My first attempt at bacon used these pieces but tried hand-slicing, which was not successful, and I felt the result was too sweet. This is my fourth attempt; I honed in on a good brine on the third batch but ended up slicing the belly WITH the grain, ending up with “smoke pork belly jerky”. So stuck with the recipe and went back to the pre-cut belly at Costco because they have a better meat/fat ratio. The recipe was a simple mix of (quantities for 2.1 kg) Kosher salt,40 gm, sea salt 15 gm, pink curing salt 5 gm, cane sugar 35 gm, granulated garlic and granulated onion 1 t each, and 2 t pimenton for colour.
Dry-brined them all together in a zip-lock bag for 12 days, turning and “mashing” it up daily. Removed from the bag, washed the brine off and dried the pieces, then set them uncovered on a rack in the fridge overnight. Smoked using Lumberjack hickory pellets, initially for 1 hr on “Smoke”, then upped to 225º for 1 1/2 hr, then to 250º for 45’, reaching an IT of 150º. Removed from the smoker, let them cool, then back in the zip-lock bag in the fridge overnight to firm them up. Used my Chef’s Choice slicer to get even slices, though some of the end slices were scraggly (refer to the photo) so will use them for bacon bits or whatever.
Very happy with the results.
