Hey Jose, Five Spice powder is your friend. Are you using a salt cure or a salt/ sugar cure? I would go for one of Len Poli's recipes. This guy has roadtested all his recipes out the wahzoo so you can be sure its a winner! http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Bacon-Chinese.pdf Instead of the Sichuan pepper I would sub some apple smoked hab powder in the same quantity. Have fun Cheers Mark E. in Oz www.zymurgia.com