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Quick and easy fresh smoked bacon.

You can find fresh thick pork belly slices at the Superstore, for about $2 a pack, give or take.

In the Charcuterie book by Ruhlman & Polcyn there's a dry cure on page 39 for making bacon. I made a big mason jar of it a while back so it would be super convenient.

450g kosher salt
225g regular sugar
50g pink salt

I just sprinkled both sides of the slices with a bit of the cure, put them in a ziploc bagie in the fridge over night. In the morning, remove, rinse, pat dry, get the smoker ready. I used apple wood for the smoke and put them on the kamado at around 175F. I lat the temp rise a bit, it was around 200 for most of the smoke / cook. I let it get up to about 250F, not quite intentionally near the end. I figure they were on there for 2 - 2.5 hours.

I wiped of the greese with some parper towel and into the fridge they went. They'll be going on some decent burgers along with some smoked cheese I have on now.

I could probably used even less cure, or cured for less time, as they seem a bit salty, still not as salty as the last time I did this.

Looks delicious!

You should be using your mixture to weight so as to not poison yourself with nitrites/nitrates. 1g pink salt per 5 lbs meat is teh target ratio. So, weigh your pork slices then weigh out the appropriate amount of your cure mixture. Also, I think you're right, that thin it'll likely cure real fast.

Thanks. Next time I'll do the math. I'll be careful not to eat it all at once! I'll be sharing it with family on the burgers as least.

I don't even bother with the cure for the sliced belly - just hit it with some salt, pepper and brown sugar and let 'er rip on the smoker. Makes a great pizza topping as well.

For just a quick bacon I wouldn't even worry about the pink, just use salt, you don't need to cure it unless you plan on keeping pit for a while, if it's just to cook that day salt sugar and onto the smoker IMHO.

Yeah you guys are totally right there. I'll try it dome different ways next time. I love this stuff cut up in pasta too.