Hello all,

I am homecuring some bacon.
I just got pink salt from www.sausagemaker.com, to make a dry cure and
I made the basic dry cure from Charcuterie, by Michael Ruhlman.

To that cure, to make my own bacon, I can add either brown sugar, or
maple syrup. This is for a sweeter bacon. If I want a more savory
bacon, I add garlic, peppercorns and bay leaves. Right now,I am
going with the sweeter bacon. I will also smoke this after it has
cured for about a week or a bit more.

I am trying to decide between the maple syrup, or brown sugar now. I
have both on hand. Being the indecisive person that I can be
sometime, I am having a hard time deciding. I am trying to remember
if I have had bacon with either a brown sugar or maple cure.

Any preferences amongst all of you?

I will try them all at some point, but right now I only have one slab
of pork belly and this is my first attempt at curing bacon.

Christine

In article >,
Christine Dabney > wrote:
>Hello all,
>
>I am homecuring some bacon.

I'd go maple syrup. Sugar crystals with a mission will
do your bacon. Nobody left behind.
add some custard, and it's a pie already.

Love maple syrup. Drink it from cups, as the Quebecois do.

S.

As a kid in New Hampshire, I remember the bacon quite well. It was maple
sugar cured since we had a vast supply of maple farms in the area. I'd say
you can't go wrong either way, but the maple sugar made some of the best
bacon I have ever tasted.

Paul


"Christine Dabney" > wrote in message
...
> Hello all,
>
> I am homecuring some bacon.
> I just got pink salt from www.sausagemaker.com, to make a dry cure and
> I made the basic dry cure from Charcuterie, by Michael Ruhlman.
>
> To that cure, to make my own bacon, I can add either brown sugar, or
> maple syrup. This is for a sweeter bacon. If I want a more savory
> bacon, I add garlic, peppercorns and bay leaves. Right now,I am
> going with the sweeter bacon. I will also smoke this after it has
> cured for about a week or a bit more.
>
> I am trying to decide between the maple syrup, or brown sugar now. I
> have both on hand. Being the indecisive person that I can be
> sometime, I am having a hard time deciding. I am trying to remember
> if I have had bacon with either a brown sugar or maple cure.
>
> Any preferences amongst all of you?
>
> I will try them all at some point, but right now I only have one slab
> of pork belly and this is my first attempt at curing bacon.
>
> Christine

"Christine Dabney" > wrote in message
...
> Hello all,
>
> I am homecuring some bacon.
> I just got pink salt from www.sausagemaker.com, to make a dry cure and
> I made the basic dry cure from Charcuterie, by Michael Ruhlman.
>
> To that cure, to make my own bacon, I can add either brown sugar, or
> maple syrup. This is for a sweeter bacon. If I want a more savory
> bacon, I add garlic, peppercorns and bay leaves. Right now,I am
> going with the sweeter bacon. I will also smoke this after it has
> cured for about a week or a bit more.
>
> I am trying to decide between the maple syrup, or brown sugar now. I
> have both on hand. Being the indecisive person that I can be
> sometime, I am having a hard time deciding. I am trying to remember
> if I have had bacon with either a brown sugar or maple cure.
>
> Any preferences amongst all of you?
>
> I will try them all at some point, but right now I only have one slab
> of pork belly and this is my first attempt at curing bacon.
>
> Christine

Maple! No doubt about it! But, guess where I live! ;-)

Christine Dabney wrote:

> Any preferences amongst all of you?

Honey cured bacon for me. I do like using maple syrup
though. When I'm feeling cheap I use brown sugar.

--
Reg

On Sun, 29 Jul 2007 22:58:54 -0600, Christine Dabney
> magnanimously proffered:

>To that cure, to make my own bacon, I can add either brown sugar, or
>maple syrup.

I've never tried to cure my own bacon, but I sure do love maple syrup
on my bacon.

I ordered bacon with my short stack & eggs in a little place in Taos,
NM a few years back. It was just before Christmas and all that walking
and the altitude made me eat like I was in training for a football
team. The maple syrup came with the pancakes, but it made the bacon
taste extra good. Now ... what's for dinner?


--

una cerveza mas por favor ...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~
Wax-up and drop-in of Surfing's Golden Years: <http://www.surfwriter.net>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~

Christine Dabney wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> I am homecuring some bacon.
> I just got pink salt from www.sausagemaker.com, to make a dry cure and
> I made the basic dry cure from Charcuterie, by Michael Ruhlman.
>
> To that cure, to make my own bacon, I can add either brown sugar, or
> maple syrup. This is for a sweeter bacon. If I want a more savory
> bacon, I add garlic, peppercorns and bay leaves. Right now,I am
> going with the sweeter bacon. I will also smoke this after it has
> cured for about a week or a bit more.
>
> I am trying to decide between the maple syrup, or brown sugar now. I
> have both on hand. Being the indecisive person that I can be
> sometime, I am having a hard time deciding. I am trying to remember
> if I have had bacon with either a brown sugar or maple cure.
>
> Any preferences amongst all of you?
>
> I will try them all at some point, but right now I only have one slab
> of pork belly and this is my first attempt at curing bacon.
>
> Christine

Since you've already decided on a sweet bacon my opinion doesn't count for
much I can tell you I really dislike maple cured bacon. I don't even
like maple syrup from pancakes or waffles to get on savoury bacon.
Something about the taste of bacon and maple just skeeves me.

Jill

In article >,
Christine Dabney > wrote:
> sometime, I am having a hard time deciding. I am trying to remember
> if I have had bacon with either a brown sugar or maple cure.
>
> Any preferences amongst all of you?

> Christine

Go for the brown sugar.
--
-Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
http://www.jamlady.eboard.com - story and
pics of Ronald McDonald House dinner posted 6-24-2007

"Steve Pope" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> Christine Dabney > wrote:
>>Hello all,
>>
>>I am homecuring some bacon.
>
> I'd go maple syrup. Sugar crystals with a mission will
> do your bacon. Nobody left behind.
> add some custard, and it's a pie already.
>
> Love maple syrup. Drink it from cups, as the Quebecois do.
>
> S.

Yesterday I decided to use a little maple syrup instead of honey (both of
excellent quality). I use honey everyday. If Pandora is reading this, it's
straight from Italy;-) sooo good!
But I found that the maple syrup really made my teeth hurt. I'll be
reserving it for pancakes and the like.

Dee Dee

Christine Dabney wrote:
>
> I am homecuring some bacon.
> I just got pink salt from www.sausagemaker.com, to make a dry cure and
> I made the basic dry cure from Charcuterie, by Michael Ruhlman.
>
> To that cure, to make my own bacon, I can add either brown sugar, or
> maple syrup. This is for a sweeter bacon. If I want a more savory
> bacon, I add garlic, peppercorns and bay leaves. Right now,I am
> going with the sweeter bacon. I will also smoke this after it has
> cured for about a week or a bit more.
>
> I am trying to decide between the maple syrup, or brown sugar now. I
> have both on hand. Being the indecisive person that I can be
> sometime, I am having a hard time deciding. I am trying to remember
> if I have had bacon with either a brown sugar or maple cure.
>
> Any preferences amongst all of you?
>
> I will try them all at some point, but right now I only have one slab
> of pork belly and this is my first attempt at curing bacon.


You might be able to use syrup after the bacon is cured, but I don't think
it would be a good thing for curing. Salt and sugar are used to cure meat
because they draw fluids out of the flesh. Since syrup already has a lot of
water it in, you can't count on it to remove enough moisture.

"Christine Dabney" > wrote in message
...
> Hello all,
>
> I am homecuring some bacon.
> I just got pink salt from www.sausagemaker.com, to make a dry cure and
> I made the basic dry cure from Charcuterie, by Michael Ruhlman.
>
> To that cure, to make my own bacon, I can add either brown sugar, or
> maple syrup. This is for a sweeter bacon. If I want a more savory
> bacon, I add garlic, peppercorns and bay leaves. Right now,I am
> going with the sweeter bacon. I will also smoke this after it has
> cured for about a week or a bit more.
>
> I am trying to decide between the maple syrup, or brown sugar now. I
> have both on hand. Being the indecisive person that I can be
> sometime, I am having a hard time deciding. I am trying to remember
> if I have had bacon with either a brown sugar or maple cure.
>
> Any preferences amongst all of you?
>
> I will try them all at some point, but right now I only have one slab
> of pork belly and this is my first attempt at curing bacon.

Have you considered using molasses? I've had some success with curing back
bacon with molasses as a flavouring agent. Yesterday I smoked a loin of
back bacon with cherry wood. I cured the meat with Mortons, white pepper
and just a little turbinado sugar. I like the molasses flavoured cure
though. It doesn't fry the cleanest, but it's recieved some high praise.
>
> Christine

Dave Smith wrote:

> You might be able to use syrup after the bacon is cured, but I don't think
> it would be a good thing for curing. Salt and sugar are used to cure meat
> because they draw fluids out of the flesh. Since syrup already has a lot of
> water it in, you can't count on it to remove enough moisture.

Sorry Dave, but that's incorrect. If you substitute honey or maple
syrup for the sugar pound for pound, you'll end up with the same final
weight in the finished product. A one week curing period will result
in about 10% moisture loss. Translation: the moisture loss is
the same.

Note also that she's not just using salt, she's using pink salt,
which is a nitrite cure which enhances the preservation effect.
Her bacon will last perfectly well about a month, wrapped and
refrigerated.

Reference: "Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing" by Rytek
Kutas.

--
Reg

Christine Dabney wrote:
>
> I am trying to decide between the maple syrup, or brown sugar now.
> I have both on hand. Being the indecisive person that I can be
> sometime, I am having a hard time deciding.

Since nobody has suggested it yet, I suggest using
both. That would give you a more complex flavor
than one or the other alone.

"Steve Pope" > wrote in message
...
> In article >,
> Christine Dabney > wrote:
>>Hello all,
>>
>>I am homecuring some bacon.
>
> I'd go maple syrup. Sugar crystals with a mission will
> do your bacon. Nobody left behind.
> add some custard, and it's a pie already.
>
> Love maple syrup. Drink it from cups, as the Quebecois do.
>
> S.

I sip maple syrup from the bottle, but I don't like it or sugar in my bacon.

Mitch

Mitch Scherer wrote:
>
>
> > Love maple syrup. Drink it from cups, as the Quebecois do.
> >
> > S.
>
> I sip maple syrup from the bottle, but I don't like it or sugar in my bacon.

My grandfather used to have a small bowl of maple syrup and eat it with a
spoon along with bread and butter. It was one of his favourite treats. I
had trouble appreciating that. It is too much maple syrup for me.

Melba's Jammin' > wrote in news:barbschaller-
:

> In article >,
> Christine Dabney > wrote:
>> sometime, I am having a hard time deciding. I am trying to remember
>> if I have had bacon with either a brown sugar or maple cure.
>>
>> Any preferences amongst all of you?
>
>> Christine
>
> Go for the brown sugar.

But use maple wood for the smoking.

--

The house of the burning beet-Alan

It'll be a sunny day in August, when the Moon will shine that night-
Elbonian Folklore

On Jul 30, 3:20 am, "jmcquown" > wrote:
> Christine Dabney wrote:
> > Hello all,
>
> > I am homecuring some bacon.
> > I just got pink salt fromwww.sausagemaker.com, to make a dry cure and
> > I made the basic dry cure from Charcuterie, by Michael Ruhlman.
>
> > To that cure, to make my own bacon, I can add either brown sugar, or
> > maple syrup. This is for a sweeter bacon. If I want a more savory
> > bacon, I add garlic, peppercorns and bay leaves. Right now,I am
> > going with the sweeter bacon. I will also smoke this after it has
> > cured for about a week or a bit more.
>
> > I am trying to decide between the maple syrup, or brown sugar now. I
> > have both on hand. Being the indecisive person that I can be
> > sometime, I am having a hard time deciding. I am trying to remember
> > if I have had bacon with either a brown sugar or maple cure.
>
> > Any preferences amongst all of you?
>
> > I will try them all at some point, but right now I only have one slab
> > of pork belly and this is my first attempt at curing bacon.
>
> > Christine
>
> Since you've already decided on a sweet bacon my opinion doesn't count for
> much I can tell you I really dislike maple cured bacon. I don't even
> like maple syrup from pancakes or waffles to get on savoury bacon.
> Something about the taste of bacon and maple just skeeves me.
>
> Jill

I'll just say "me too". I've eaten maple cured bacon and didn't like
it for the same reasons Jill gave, but I do like the sweeter bacons so
I vote for brown sugar.

Christine Dabney > wrote:
>...either...

What an odd word.

--Blair
"Use both!"

On Mon, 30 Jul 2007 21:45:14 -0700, sf > wrote:


>I'll just say "me too". I've eaten maple cured bacon and didn't like
>it for the same reasons Jill gave, but I do like the sweeter bacons so
>I vote for brown sugar.

Too late. I went with maple syrup.

Next time, I will try brown sugar.

Then the savory ones.

Christine

Christine Dabney > wrote in
:

> On Mon, 30 Jul 2007 21:45:14 -0700, sf > wrote:
>
>
>>I'll just say "me too". I've eaten maple cured bacon and didn't like
>>it for the same reasons Jill gave, but I do like the sweeter bacons so
>>I vote for brown sugar.
>
> Too late. I went with maple syrup.
>
> Next time, I will try brown sugar.
>
> Then the savory ones.
>
> Christine
>

Don't forget about honey. Honey cured bacon tastes nice too.

--

The house of the burning beet-Alan

It'll be a sunny day in August, when the Moon will shine that night-
Elbonian Folklore