More bacon!!!

"It's been while."

"I don't know why it's taken so long..."

Thoughts that go through my head.

The wait is over. But it just began!

I started some belly curing in Pop's brine recipe, with the addition of maple extract and some "black forest seasoning" I found on another site. It includes:

White pepper
Ground nutmeg
Ground mace
Ground cardamom
White sugar

Now the (long!) 2 week wait begins, along with a few days more to air dry prior to smoking. As always, thanks to @pops6927 for the brine recipe.

 

Here are the measurements @fivetricks. This is a great rub/seasoning. I've smoked loin bacon with it, and it was great. Credit for this goes to another site where they made "black forest maple bacon".

Black Forest Spice Mixture:

125gm White pepper
25gm Ground nutmeg
25gm Ground mace
15gm Ground cardamom
200gm White sugar

 

Man ... the wait is killing me. Thursday morning I'll pull the belly sections from the brine, dry them, and let them air dry on a rack in the fridge for a few days to form a pellicle. Saturday morning I'll smoke them. Pictures to follow....

 

Out of the brine, the belly will air dry for a few days. I plan to cold smoke it early on Saturday. I've got 2 sections of belly here.

 

Let the slow cold smoke begin .... I'm using a mix of 2/3rds corn cob and 1/3rd cherry/maple that I mixed myself. The wait continues....

 

I cold smoked the bacon last Saturday, and have left it in the fridge for a week to rest. Here is the final product....

It has a nice, mellow smokiness, and the perfect level of salt and sweet. I pick up slight hints of the spices, but no maple flavor to speak of. Overall I'm very happy with this, and will start more soon. Thanks again @pops6927 for the brine recipe, and the inspiration to use the corn cob pellets.