Pork Bacon - Home Cured

Ingredients
5 kilos or 11 pounds of pork belly
115 grams Kosher salt
12.5 grams InstaCure #1
120 ml maple syrup
120 ml sugar cane syrup
240 ml honey

Calculate the exact number of grams of InstaCure #1 needed by multiplying the number of kilos of meat by .0025.

Calculate the exact number of grams of salt needed by multiplying the number of kilos of meat by .025.

Directions

Score the fat side of the pork belly.

If the slab of pork belly is too large to fit in a single vacuum-sealed bag, divide it into two pieces and two bags.

Mix the salt and InstaCure #1.

Rub the salt mixture into both sides of the slab of pork belly.

Massage the syrups and honey into both sides of the meat.

Seal the pork in a Ziploc or vacuum bag(s), and refrigerate for 6 days.

Turn the meat over every day to get an even coating of the honey, syrup, and cure.

Remove the bacon from the refrigerator and rinse the excess honey, syrup, and cure off with lukewarm water, and dry the slab of bacon with paper towels.

Place a rack in a baking sheet and put the bacon on the rack, and refrigerate for an additional 12 hours to develop a pellicle.

Preheat the smoker to 135°F. Hold in the smoker with dampers wide open to dry. 

Then close the dampers to ¼ open, apply smoke, and hold until the internal temperature of the bacon reaches 127-128° F.