Step 1

Preheat the oven to 225 degrees F

Step 2

Slice the pork belly to the thickness you like. I prefer thick sliced bacon but if you want it thinner, you may want to ask your butcher to slice it for you. It takes a very sharp knife and a string steady hand to do it well. Pre-sliced fresh pork belly is also often available. If slicing it yourself, cut the pork belly slab in half to make shorter slices which are much easier to cut.

Step 3

Line an aluminum cookie sheet with parchment paper and lay the slices of pork belly on the paper.

Step 4

Brush the maple syrup on one side of the pork belly slices and sprinkle on a pinch or two each of salt and pepper. You are in control of the amounts here.

Step 5

Turn all of the pork belly slices over and repeat the brushing of maple syrup and the sprinkling of salt and pepper

Step 6

Bake in the preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours for thick sliced bacon and about an hour for thinner sliced bacon. This will fully cook the meat and soften it considerably. Turn the bacon once or twice during the cooking time.

Step 7

At this stage you can let it cool to room temperature before storing it in an airtight container in the fridge for later use.

Step 8

To serve the bacon heat a cast iron pan over medium low heat and add whatever amount of bacon you wish to serve.

Step 9

You do not want to cook this bacon over high heat. The lower temperature the better is advised for two reasons. First the sugar content of the maple syrup can burn on too high a heat and second, the slower it is cooked, the more fat will render out and the crispier your bacon will be. Thick sliced bacon can fry for 15 minutes or longer under well controlled heat.

Step 10

When crispy, drain on paper towels before serving.