rubbing. . It is all in one large bag in the fridge downstairs where it will get my attention each day for the next week or so.