Help me make peppered bacon

[mfreel]

I have 3 slabs in the brine now.  It's a local vendor's Maple cure mix, but I kicked it up with some maple syrup and brown sugar.

I want to make one of the slabs into peppered bacon.  First, would this taste good considering the extra maple and sweetness I added?  Second, I have some first grind CBP and some white peppercorns from Vietnam that I'll grind myself.  Since i'm cold smoking, do I just cover the slab with the pepper before smoking?  Is it that simple?

Thanks,

Mike

 

[rohfan2112]

 
I have 3 slabs in the brine now.  It's a local vendor's Maple cure mix, but I kicked it up with some maple syrup and brown sugar.

I want to make one of the slabs into peppered bacon.  First, would this taste good considering the extra maple and sweetness I added?  Second, I have some first grind CBP and some white peppercorns from Vietnam that I'll grind myself.  Since i'm cold smoking, do I just cover the slab with the pepper before smoking?  Is it that simple?

Thanks,

Mike

I'm not qualified to answer your questions since I'm only on my second batch of bellies but the first time I did a dry cure and pressed the cracked pepper into the bellies before adding the cure mix. It came out really good. For this new batch I may cut the belly in two and coat one of them with a generous helping of cracked pepper the night before cold smoking. I used "Pop's Brine" this time and the fry-test after curing was divine! Like candy! I think the combination of sweet and peppery would be great.

 

[woodcutter]

When you pull your bacon out of the brine, rinse with cold water then apply your pepper. Leave the bacon out to form the pellicle before smoking. The pepper will stick as the bacon dries.