Who doesn't love good Bacon??
I admittedly don't do it as often as I would have loved to, and as a result I tent to give most of it away as presents to my friends and family. This is just a first one in the series, I will be experimenting with different flavours and curing techniques.
Few recipes ask for keeping the skin on. I previously did it, and definitely prefer it off. Also one big tip: Ask your butcher to remove it! Much quicker, and you won't loose precious meat in the process. You can keep the skin and make crackling out of it later. Also ask butcher to remove ribs. You can cook them separately as well. (See my recipe)
I should say am very proud of this batch as I didn’t overcook it. It came out at perfect 65C inside and maybe because it was helped my extra moisture/flavour injected in it, it also came out incredibly juicy. Little dark specks you can see are from spice injections (spice it was curing in, salt, maple syrup and water, strained, so it goes through the needle.) And I was a bit surprised at pink colour since I didn’t use any curing salt.
Mix Georgian spice ‘Khmeli Suneli”(or other spice mix, see comment section), salt, black pepper, maple syrup. Rub it in, wrap in leave for a week flipping every day.
Rinse off the seasoning, pat dry and leave in the fridge for few hours or overnight to let skin dry a bit.
Then I injected similar spice mix I used for curing with water throughout with syringe and the widest needle my pharmacy had!!
Smoke at 100C with maple chips for about 2.5 hours and have some vessel of water in your smoker to keep it from drying out.
Keep checking internal temperature, it should reach 65C.
TIP: If you do not have smoker, use oven at 90C, and if you want smokey flavor add a bit of liquid smoke to your rub.
The hardest part now - let it rest and cool down before you cut it up, so all juices settle!!!! Real torture!!!!
Will need to be cooked before eating.
Perfect bacon and eggs!!! .
Have a wonderful day everyone!!!!!
Servings 0