First Bacon Smoke

[leechlake]

It has only been 5 days of curing of the 7 required but since I was taking it to 150 degrees I went for round one today and have the second slab still curing. It ended up at 155 degrees which I know is too hot, by the time I had it inside for a while and it continued to cook. Since it's my first run I wasn't too bothered by it, I was planning on some trial and error. After cutting it it looked a little "hammy" to me. I think that's because of the temp and that it has less fat than most bacon.

Cooked up a few pieces and it's a little bit salty, I didn't rinse it as well as suggested due to the fact that I didn't cure as long. Next time a bit more of a rinse. My first taste I notice that the hickory smoke was pretty spot on. Second taste I noticed that the fat was unbelievably good, frankly it made the bacon and was almost tender and melty. I'm not the biggest fan of some of the fat on store bought bacon. I'm really picky about what I cook and kind of hard on myself. This stuff was fantastic if I may say so myself. Looking forward to smoking slab two this weekend.

[eyeguy 54]

looks way too hammy! please drop it off here for disposal ... looks nice !

[pikestabber]

I think the hammy look is both good and bad... I agree, it got too hot and your texture might be different than a cold smoked slab, but it looks like the cure did it's job and it has excellent color. Those hammy strips fried up look pretty awesome from my point-of-view. Looking like a darn good first effort!

If it weren't for taking a chance and trial and error, I'd forever be eating out of a can. Kudos for tackling the project.

[DonBo]

Looks great to me. Kudos!

[JP Z]

Looks mighty tasty to me!

[Jim Almquist]

Curious as to where you were able to pickup pork belly?

Looks great so far!!!

[leechlake]

they had it at Von Hanson's butcher shop in Plymouth, $4.99 a pound, each one was about 2-3/4 pound.

[Jim Almquist]

they had it at Von Hanson's butcher shop in Plymouth, $4.99 a pound, each one was about 2-3/4 pound.

Thanks for the info. Good to know in case I make a road trip down that way.

[NEANGLER]

Looks good but your ham look is because it did indeed cook at too high of temp- want to stay at internal temp of about 120, smoke for 5-7 hrs. I would also make sure to really rinse the belly well to make sure to get the saltiness out. Commercial belly's are injected with the cure instead of submerged so the saltiness evens out instead of being concentrated on the surface of the belly.

[thirdeye]

Looks good for a first time. With a little fine tuning it will get better and better.

As far as the saltiness, a better rinse and a soak-out step will help. Some folks soak less than others, try 2 or 3 hours and see what you think. More important than the soak-out is the equalization step. This is a refrigerated rest following the rinse (or the rinse and soak) and it allows all the liquids and salt within the bacon to even out. When you rinse it after curing, the salt content is higher near the surface.... since it takes 7 days to cure it takes time for the salt to equalize. The equalization also allows the surface to dry which prepares it for smoking. I do an overnight equalization on my bacon.

[picksbigwagon]

covered or uncovered on that rest in the fridge?

another question, is 150* the temperature that you smoke the bacon at and then wait until it hits what temperature internally?

2-3 hour soak, how many times do you change out the water?

[thirdeye]

covered or uncovered on that rest in the fridge?

another question, is 150* the temperature that you smoke the bacon at and then wait until it hits what temperature internally?

2-3 hour soak, how many times do you change out the water?

I rest it uncovered, on a rack (or a couple of plastic chopsticks) so I an get air circulating around it.

Many folks cold smoke bacon (or cold smoke with a hot smoke finish), I hot smoke mine starting the smoker around 170° trying to keep the smoker around 180° for at least a couple of hours, then it might creep up a hair. My internal temp is 150° when I pull it off. Then I chill it overnight before slicing.

[Deitz Dittrich]

goog gawd Im hungry now.. yikes.

[Sandmannd]

Dang that looks good!

[kerryd15]

Wanted to say thirdeye has it down pat. I have followed their recipe on bacon and buckboard since i got my smoker and the family enjoys it every time.

[otterman91105]

Yea it sure does look good. Might have to try it sometime when I'm by a von hansens.

[leechlake]

Bacon Smoke round 2 report:

Soaked it too long, I cooked it to 125 and it was less hammy actually not hammy at all. It looked like bacon. Bad news is I soaked the saltiness out of it too much. It kind of tastes like low sodium bacon, I actually have been salting the bacon a bit in the pan. Seems weird.

I have two more slabs curing right now and will be smoked early next week. I'm thinking that somewhere by July I will have a successful formula down pat. The trial and error is kind of fun. Bad homemade bacon is still good.

[Sandmannd]

Wanted to say thirdeye has it down pat. I have followed their recipe on bacon and buckboard since i got my smoker and the family enjoys it every time.

Can you share where you found their recipe? Been looking for a good one.

[pike79]

Search Thirdeyes cooking site Playing With Smoke and Fire, I use it for information about smoking he is a master at smoking!

[Sandmannd]

Thanks, I'll be checking that out, looks like great recipes.

[LindellProStaf]

That looks so great. I want to try that now. Another challenge that will be fun to do.

[LindellProStaf]

I am finally doing the makin bacon program. We bought a 220 lb hog from our neighbor last fall. I had them just cut the bellies (bacon) into 3 lb chunks after I had seen this thread. I just did the partial vacuum and have the meat curing. I will smoke it next weekend. I will try to post a pic of it then. Per Thirdeyes recipe, I didn't have any maple sugar so I doubled the brown sugar. He said: 1 tbls of Tenderquick per lb. And 1 tsp each of brown sugar and maple sugar per lb. I also added a sprinkle of garlic powder. I think I have 6 of the 3 lb chunks so can do a little trial and error. Thanks for the inspiration.