Kurobuta pork belly bacon

KyNola

Member
Kurobuta pork belly from Snake River Farms weighing in at 8 pounds.
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Cut into 2 four pound slabs. Talked to the folks at SRF before I ordered the bellies and they said "our bellies are leaner than most folks use to make bacon but they will work just fine".
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Leaner? Really? :D
Cured with kosher salt, cure #1 and brown sugar. The normal curing method. Oops, I'm out of maple syrup so I rummage around the pantry and what do I find? Agave syrup. That should sweeten it up!

Stay tuned, next week will be hickory smoked bacon MAKstyle!

The Bacon Channel is on the air!
 

Deb

New member
Starting mine next weekend , I'm curious to see how the agave worked. I use it in baking sometimes

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KyNola

Member
Deb,
Randy's right, that is a good looking belly. The one I'm curing was a bit misshaped and had to be trimmed just a bit to square it up. Looks like all you will have to do is cut that baby in half.

BTW, in the first 24 hours my two slabs have already thrown off a ton of liquid.
 

KyNola

Member
Tomorrow I'm going to remove them from the bags, rinse the cure and liquid from them and allow them to dry on a rack in the frig until Saturday. Next trick is to figure out the best time of the weather to get them smoked. Saturday high will be around 50 degrees and rain pretty much all day. Late in the afternoon winds pick up to 20-25 mph, gusting to 30 mph and the rain turns to snow. Sunday, more wind and blowing snow, high around 30. Think I'm going for early afternoon Saturday when I should have the warmest air temp even though it will be raining. Not worried about precipitation but would like to avoid that 20-25 mph wind and a cool down in air temp.

Stay tuned to the Bacon Channel. It's a double feature. I hear our friend STC is going to delve into the bacon curing world this weekend.
 

KyNola

Member
Called an audible on the bacon. Did it Friday night as I had decent air temp (40F) and no wind compared to what's coming. My new Maverick ET-732 worked like a champ. Was using it to monitor pit temp and one belly section IT. MAK was doing the same thing. Readings between the two were very very close.
First, the ET-732 came without the pit probe clip that attaches to the grate. Email to Maverick and the clip is on the way but bacon won't wait. Retired elementary school teacher wife to the rescue!
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Belly sections in the MAK. Hickory smoke, 200 degrees in the MAK, 40 degrees air temp, no wind.
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Finished and in the house resting before wrappng in plastic wrap and into the frig for a 24 hour nap before slicing.
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Man, does the house smell good!
 

TentHunter

Moderator
My Kurobuta bacon is over at KyNola's place being smoked this weekend... I have to sneek down to KY and get it while he's not at home ;)!



Looks beautiful KyNola!
 
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