This was in my entry for the March Throwdown.
I have been trying to get more maple and pepper flavour in my bacon since I started smoking. I have had some success but never really got that sweet hot combination the way I wanted. I decided to make a sausage with maple syrup and pepper in it. I added Prague Powder #1 and smoked it to give it more bacon flavour. Then I sliced it and fried up the slices and served them like bacon.
The ingredients:
1.25 kg (3 pounds) fatty pork butt or picnic shoulder
3.5 ml (3/4 teaspoon) Prague Powder #1
10 ml (2 teaspoons) Kosher salt
10 ml (2 teaspoon) cracked black peppercorn
7.5 ml (1 ½ teaspoon) ground black pepper
50 ml (1/4 cup) powdered skim milk
75 ml (1/3 cup) maple syrup
Of course, I made sure all my meat and equipment was cold.
I started out by grinding the pork through the small plate on my Kitchen Aid
Then I made a slurry of the rest of the ingredients.
I mixed the two together very thoroughly. I started by mixing it by hand for 2 minutes and then gave it another 2 minutes in the Kitchen Aid with the mixing paddle. I put the meat in the fridge for an hour to keep it cold.
While it was chilling, I did a test fry to make sure I had enough maple and pepper flavour.
I stuffed it in 2 inch FB Casings and tied the end of one chub around my heat probe.
I put the chubs in the fridge over night.
The next day, I started the AMNPS in my Bradley without any heat. I used maple pellets. I smoked the chubs without heat for 1 hour.
I turned the heat on to 140 F and smoked for another hour.
I increased the heat to 150 F and smoked for 1 hour.
I increased the heat to 160 F and smoked for 1 hour.
I increased the heat to 170 F and smoked for 1 hour.
I increased the heat to 180 F and smoked until the internal temperature was 155 F.
I plunged the chubs in cold water and hung them for an hour.
I plunged the chubs in cold water and hung them for an hour.
I put the chubs in the fridge over night.
For the rest of the breakfast, I chopped and browned some back (Canadian) bacon from an earlier project. And used it instead of blueberries in my waffles.
While the waffles were cooking, I sliced the Maple Peppered Bacon Sausage and fried it up.
I served the pancakes with Blueberry Syrup as I had taken the blueberries out of the waffles and there was maple in the sausage.
The Verdict: I really like this. I actually got a real maple and pepper taste. Of course the texture is different than bacon but there is that cured pork flavour with the maple and pepper. I will be making this regularly. The one change I would make would to use larger diameter casings so I get a larger slice for frying.
Disco
I have been trying to get more maple and pepper flavour in my bacon since I started smoking. I have had some success but never really got that sweet hot combination the way I wanted. I decided to make a sausage with maple syrup and pepper in it. I added Prague Powder #1 and smoked it to give it more bacon flavour. Then I sliced it and fried up the slices and served them like bacon.
The ingredients:
1.25 kg (3 pounds) fatty pork butt or picnic shoulder
3.5 ml (3/4 teaspoon) Prague Powder #1
10 ml (2 teaspoons) Kosher salt
10 ml (2 teaspoon) cracked black peppercorn
7.5 ml (1 ½ teaspoon) ground black pepper
50 ml (1/4 cup) powdered skim milk
75 ml (1/3 cup) maple syrup
Of course, I made sure all my meat and equipment was cold.
I started out by grinding the pork through the small plate on my Kitchen Aid
Then I made a slurry of the rest of the ingredients.
I mixed the two together very thoroughly. I started by mixing it by hand for 2 minutes and then gave it another 2 minutes in the Kitchen Aid with the mixing paddle. I put the meat in the fridge for an hour to keep it cold.
While it was chilling, I did a test fry to make sure I had enough maple and pepper flavour.
I stuffed it in 2 inch FB Casings and tied the end of one chub around my heat probe.
I put the chubs in the fridge over night.
The next day, I started the AMNPS in my Bradley without any heat. I used maple pellets. I smoked the chubs without heat for 1 hour.
I turned the heat on to 140 F and smoked for another hour.
I increased the heat to 150 F and smoked for 1 hour.
I increased the heat to 160 F and smoked for 1 hour.
I increased the heat to 170 F and smoked for 1 hour.
I increased the heat to 180 F and smoked until the internal temperature was 155 F.
I plunged the chubs in cold water and hung them for an hour.
I plunged the chubs in cold water and hung them for an hour.
I put the chubs in the fridge over night.
For the rest of the breakfast, I chopped and browned some back (Canadian) bacon from an earlier project. And used it instead of blueberries in my waffles.
While the waffles were cooking, I sliced the Maple Peppered Bacon Sausage and fried it up.
I served the pancakes with Blueberry Syrup as I had taken the blueberries out of the waffles and there was maple in the sausage.
The Verdict: I really like this. I actually got a real maple and pepper taste. Of course the texture is different than bacon but there is that cured pork flavour with the maple and pepper. I will be making this regularly. The one change I would make would to use larger diameter casings so I get a larger slice for frying.
Disco
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