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Maple Bacon- Part one, initial prep to cure

Prepare to savor the perfect balance of smoky, salty, and subtly sweet notes in every bite of this homemade maple bacon.
5 from 1 vote
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Curing Time 10 days
Total Time 10 days 10 minutes
Course Appetizer, Breakfast, Dessert, Entrees, Lunch, Main Course, Salad, Side Dish, Snack
Cuisine Worldwide

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-calculator
    Equilibrium Curing Button Checked
    Enter 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

Note: If you are into math and want to do your own calculations here are they are. 
Parts per million = Curing mixture X % sodium nitrite in the cure X 1,000,000 (one million) ÷ Weight of meat
This is a comminutated product (dry equilibrium) which requires  that no more than 156ppm of cure is used in any product. Nitrites in Prague Powder #1 or Sure Cure are 6.25% sodium nitrite and 93.75% sodium. It is written as: 0.0625
Amount of Cure #1 (unknown represented by "n" for "nitrite")
The formula is written: 156 = n X 0.0625 X 1,000,000 ÷ 100
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.
Keyword Cured Meat, Darryls Favourite, Maple, Mouthwatering, Savoury, Smoked