Pork Belly / Bacon

jmccar41

I've taken a few 10 lb bellys, cured them for 6-7 days and smoked them over applewood. Overall I have been happy with the results and make minor tweaks each time with continued improvement. This time, the bacon is burning quickly. It goes from raw to burnt in no time.
My cure is simple kosher salt, brown sugar, paprika, cumin, Prague #1 and maple syrup.  This time, I did swap the brown sugar for maple sugar.  Would that cause the change in the final cook or is it likely just the belly I got?  I appreciate the feedback. 

sheetmetalpete

I had the same issue.  I found it to be the high sugar content - whether it's brown sugar or maple syrup.  It burned easily under high heat.  I found that cooking it at a lower temp kept it from burning.  I cut back on the quantity of sugar in my cure.    

bclarksicle

What temp are you smoking at and what IT are you pulling at?

jmccar41

Thanks for the advice.  I am smoking at 200 and pulling it at 140.  The sugar makes sense.  I believe the maple sugar is not a good idea.  i'll go back to maple syrup instead

Legume

Cook what's left on a rack in a slow oven, should be fine that way.

Focker

It's the sugar.

One way I cut the sugar some, is by substituting molasses.  

Be aware of the molasses confusion, there are several different varieties.

Light, Fancy = first boil = sweetest, used on pancakes, biscuits
Dark, Robust = second boil, used for baking, gingerbread
Blackstrap = third boil, least sugar content, can be bitter if overused

I would use Light/Fancy for starters, keep notes, tweak with each batch.

For my 1G wet cure, I will sub in 1/2 C molasses for half of the one cup of brown sugar, leaving gran sugar, salt, alone.  This cuts down on the burning.

@Legume's recommendation is solid, and my preferred method for the best bacon.  The Blackstone on the lowest settings, is second.

Half sheet pan, wire rack, 300 oven until done to your liking, I wait til it foams, usually around 45 min or so.  

tarheelmatt

Have you calibrated your thermo?