First Bacon Attempt

[reinhard1]

I do like a longer smoke myself for cold smoking.  I go 6 to 8 hours at times.  It's all personal preference depending how much smoke you like.  Mrklean  had great results with "hot" smoking bacon and you had great results with "cold" smoking bacon so I think it's helpful that both methods are on here and I think it's great that both methods are posted so we can all learn different ways to smoke bellies.  Thanks to both of you. good luck.

[Mid-Lake Rock]

Just ate my first cuts.  Yum!  I have a co-worker that gave me the recipe, so I knew how it would taste.  This week I will post the recipe.  Super easy and so good.  Getting bellies for $2.85/lb helps.

Edited October 4, 2015 by Mid-Lake Rock

[ThunderLund78]

Looks awesome!  nice job!.

And I don't know what I was thinking in my last comment, yes 150 is done for pork   For some reason I had chicken-on-the-brain!

[pikestabber]

Cut some ends and they tasted pretty good my wife said it had a little to much smoke flavor to it...

 

I think you'll find that the smoke flavor will mellow out after it "adjusts" for a bit. Will taste milder in a week or so, IMO. Also, the ends will soak up more smoke flavor. Looks great! 

Edited October 5, 2015 by pikestabber

[mrklean]

I told my wife the exact same thing about the ends having more smoke, I cooked a couple pieces up last night and after a day I could tell the smoke  mellowed a little already.  Oh and it tasted great

[mrklean]

Just ate my first cuts.  Yum!  I have a co-worker that gave me the recipe, so I knew how it would taste.  This week I will post the recipe.  Super easy and so good.  Getting bellies for $2.85/lb helps.

Costco?

[Mid-Lake Rock]

Yes.  Got it at Costco for that price.  I hope they keep selling those bellies.  

I used the Ruhlman Bacon recipe.  I didn't include all the ingredients he uses.  This is for five pounds of belly.   

2 ounces Kosher salt.

4 teaspoons pink curing salt

4 tablespoons back pepper

4 bay leaves

1/4 cup maple syrup.

I let the bacon cure for two weeks.  I then rinsed and soaked in water for two hours so the salt wouldn't overpower.  Dried it on a rack and cold smoked for a few hours.