Honey cured bacon

[jslay]

Tried something new from a recipe I got from Rytek Kutas' book. I picked up a 9 lb pork belly from Costco. I cut it in half, and each half fit in a 1 gallon freezer bag. The recipe called for 1 Cup of salt and 4 Tb of InstaCure. Instead I used 1 1/4 C of QuickCure salt. I rubbed each half generously, and placed in each bag. I then poured in 1 C of honey into each bag, closed it up and massaged the bag to thoroughly coat the meat with honey.

I placed the bags in the frig for a week, turning and rubbing them daily. Then rinsed them off, dried with a paper towel, and let it set for an hour at room temp. I placed it in the smoker and started it out at 135 with vents wide open until meat was dry. Then closed the dampers to 1/4 and started the smoke with hickory and pecan chips until internal temp was 128. Reduced to 120 for an hour or so until I got the desired color. Removed from smoker and placed in frig overnight.

Then sliced it the next day. I had a little trouble getting my electric slicer to slice it without jamming up, so I used my jerky cutting board and knife. Turned out awesome, but a little thicker than I wanted. Next time I am going to try putting it in the freezer for a couple hours before slicing it with the electric slicer.

As you can see from the last picture, my official taste tester (my 9 year old granddaughter, Hannah) approved. :)

 

[kit s]

That looks good. Like thick slices myself.
I always stick in freezer for a few hours before I slice as it does make it easier using the electric slicer.

 

[SmokinAl]

Unless that is a typo, 4 tablespoons of cure#1 is enough to cure 60 lbs. of meat.
If you read the instructions on the instacure #1 it will say 1 Teaspoon for 5# of meat.
So you should have used just under 2 teaspoons, not 4 tablespoons.
If you want to get the exact cure, sugar & salt amounts, most of us use this calculator.
All you need is a scale that weighs in grams.
http://diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html
Hope this helps!
Al

 

[kit s]

Gee I did not catch that Al.
Your right digging calculator is what I use. Not just for bacon either.
Jslay you can change put in any percentages you want on sugar (in your case honey) salt even PPM (though usually don't mess with that part). You will not be able to change the 6.5% for the cure.
If a wet brine is used you add the weight of liquid to meat for other ratios.
kit

 

[jslay]

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[jslay]

Thanks guys!

I appreciate the feedback and will keep it in mind going forward, but as I stated I didn't use Instacure, I used Morton's Quick Cure.

I went back and looked at the recipe in the book, and it did say 4 Tb. Said it was enough for a whole slab of bacon. So if it was a typo, it was the book publisher. ;)