GUS wrote:Thanks for the affirmation "Q" ..appreciated.
When you say (for the second variant, your regular bacon cure) " one cup of syrup" ...is that maple or something else to which a splash of maple is added? ..sorry it's probably just in the way I read it, however good to know for sure.
The Vanilla/Bourbon syrup is as follows:
1. 1.5 cups bourbon - Lit it on fire in a big pan and burned it until most of the alcohol had burned away and the flames extinguished.
2. Added a cup of vanilla sugar (several cups of white sugar with at least two fresh vanilla beans - I throw all my "used" beans in as well, never wasting - scraped in and left to sit for a few weeks to infuse the flavour) and a good splash of maple syrup.
3. Reduced until thick and syrupy and quite possibly the best tasting syrup I have ever had! Poured out to cool, had slightly over a cups worth.
The cure ratio I like to use is approximately .75 tbsp salt and .75 tbsp sugar for every pound along with the obligitory cure #1 and about 2 tbsp of cracked black pepper (sorry don't have my measurment lists handy as I prefer grams for accuracy but can't recall off the top of my head). If I am doing 5lb sections of belly I will use a full cup of the above syrup, add the rub with dry ingredients, into a vac bag and then I pour in the syrup and seal. When I smoke this I prefer to use a lighter wood, usually cherry or maple or a mix of both. I find I don't like stronger wood smoke to overwhelm the flavour of the cure.
Sorry for the confusion, by regular cure I meant my salt/sugar/cure #1 mix. I generally follow this ratio for honey or maple bacon too, 1 cup of honey/maple to every 5lbs. I highly recommend you try the vanilla bourbon syrup in your bacon or play around with it and find something that works for you.