Bacon recipe ideas

Deepwoodsbutcher

My family makes our own maple syrup every year. This year I’d like to make a large batch of maple sugar and would like to use it for making bacon. Does anyone have a good recipe for making bacon with maple sugar? Can it be used as a direct substitute for brown sugar?

YooperDog

Deepwoodsbutcher i make my own syrup, almost that time of year, getting the equipment ready. Not sure how much you put up, but I have made it with replacing the sugar one for one, coating with syrup and adding syrup to a brine/pickle. All have a decent effect. Rytek Kutas has a honey bacon that I use for either honey or maple syrup. I use darker grades for all to get more of the flavor through from my experience/taste. Any basic basic bacon recipe would be a good starting point, adjusting to your tastes. Keep good notes and you will have a quality product that you can’t buy anywhere. I can check my books when I get back home, but might be a few days. At the sugar bush now

deanlorensen

YooperDog your at the sugar bush now? Im jealous, it was -32 on my way to work…and its all the way up to -11 right now. Hopefully I see above 0 temps by next week.

Deepwoodsbutcher I may look like I just copy and paste my response when it comes to bacon on here. Everyone has their own recipe and to each their own but the only way to replicate your results is to make sure your process is exactly same as before. Last night 2/10 I put 7 pork bellies into cure, the smallest was right at 9lbs 2oz the biggest was 12lbs. Thats 30% difference in size. With a volume measurement that means that one ingredient is gonna have difference from one belly to the other. When there is only 4 ingredients in bacon that can be a large difference in flavor.
My recommendation is that you research the equilibrium method of curing. Weight of meat; then 2% salt 1% sugar .25% sodium nitrite…and smoke…LOTs of good clean flavorful smoke.
After your first batch you can adjust your % to your liking.

As far as maple sugar, I would go 1:1 with regular sugar.

YooperDog

deanlorensen I can relate. It was -19 here this morning and I am walking the property, checking for trees that have fallen, broken or are hung up. Checking paths, equipment, supplies and clearing snow. Sugar season is coming and I want to make sure everything is ready in case it is a short season.

Jonathon

YooperDog Maple Sugar? Growing up in upstate new york my father tapped a maple tree and collected it once. It is really hard to get it right though, I remember his being fairly bitter still when he was done with it.

Deepwoodsbutcher

Jonathon Never had it get bitter before. It’s a fairly easy process, but very time consuming. We evaporate it in a large pan that holds over 10 gallons at a time. It takes days for a batch (often 40+ gallons of sap) to get concentrated enough to finish off. It’s a fun tradition in our family though.

YooperDog

Jonathon it takes about 40 gals of sap to make one gallon of syrup. It is a natural product and will spoil if not kept cold if not processed quickly. The season will start up by us in 2-4 weeks if my records hold true. Never had my syrup be bitter, but have some get really dark and strong flavor. A few reasons for that…

Later in the year we will make some into candy, sugar and such. Hardest work is collecting the sap and firewood, followed by tapping, clean-up and bottling. The boiling is the easiest, I have plenty of help for that, not much for anything else.

My father in-law did his boiling in his house only once, it was self critiquing. That was a lot of steam to release into a house. He was cleaning his walls and ceilings for months.

Jonathon

YooperDog I am almost positive he boiled his inside and my mothers wallpaper in her kitchen (especially behind the stove) was always a little sticky! Now we might know why, she will be relieved to hear that as it always annoyed her.

YooperDog

Jonathon yup, listening to my wife and father in-law tell the story it was hilarious after the fact, not then. It cost him a new kitchen to mom in-law.