# Maple Bacon  from start to finish with Qview.



## bena (Mar 30, 2016)




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## SmokinAl (Mar 30, 2016)

Great post & great looking bacon, Ben!!








Al


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## pc farmer (Mar 30, 2016)

WOW.

Great looking bacon.


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## ndkoze (Mar 30, 2016)

Nice Job Ben!

I just got a Vac Master 350 for my folks that we tried out last weekend on our Snack Sticks and it is a beast, but works awesome!

We're still going to have to work a trade for some snack stix for some beer or bacon. :)

Nice job!


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## bena (Mar 30, 2016)

I will trade some for sure.-  Let me know if you like Hoppy  or Malty beer.   Thanks for the reply.

I should add that the Pepper / Garlic rub balances well with the maple flavor that really pairs well with the smoke.    The plain maple is just delicious.  The BBQ rub I am saving for summer with pulled pork sammies.

We have a new rule in the house now too.. the Mrs. always gets the last piece of bacon


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## ndkoze (Mar 30, 2016)

Quote:


BenA said:


> I will trade some for sure.-  Let me know if you like Hoppy  or Malty beer.   Thanks for the reply.
> 
> I should add that the Pepper / Garlic rub balances well with the maple flavor that really pairs well with the smoke.    The plain maple is just delicious.  The BBQ rub I am saving for summer with pulled pork sammies.
> 
> We have a new rule in the house now too.. the Mrs. always gets the last piece of bacon


I prefer Hoppy beer, but I am not real picky. Let me know the next time you get into Fargo. Otherwise, when it starts getting nicer on the weekends, I'll be heading west more often to hit the lake (Lake Ashtabula) and could stop through C-Town. :)


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## Bearcarver (Mar 30, 2016)

Nice looking Bacon, Ben!!
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





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You did a Great job on the Bacon & on the Thread!!
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Been fun working with you!

Bear


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## driedstick (Mar 30, 2016)

Looks good - going to do some myself here soon  
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





A full smoker is a happy smoker

DS


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## foamheart (Mar 31, 2016)

Great looking bacon!


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## jp61 (Mar 31, 2016)

Great post and awesome looking bacon!

Nice job!


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## disco (Apr 3, 2016)

Beautiful Bacon, Ben! I love the step by step post.

Points for a great thread.

Disco


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## bena (Apr 4, 2016)

Thanks you for the kind words!  I gave some to family members this weekend - Hope they like it as much as I do.....or they aren't getting any next batch!


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## chewmeister (Apr 9, 2016)

Great post and nicely done. Can't go wrong with homemade bacon.


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## worktogthr (Apr 9, 2016)

Wow, points for a great first bacon!  It looks beautiful.  Color is great!  You'll be hooked on bacon making and curing now!


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## bena (Apr 11, 2016)

Thanks Worktogthr, Chewmeister, Disco, JP61, Foamheart, Driedstick, Bearcaver, NDKoze, c farmer, SmokinAl.   Much appreciated!

My brother liked it enough to let me buy the next ones through his rest. supplier at his discount if he can have some packages ;-)... sweet


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## foamheart (Apr 11, 2016)

Congrates! That resturant supply is a sweet place to shop!


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## smokingdope (Apr 15, 2016)

Wow this made me so hungry, dude your bacon looks SUPPER DOPE


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## propanecooker (Dec 19, 2017)

Ok... I’m panicking a bit. Followed Ben’s recipe in this post to make my maple bacon last time and it turned out awesome. Where did the info in his original post go? I got 40 lbs of bacon to make!


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## bena (Dec 21, 2017)

I have an email to the mods - but none the less.
the process is that I trim up the bellies (if they have skin on-take it off), Cut into pieces that fit into the gallon bags. Open up the calculator.
http://www.diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html
I weigh each piece, write results on the zip lock, put the belly in the bag and measure the ingredients a scale and put into a solo cup and placed that cup behind the bag and mixed them all up after I had all the pieces weighed and cups ready to mix. Rub the mixutre all over the piece of belly (in the bag) and then I used about 1/2 cup of 100% maple syrup in each bag (each piece was approx. 5lbs). I didn't like having to wash my hands or get new gloves on after each bag - so do it all at once after they have been weighed and measured. I got the air out of the ziplock as best I could (use a straw to suck out air). 
Then place the bags in the fridge. Rotate/ flip the bags everyday for 14 days (check those Ziploc closures then can somehow get open when flipping and then you have a mess but don't worry about having to add more cure-the pieces were just as cured as the other non leaking ones from my experience or maybe it was just lucky it was on the last day or two it leaked). I know you can get the bellies cured in less time but the sugar molecule takes longer to penetrate the meat than the salt molecule and I prefer the balance of 14 days vs the less days of curing time and besides it works out with smoking if you start on a Wednesday / Thursday to smoke the meat on a Saturday. 
After the 2 weeks, rinse off, soak for an hour in cold water and do a test fry for saltiness. I have just rinsed and have to soak for additional hour to get the right level at times dependent on the thickness of the belly. Once I get them where I want them I pat dry with a towel and place back in fridge on smoking racks (try not to let them touch) for 2-3 days to form the pellicle. 
I have cold smoked them and hot smoked them.. cold smoking is better for me. I use a Amazen tray with apple or pitmaster pellets and set the smoker to be just above ambient temp to create air flow around this time of the year I keep it about 60-70 degrees. I like 12-14 hours of smoke and then I put them back in the fridge for a week to smooth/mellow out the smoke flavor. Slice it on the meat slicer and vacuum seal them up / label and into the freezer.


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## propanecooker (Dec 21, 2017)

Thanks alot sir. I appreciate it. I had saved the link to your post in the notes on my phone along with my process so that I could reference it. Your process comprised a large portion of what I did and with 40 lbs of pork belly waiting to be made into bacon I was feeling lost without it. Me and 40lbs of pork belly thank you.


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## propanecooker (Dec 21, 2017)

You use brown sugar right? Just a note from what I did. I added 1/2 a tbsp of maple extract into the ziploc bag for the curing process. I also brushed the outside of the slabs with some maple syrup before letting it form a pellicle. Came out with a nice maple flavor but not overpowering.


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