Maple Bacon
Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2016 09:32
I was tagged by Redzed in another group on facebook asking if I would not mind posting here on the Maple bacon that I produce for my shop -- I hope that some/most will find it interesting
Redzed has kindly offered to post the pictures for me
Well to some it will be completely different and to others not so ........
To some bacon is that; just bacon ... and to others it is a work of art as one takes salt, cure and a array of spices and paints upon the canvas which in this case is the belly of pork
And so this is my humble offering of one of my biggest sellers the humble Maple Bacon of which there are many ways to make it so please remember there is no right or wrong way to make this (other than over salting ) only the way that suits you and your ingredients
Maple Bacon
Pork belly boneless rind on
EQ Cure; 2% sea salt, 0.25% Cure #1
Spices/Maple
50g of spices (mine is a particular we use, but you may mix up something that you like)
100g of Maple sugar -- if you can find maple sugar use it as it is far less messy than the syrup, but if syrup is all you can find ..........!!!
Get the weight of the belly and weigh out the salt and cure ( 10 lb belly = 4536 grams x 2% salt = 91g -- 4536 x 0.25% cure #1 = 11g -- for a total of 102g )
Note that I have converted "all" my weights to metric as this way is more accurate and you are less lightly to make mistakes
Take 20g of the salt/cure mixture and rub it on the rind side, then take the remaining 82g and rub this into the meat side
The reason for this is that the rind side (the fat side for though's who wish to take the rind off before you start) will not absorb the salt/cure as fast as the meat side hence the reason why we do the rubs this way
The reason why I always cure with the rind on; is because that there will be less shrinkage while curing and as well as smoking -- it is also a very big help while one is ageing/maturing the bacon
Place in a non porous container rind side down with the meat on the top
On top of the meat side sprinkle 50g of your spice blend and following that sprinkle the 100g of Maple Sugar -- leave for one week (7 days)
After 7 days give the belly a quick rinse under tepid water to semove the residue of salt and cure
Hang to dry in room temperature for about 8 hours so that the meat side is dryish to the touch (not completely dry) and recover the meat side with another 100g of the Maple Sugar for another 7 days
I forgot to let you know at the beginning that this is not a fast way to make bacon but it is a quality way of making it
After a further 7 days take and hang at room temperature either to dry/age/mature if you do not wish to cold smoke or for 12 to 24 hours for it to dry enough so that you can cold smoke it
Cold smoke adheres to meat when it is tacky and warm (room temperature) not when it is cold and wet hence the hanging at room temperature and not leaving in the fridge
The length of time smoking is up to each one -- remember that when cold smoking we are building a flavour profile and for you folks that wish to hot smoke your internal temperature is no more than 145F (63C) as you should be cooking your bacon once and not twice. The other sad part about hot smoking you get what you get when you finish the smoking there is no added flavour profile that is built up in layers as what happens when cold smoking
I always age/mature my bacon be it cold smoked or not for 7 days at room temperature (45F to 55F -- 7C to 14C)
Hope this is of help to people -- As I said; this is one of many ways of doing Maple Bacon
Redzed has kindly offered to post the pictures for me
Well to some it will be completely different and to others not so ........
To some bacon is that; just bacon ... and to others it is a work of art as one takes salt, cure and a array of spices and paints upon the canvas which in this case is the belly of pork
And so this is my humble offering of one of my biggest sellers the humble Maple Bacon of which there are many ways to make it so please remember there is no right or wrong way to make this (other than over salting ) only the way that suits you and your ingredients
Maple Bacon
Pork belly boneless rind on
EQ Cure; 2% sea salt, 0.25% Cure #1
Spices/Maple
50g of spices (mine is a particular we use, but you may mix up something that you like)
100g of Maple sugar -- if you can find maple sugar use it as it is far less messy than the syrup, but if syrup is all you can find ..........!!!
Get the weight of the belly and weigh out the salt and cure ( 10 lb belly = 4536 grams x 2% salt = 91g -- 4536 x 0.25% cure #1 = 11g -- for a total of 102g )
Note that I have converted "all" my weights to metric as this way is more accurate and you are less lightly to make mistakes
Take 20g of the salt/cure mixture and rub it on the rind side, then take the remaining 82g and rub this into the meat side
The reason for this is that the rind side (the fat side for though's who wish to take the rind off before you start) will not absorb the salt/cure as fast as the meat side hence the reason why we do the rubs this way
The reason why I always cure with the rind on; is because that there will be less shrinkage while curing and as well as smoking -- it is also a very big help while one is ageing/maturing the bacon
Place in a non porous container rind side down with the meat on the top
On top of the meat side sprinkle 50g of your spice blend and following that sprinkle the 100g of Maple Sugar -- leave for one week (7 days)
After 7 days give the belly a quick rinse under tepid water to semove the residue of salt and cure
Hang to dry in room temperature for about 8 hours so that the meat side is dryish to the touch (not completely dry) and recover the meat side with another 100g of the Maple Sugar for another 7 days
I forgot to let you know at the beginning that this is not a fast way to make bacon but it is a quality way of making it
After a further 7 days take and hang at room temperature either to dry/age/mature if you do not wish to cold smoke or for 12 to 24 hours for it to dry enough so that you can cold smoke it
Cold smoke adheres to meat when it is tacky and warm (room temperature) not when it is cold and wet hence the hanging at room temperature and not leaving in the fridge
The length of time smoking is up to each one -- remember that when cold smoking we are building a flavour profile and for you folks that wish to hot smoke your internal temperature is no more than 145F (63C) as you should be cooking your bacon once and not twice. The other sad part about hot smoking you get what you get when you finish the smoking there is no added flavour profile that is built up in layers as what happens when cold smoking
I always age/mature my bacon be it cold smoked or not for 7 days at room temperature (45F to 55F -- 7C to 14C)
Hope this is of help to people -- As I said; this is one of many ways of doing Maple Bacon