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

(Optionally, 8 tbsp of cracked black pepper, divided)

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

Remove the skin or score the fat side of the pork belly.

Trim the flap off the pork belly before you begin the curing process. The "flap" (often called the brisket flap or loose meat) is a thin, dangling piece of meat on the flesh side of the belly. Because it is much thinner than the rest of the slab, it will absorb salt much faster, making it overly salty, dry, and tough by the time the main belly is finished curing. (See Notes)

After you remove the flap and skin weigh the pork belly and calculate the exact amount of salt and InstaCure#1 needed to cure the meat.

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 (and optionally, 4 tbsp of crushed black pepper)

Rub the salt (& black pepper) 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 daily 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 then soak the bacon for 2 hours to desalinate.

Dry the slab of bacon with paper towels. If using black pepper, massage another 4 tbsp of the crushed pepper into both sides of the bacon. 

Place a rack in a baking sheet, 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.