Newbie makin' bacon

[landcruzr]

So, last night my 12 yr old son and I put together 10 lbs of pork belly. We used a mix of salt, brown sugar, maple syrup, and insta-cure. also a touch of black pepper, cinnamon, and cayenne. Rubbed it liberally over the meat, and stuck in the fridge for the next week or so....Will try to figure out how to add pics and share.
Its our first bacon, so Im open to suggestion and opinion

 

[forkin pork]

I'm sure you've done some research, cuz it sounds like you know what your doing so far.
Every cook has his recipe and ways of doing things, stick with whatever plan you have for now, and let us know how things turned out.
Then from there, (if you need advise) on changing things or perhaps something didn't go quite according to plan.
We hopefully can help you tweek things.
Good luck, you can do it!

 

[SmokinAl]

Next time, here is a calculator to figure exactly how much salt, sugar, & cure#1 to use.
All you need is a small digital scale.
http://diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html
Most of us usually cure the bellies for 2 weeks, flipping massaging them every day.
Al

 

[tallbm]

So, last night my 12 yr old son and I put together 10 lbs of pork belly. We used a mix of salt, brown sugar, maple syrup, and insta-cure. also a touch of black pepper, cinnamon, and cayenne. Rubbed it liberally over the meat, and stuck in the fridge for the next week or so....Will try to figure out how to add pics and share.
Its our first bacon, so Im open to suggestion and opinion

Hi there and welcome!

If this is your first time and you didn't use a calculator to determine the amount of salt that should be added then you may run into the common over-saltiness pitfall... but I got you covered here.

After you are done with your curing period and you rinse the pork bellies off. Do a Fry Test.
Simply slice a piece or a few pieces off the pork belly and and then throw it in a skillet. Once it is fried up enough to eat then eat it and see how salty it is.

If too salty then you soak the pork bellies in ice water anywhere from 2-6 hours and then try the fry test again.
If still too salty, change the ice water out and soak again then fry test again... repeat the cycle until you obtain the correct level of saltiness.
Keep this tool in your back pocket for anything you cure like a pork belly when you are not 100% sure the salt content is correct. I've had to use it a lot because I've tried online recipes and store bought seasoning mixes and believe it or not all but 1 of the ones I tried were way too salty so the fry test and the ice water soak saved the day!!!

If things are light on salt or perfect on the salt then skip the whole ice water soak step. The key is to do a Fry Test whenever you are not sure and you will end up with Bacon vs Salted Pork only good for beans and soups :D

I hope this info helps :)