Bacon Curing Project

[processhead]

Picked up a pork belly and cut it half so I could do a honey cure on one 1/2 and a brown sugar cure on the other 1/2.

Both will to be dry-rub cured before smoking. Here they are 4 days into the curing period.

Note: Working with honey in a “dry rub cure” is sort of a conflict in terms. More of a sticky-rub.

[YooperDog]

processhead I just started the same thing, but wit honey anthem other with maple syrup.

[processhead]

YooperDog said in Bacon Curing Project:

processhead I just started the same thing, but wit honey anthem other with maple syrup.

That maple syrup cure should be a good one. Will be waiting to hear how it turns out Y.D.!

[Jonathon]

processhead Awesome, please keep us updated on the progress

[processhead]

Yesterday smoked the bacon for for an hour at 120, an hour at 140, an hour at 155 an hour at 170.

Today it got sliced and packaged. The honey cured had minimal honey character, just the background sweetness. The brown sugar is always good.

I would do either one again.

[Jonathon]

processhead Have you ever put orange zest on the brown sugar bacon as it fries? Someone here did that and was trying to convince me to try it. It’s been in the back of my mind for a while but any time I am cooking bacon I have another use for it or I just really want to eat it as bacon, not as some weird experiment!

[processhead]

Jonathon said in Bacon Curing Project:

processhead Have you ever put orange zest on the brown sugar bacon as it fries? Someone here did that and was trying to convince me to try it. It’s been in the back of my mind for a while but any time I am cooking bacon I have another use for it or I just really want to eat it as bacon, not as some weird experiment!

Orange zest on bacon is new to me andI have not tried it. Seems like it would be easy enough to add to a pan of frying bacon or even just a couple strips to see what it brings to the party.

[YooperDog]

Finished up my experiment with a honey cured vs maple syrup cured. Both turned out pretty mild tasting. Maybe an extra day or curing would help. The next time I am going to use maple sugar instead of syrup. I used a pint of grade B, it darkened the pork a bit and was messy. I just didn’t want to use my limited supply of maple sugar until after sugar season. Smoked with hickory, should have the next belly ready in a couple of weeks.