Sharon, I'm not at home, I'm at work, so I had to search the web for someone else who made that bacon!

Sure enough, I found this on a smoking blog, and it's the same recipe that I used, but with notes from the blogger.

Maple Cured Bacon

One 5 lb. piece of pork belly, rind on
2 ounces kosher salt
1/4 C. pure Maple syrup
2 t. pink salt (a curing salt, not the Hawain stuff)
1/4 C. Maple sugar (pricey, worth it)

Simply mix up all the ingredients for the cure (it will be a sort of yellow slurry) and spread it all over the pork belly, making sure to get under all the nooks and crannies and on the sides as well. Make the coating as evenly as possible on both sides so the whole thing has a nice coating (including the rind). Place in a 2.5 gallon zip lock bag and sort of fold up the sides so that the liquid that exudes from the belly is in constant contact with the meat (will take a bit of folding, the bag will be much larger than the belly). Once you've done that, throw it in the fridge (36-40 degrees) for 7 days, flipping it over every other day. On the 7th day, remove the belly from the bag and wash all the cure off. Put it on some sort of drying rack (I use one of the cheapies from walmart used for allowing cookies to cool) and stick it in back in the fridge for 1 day to dry out (form the pellicle).

Next, take the bacon out of the fridge and hot smoke it (about 200 degrees) until your therm reads 147. Take the slab out, place it in another zip lock bag, and immerse in a cool water bath to cool it quickly. Put it in the fridge, and now you've got bacon!!!!

Ruhlman suggests slicing the rind off after smoking. I did it before smoking, because I wanted more smoke flavor for the bacon itself. I guess some people also leave the rind on and just slice as is (I'm going to do this next time...I've discovered I like rind on bacon).

OK, those were the bloggers instructions. I removed the rind before smoking and I used Grade B maple syrup and Elery smoked it with apple wood. I hope that helps, so smoke away, my friend...

Annie

Thanks pal ! I'll let you know how it turns out. Not sure about the maple sugar? Don't think I've ever seen it.

Sharon, I've only seen it locally, the local syrup makers have it. Truthfully, it does add a bit more sweetness but I used just plain brown sugar in the first batch and there's not a huge difference.

Annie

Oh Poop!!!

I just read all the way through and it needs 7 days to cure I'm onlt at the cottage until Thursday which only gives me 5 days to cure...is that doable? Or should I freeze the pork belly for another time?

I think it depends on the thickness of the pork belly. If it's thick, it's going to take all 7 days to cure. If it's relatively thin, say 2 inches or less, I think 5 days will be fine.

Annie

If you have a meat injector you might get away with a short cure. Emphasis on might.

I've never used mine but there are loads of pro smokers who use the injection method all the time.