Making Bacon

Follow-up Q&A video from Ron:    • Making Bacon Part Two   BACON RECIPE For each 5-8lbs meat, pork shoulder or belly. 2/3 cups Morton’s kosher salt ½ cup each granulated white, and packed light brown sugar 2 TBS molasses- not blackstrap 8 + TBS real maple syrup, grade B 2 TBS cracked black pepper 1 tsp/5lbs meat of cure # 1(AKA Prauge powder #1, pink curing salt, or 6.25% sodium nitrite.) Use enough. Whole boneless Pork butt (shoulder) or pork belly. Mix all dry ingredients except black pepper in large mixing bowl, quantities based on weight of meet. You may not use it all, but you can save the left over for you next batch! Mix about 2 TBS molasses with about 6 TBS maple syrup. Note: the exact volumes are not as important as the 3:1 ratio. This mixture gets rubbed onto all sides of meat. A little goes quite a ways, but it’s a pain to mix more once your hands are sticky, so make enough! Directions for pork butt: Lay pork but on cutting boar and split lengthwise into 2 pieces about the same thickness using slit were bone was removed as your starting point. Trim any veins or gooey fat. Lightly truss looser chunks by where bone was removed with cotton string. Rub on all sides with molasses/syrup mix to form a thin coating. Sprinkle liberally with black pepper and pat in. Generously apply the salt/sugar mix to all sides, rubbing in well. Let stand a couple minutes until the mixture is moist. Drizzle with maple syrup and pat in and rub in gently, using care not to remove too much salt mixture. Place both pieces flat inside a 2 gallon zip lock bag and refrigerate 5-7 days, turning over twice a day . Meat will feel firm to touch when done. Remove meat from bag and rinse well under cold water scrubbing it with your hand. Don’t worry if lots of the pepper comes off. Pat dry, and allow to air dry for ½ hour. Smoke using your favorite wood (I like apple) at 150-200 degrees using indirect heat until internal temperature is 150-160 degrees. This gives you a “fully cooked” product. Refrigerate overnight and allow to cool completely before slicing. If using a whole pork belly, remove rind (skin) and cut into 4 pieces, and proceed same as shoulder. Slice to desired thickness.