Makin Bacon Recipes

Steps:

• Rinse the pork belly and pat dry. Transfer to a resealable 2-gallon plastic bag. To make the spice rub, mix the kosher salt, pink salt, brown sugar, honey, red pepper flakes, paprika and cumin in a bowl. Coat the pork belly all over with the mixture.
• Close the bag and refrigerate 7 to 10 days, flipping once a day, until the pork belly feels firm. It should take 7 days for a thin belly that is about 11/2 inches thick, longer for a belly that's 2 to 3 inches thick.
• Remove the pork belly from the bag, rinse thoroughly and pat dry. Refrigerate the belly on a rack, uncovered, 48 hours.
• Set up your smoker according to the manufacturer's instructions using applewood chips, and set to 200 degrees F. Smoke the pork belly 3 hours, or until the bacon reaches an internal temperature of 150 degrees F.
• Remove the rind (optional), then slice and cook as desired. To store, wrap the bacon in plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 1 week or freeze up to 2 months.
• Pink curing salt is a mix of salt and sodium nitrite. It keeps the meat pink and protects it from bacteria. You can find it at specialty food stores or online.

Steps:

• Mix all dry ingredients, add warm water & stir well to dissolve salt & sugar. Let brine stand to cool & infuse for at least a few hours. Inject brine into pork using a marinade injector making sure that your injection sites are close enough together to ensure that all areas of the pork are effected by the brine. soak the pork in remaining brine in an air tight container for 24 to 48 hours turning every 12 hours.
• After soaking, remove pork from brine & rinse before cold smoking or hot smoking to 155 degrees F. or 68 degrees Celsius (bacon in Australia is fully cooked by hot smoking).
• Use pork belly if you like but I use the "chuck" piece of a pork butt, this gives me a tasty piece of pork that is more of a Canadian style bacon that still has some tasty fat through it without being excessive.
• I make 12 cups of brine for this recipe.