Homemade Bacon
Stop buying bacon! With this recipe you can make your own bacon right at home in just 7 days! The recipe will show you how to made 10 pounds of maple, garlic, brown sugar bacon. I go through the entire process showing how to safely cure the pork belly, smoke it on the grill, and fry it on the flattop. Give this one a try and you'll never go back to store bought bacon again!
Caution! The Prague Powder #1 used in this recipe is to be followed exactly. Any changes to this recipe including the size/type of meat, or the addition/subtraction of the amount of liquids will change the amount of Prague Powder #1 required. If you use too little, the meat won't cure, if you use too much people can become ill. Use the calculator below to figure out the exact amount required for any changes that you make.
- 10 pounds Skinless Pork Belly
- 1 cup Pure Maple Syrup
- 1-1/4 cup Distilled Water
- 5 tablespoons Brown Sugar
- 7-1/2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
- 7-1/2 teaspoons Ground Black Pepper
- 7-1/2 teaspoons Garlic Powder
- 6.8 grams Prague Powder #1
Cut the 10lb pork belly in half. The ingredients listed are for 1 of the 5lb pieces that were cut from the 10lb pork belly, so you'll need to repeat the following steps twice for each 5lb piece.
Place one of the 5lb pieces of pork belly into a resealable or vacuum bag.
Whisk together the ingredients into a large bowl, and pour into the bag containing the pork belly.
Tightly seal the bag and place in the refrigerator for 5 days, flipping and gently massaging each day.
After 5 days, remove the pork belly from the bag and rinse of the excess cure solution.
Place the pork belly onto a drying rack and place back into the refrigerator for 24 hours to allow the surface to form a pellicle. The pellicle is a protein that will form on the surface of the meat that will become tacky and allow the belly to take on a good amount of smoke.
After 24 hours, place the pork belly in the smoker preheated to 200F. Cook until the internal temperature has reached 150 F.
Remove from the smoker and back onto the cooling rack, into the refrigerator to cool for 4-6 hours.. This makes the slicing process much easier.
After the belly has cooled, sliced it with a knife or on a deli slicer, and fry some up!
Now stop buying bacon from the store! Enjoy!