Outdoor Grilling
Homemade Bacon
Homemade Bacon
Ingredients
- 5 lbs slab of pork belly with the skin removed
- Half a cup of kosher salt
- Half a cup of brown sugar
- Black pepper to taste
- 1 teaspoon of curing salt (Insta Cure #1)
- 3-4 sprigs of thyme destemmed
- Maple syrup
Preparation
- 1. Mix the dry ingredients and thyme together
- 2. Coat the pork belly in a thin layer of maple syrup.
- 3. Apply the dry rub evenly across the pork belly ensuring you get all sides.
- 4. Place pork belly in a ziplock bag, lay flat on a baking sheet and place in the fridge for 7-8 days.
- 5. Flip the ziplock bag over after 3-4 days. You should start to see liquids building up in the ziplock bag that the cure is extracting from the pork belly.
- 6. Remove the pork belly from the fridge 3-4 days later.
- 7. Slice off a thin piece of pork belly and fry it up. If it is too salty for your taste, place the pork belly in a cold water bath for 30-60 minutes.
- 8. Fill-up the hopper with Cuisinart’s maple bourbon pellets and pre-heat the grill to its lowest temperature setting.
- 9. Place the pork belly on the grill, place the temp probe in the thickest part of the belly and allow it to smoke for 4 hours.
- 10. Do not let the internal temperature of the pork belly go above 150F. If you reach that temperature then remove the pork belly from the grill before the 4 hours is up.
- 11. Place the smoked bacon in the fridge and allow it to cool overnight
- 12. Slice the bacon up in the morning to your desired thickness. Make sure to fry the bacon before eating.
