Just Bacon
Ingredients
2.5% Coarse kosher salt
2% brown sugar
0.25% granulated garlic
0.25% granulated onion
0.25% ground fennel
0.25% sage
0.25% mustard powder
0.25% dried thyme
0.25% dried basil
0.25% dried chili flakes
0.25% Cure #1
Process
Cut pork belly into manageable pieces. Trim as desired. One at a time, weigh each piece of pork belly and mix the cure for it. The list of ingredients is a percentage of the weight of the piece of belly you are working with.
Using a scale (I prefer a gram scale. It is more precise), weigh the ingredients and mix them together. Rub the belly thoroughly with the mix, then bag the belly, along with all of the cure mix you made for that piece of belly. You can use zip-locs. I vacuum pack my curing pork belly. Try to evenly distribute the cure mix. if using zip-locs, squeeze out as much air as you can. Place in a pan in the refrigerator for 10-14 days. Each day flip the bacon bags.
At the end of the curing period, remove the bacon from the bag, wipe away all the cure you can. Place on a rack in the fridge overnight, and smoke the next day. I cold smoke for 3-4 hours. But it can be done other ways. Keep in mind if you smoke the belly to over about 130 degrees, the fat starts rendering.
This is still raw meat and must be fried like any other bacon.
