Smye's Lightly Peppered Bacon Recipe

Recipesfull introduces to you: Pork Recipes. (Smye's Lightly Peppered Bacon Recipe). Bacon, what's not to love? How about the incredibly high salt content, cost, inconsistent flavor, and oft-questionable quality of the meat prior to the cure? Well folks, here's the solution, home-cured, home-smoked bacon from scratch. It's absolutely incredible and less than 1/3 the cost of storebought.

Brief

Prep 15 mins

Cook: 3hrs

Additional: 1day

Total: 1day

Servings: 40

Yield: 5 pounds bacon

Smye's Lightly Peppered Bacon Recipe

Ingredients

5 pounds skinless pork belly

¼ cup brown sugar

3 ¾ tablespoons non-iodized salt

3 tablespoons paprika

3 tablespoons red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons ground black pepper

2 teaspoons pink curing salt

2 teaspoons cumin seeds

2 ½ tablespoons maple syrup

applewood chunks

hickory wood chunk

Stuffed Pork Loin

Meat and Poultry

Directions

Step 1

Rinse pork belly and pat dry. Mix brown sugar salt paprika red pepper flakes black pepper curing salt and cumin seeds together. Add maple syrup. Spread the cure mixture evenly over pork belly.

Step 2

Vacuum-seal the pork belly or place it into a resealable plastic bag squeezing out as much air as possible. Refrigerate for 7 to 10 days.

Step 3

Remove pork belly from bag and rinse thoroughly. Pat dry and refrigerate while preheating your smoker to 220 degrees F (105 degrees C) according to manufacturers' instructions.

Step 4

Place pork belly fat-side down onto the wire rack. Place the rack into the smoker. Add 1 fist-sized chunk of applewood and 1 chunk of hickory wood to the smoke pan according to manufacturer's directions. Smoke for 1 1/2 hours; add 2 more chunks of applewood. Continue smoking until pork belly reaches an internal temperature of about 150 degrees F (66 degrees C) about 1 1/2 hours more.

Step 5

Remove pork belly from smoker and slice as desired. Store in the refrigerator for roughly 30 days. You can also portion out the finished bacon and freeze whatever you don't plan to consume right away as you would any other meat product. To use simply thaw in the refrigerator and you're good to go with little loss of texture.

Nutritional Information

Smye's Lightly Peppered Bacon Recipe

Servings Per Recipe:40

Calories: 114.5

% Daily Value *

Protein: 7.1g 14%

Carbohydrates: 3.4g 1%

Dietary Fiber: 0.5g 2%

Sugars: 2.2g

Fat: 8g 12%

Saturated Fat: 2.6g 13%

Cholesterol: 20.6mg 7%

Vitamin A Iu: 560.7IU 11%

Niacin Equivalents: 3.2mg 25%

Vitamin B6: 0.1mg 7%

Vitamin C: 1mg 2%

Folate: 1.7mcg

Calcium: 8.4mg 1%

Iron: 0.6mg 4%

Magnesium: 9.5mg 3%

Potassium: 141.6mg 4%

Sodium: 1213.2mg 49%

Thiamin: 0.1mg 13%

Calories From Fat: 72.3

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

**Nutrient information is not available for all ingredients. Amount is based on available nutrient data.

(-)Information is not currently available for this nutrient. If you are following a medically restrictive diet, please consult your doctor or registered dietitian before preparing this recipe for personal consumption.