You won't regret it, store bought bacon won't ever taste as good as you thought it did after you make your own
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Should be about ready to go on the smoker about now, let us know how it turns out,🥓🥓🥓

 

You know, I checked on it last night, and it doesn't seem like it had cured long enough. definitely not as firm as it seems everyone comments about after being cured. giving it a few more days to see. So many different directions out there and everyone has their own little recipe mix. I am trying it without the pink salt. Pretty much salt, brown sugar, and pepper. I did pay attention to ratios I was finding online, then when it was taking longer I wondered if I skimped a bit on salt. Most of what I was reading said ~2.5% of the belly weight in salt, but then you see some videos really just pile it on. Starting to think there's almost no right or wrong, and that some people simply soak it for an hour in some water to make sure it's not too salty in the end before drying it overnight in the fridge and then smoking the next day. We shall see. I got a lot of cooking going on later this week and weekend, so this is on the list.

 

I just bought my first two pork bellies an hour ago! This makes me even more excited to sit and wait 7 days or so for it to cure before smoking

I go with Michael Symon’s recipe - he has good instruction as well as a calculator for the cure ratios. Michael Ruhlman has some good info out there as well - I use his book for lots of cure ideas including sausages.