Indulge in the savory delight of home-cured maple bacon, crafted with expertise honed over 15 years of mastering the art of bacon curing. With a background in commercially producing bacon for retail sale, I’ve perfected the process to bring out the finest flavors and textures in every slice.
Utilizing the equilibrium curing method (Comminuted Sausage method), my approach to bacon creation is a meticulous dry rub technique that takes time, but yields unparalleled results. While it may require more patience than traditional brine curing methods, I firmly believe that the payoff is worth it. The end result is a bacon with a superior mouthfeel and depth of flavor that elevates any breakfast spread or culinary creation. Prepare to savor the perfect balance of smoky, salty, and subtly sweet notes in every bite of this homemade maple bacon masterpiece.
Below this recipe there is a full album of images taken during the production of this recipe. The second part of the recipe will be ready in 10 days, that’s if you are reading this on the 24th of April 2024.
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Maple Bacon- Part one, initial prep to cure
Equipment
- Cutting Board
- Knife
- Bowl
- Scale
- Scale that handles 10th of a gram increments
- Vacuum Pack Bags or Ziplock Bags
Ingredients
- Pork Belly, skin off Skin on is fine too, you will need to remove it at some point.
- Cure (Cure Calculator, link below)
- Salt (Cure Calculator, link below)
- 5 % Maple Syrup (or brown sugar) (meat weight x .05 = Maple Syrup Weight)
- 2.5 % Other Spices (meat weight x .025 = Spice Weight)
Instructions
- Cut whole pork belly into pieces that will fit within your ziplock bag or into a vacuum pack bag. We vacuum pack ours, either way will work, we just find less of a mess that way.
- Once you've cut down your pork belly, trim any fat you would like to remove. There usually isn't fat to remove from belly.
- Weigh each piece of pork belly and note their weights on a piece of paper.
- Visit https://eatcuredmeat.com/dry-curing/how-much-curing-salt-per-pound-of-meat-dry-or-wet-curing-tool-calculatorEquilibrium Curing Button CheckedEnter Weight of Meat, make sure it's set to grams.Look just below that and write down the cure amount and salt amount.Repeat for each piece of belly you have.
- Use your scale that is in 10th's of a gram weight and weigh out your cure for each piece of belly.
- Use a regular scale to weigh out the proper amount of salt for each piece of belly.
- Use a regular scale to weigh out the amount of maple syrup needed for each piece of belly.
- If you have other spices, weigh out the amount of spice for each piece of belly.
- Mix your cure, salt, maple syrup, and spice (if you use it) together. (image is of Jerked Maple Bacon Cure Blend)
- Put your belly piece in the sealable bag and pour your cure into the bag, gently rub the cure into the belly making sure that all sides are covered and every crevice is rubbed.
- If you are using a vacuum pack bag wipe down the edge before sealing. If using a ziplock bag wipe down the zipper to make sure no cure or salt is stuck inside the zipper. It will cause a leak which is hard to clean.
- This will need to sit in your fridge for 10 days, turning it over every 2 to 3 days is recommended. You need to turn it over at least once.
- Part two will be coming soon! (it will be 10 days until completed)
Notes
Enter these figures into your calculator:
n (nitrite)=156 X 100(lbs) ÷ 0.0625 X 1,000,000
The answer is: n=0.2496 lbs. of Cure #1.
0.2496 lbs. = equals 3.99 ounces or (113 grams)
113 grams of Cure #1 is needed to cure 100 lbs. of meat.
Never did I think that I could make my own bacon. Daryl walks you through the whole process and makes it easy. His dry rub recipe is the way to go. This bacon is delicious. Better than any store bought.