# flavoring pork belly



## countrykat (Oct 9, 2014)

A buddy and I are going to dress out 3 - 240 lb hogs this coming Saturday and he wants me to do the bacon. Never done bacon before. I have a cure from LEM but I would also like to add some maple flavor to it. Has anyone ever used extract to flavor the belly? Here is a link    I'm not sure what direction to go so advice is needed.

Thanks

Jim


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## themule69 (Oct 9, 2014)

countrykat said:


> A buddy and I are going to dress out 3 - 240 lb hogs this coming Saturday and he wants me to do the bacon. Never done bacon before. I have a cure from LEM but I would also like to add some maple flavor to it. Has anyone ever used extract to flavor the belly? Here is a link    I'm not sure what direction to go so advice is needed.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Jim


Use the search bar at the top of any page. It has been done many times.

Happy smoken.

David


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## foamheart (Oct 9, 2014)

David has the right of it, bacon is done , done, and redone. We all love to make it and talk about it.

There is two excellent tutorials here. Pops which is a brine and BearCarvers which is a rub.

Here is what I understand, max heat allowable is approx. 140 degrees. The warmer the bacon the better the smoke holds on, but you don't want to "Cook" it or render the fat. So from what I have seen some do cold smoke with a smoke generator the entire smoke. Some of the more seasoned veterans do extended smokes gradually increasing the temp from 100 to approx. 140 carefully watching to not render the bacon. Some small amounts of weight loss are generally given to loss of water from curing. Less than 5% seems acceptable.

Cold smoking can but doesn't require a cooling medium like ice. More normally its achieved by just using a smoke generator with no additional heat from the smoker.

If you still have questions and don't we all I would suggest you read either:

Bearcarvers Tutorial

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/108099/bacon-extra-smoky

 Craigs Tutorial (Pops Brine)

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/124885/bacon-made-the-easy-way

 These guys are ahead of the curve on makin bacon. Craigs is just a good format on using Pop's recipe. They are both excellent resources.

Bon Chance.


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