#Maple cured bacon skin
#Maple cured bacon zip

If you’ve got the patience, chill the bacon completely before slicing. It is hard to resist slicing pieces off right away, so definitely cut off a few pieces and fry them up. Once the pork is smoked, you are ready to slice and fry it up! Finally after all of that waiting, it is time to eat that glorious, salty sweet piece of meat heaven. I always recommend ThermoWorks thermometers because they are insanely accurate and very durable. Invest in a GOOD quality thermometer! It will make all the difference in the finished product if you have an accurate temperature reading. Place the cured pork belly on the grill grates of the smoker, close the lid, and smoke for about 6 hours or until the internal temperature is up to 155 degrees F.

Fire up your favorite pellet grill and keep the temperature as low as possible (I was smoking around 165 degrees F). Now it’s smoke time! I like to use apple wood to smoke my bacon, but maple and hickory are also awesome choices. This air drying time in the fridge will help the smoke really cling to the meat by creating that tacky exterior.

You need to leave your bacon in the fridge for 12-24 hours I usually leave mine overnight. I like to place my pork belly on a wire cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet before returning to the fridge.

#Maple cured bacon skin

The texture should also feel like a well done steak when it is done curing.Īfter the cure, the pork belly needs to be rinsed and returned to the fridge to develop a sticky skin called a pellicle. If it isn’t pink through, put it back in the cure for another day and test again. If you hit the 7 day mark, you can test your bacon by slicing through the middle to be sure the pork belly is pink all of the way through with no gray left at all. Make sure you flip your pork belly over in the cure and massage once a day. A general rule is to cure your bacon 7 days for every inch of thickness. Place the bag in the refrigerator and allow it to cure.Īllow the pork belly to cure for approximately 7 days. You can also vacuum seal the bag to remove all the air if you have this available. When you’re ready to make your bacon, place the pork belly in a plastic bag with the cure and seal the bag tightly. It is the perfect mixture of sweet and salty and it just screams breakfast. The recipe notes contain the ingredients for the maple cure. The peppered cure is a little more sophisticated with some added spice. There are two cures in the recipe card below.

#Maple cured bacon zip

I usually portion mine off so they can easily fit in a gallon sized zip top bag. If you have a large piece of meat, I recommend dividing the pork belly into smaller portions so it is easier to handle in the cure. It can be a bit of a nasty job to remove this skin yourself, and it also increases your cure time since it is typically not removed until after the time spent in the cure. If you are buying from a butcher, see if you can get them to remove the skin from the belly for you.

Thickness will vary, but lately Costco has been stocking beautiful, already skinned slabs of pork belly. I’m going to detail my steps for you here so you can follow along and venture into beautiful, homemade smoked bacon territory.įirst, you need to pick up a piece of pork belly. Making homemade bacon is a several day process, but it is totally worth it. I did, however, create these two awesome cure recipes from all of the knowledge I gleaned from those who have made bacon before me. I’m not going to pretend that I am the first person to attempt to make bacon, I did a lot of reading on proper cure times, ratios of curing salt to bacon thickness, etc. I can’t even wait to share the process with you and watch the proud homemade bacon glow wash over you. But the fact that I bought a giant slab of pork belly and turned it into beautifully seasoned and smoked homemade bacon made me near giddy. I don’t think I’ve ever cooked anything that made me as excited as this homemade smoked bacon. I’m here to walk you step-by-step through making your own smoked bacon from scratch that is way better than anything you’ll get at the store. Making your own homemade Smoked Bacon is a bit of a process, but it’s 100% worth the effort. Jump to Recipe Jump to Video Print Recipe