Bacon

[Hedgelj]

I have 45lbs of bacon in cure for the next week or longer and then onto smoke and slicing.

2 different cures (both EQ style cure)

Cowen
2% salt
0.25% cure 1
1.25% pepper
4% brown sugar

"British"
2% salt
0.25% cure 1
50 g british bacon seasoning blend per side
200g maple sugar per side

 

[Hedgelj]

I let them sit in cure for a week under refrigerator temps, flipping the bags every day. Then I rinsed them off.

You could let them air dry in the fridge to absorb smoke better but i didn't (lack of time).

I then stacked them on my grill with an amazen maze pellet maze to cold smoke them. My pellets are old so i microwave then to dry them out and then I'll get 8ish hours of smoke out of one fill.

I did 3 fills trying to get a good bit of smoke in them. Ideally you could let them sit between smokes and use different woods for different flavors but I'm not that fancy.

 

[Hedgelj]

I was rushing and had some issues. I normally burn all the charcoal out of my grill and put the maze on the very bottom. I didn't, so i didn't which caused the maze to be too close to the bacon which even the little heat put off by the smoldering pellets was enough to melt some fat and cause a grease fire which cost me a half side of bacon.

 

[Hedgelj]

Even after trimming off the burnt sections i ended up with 39 vacuum packed servings of 10 slices (ish) each.

I also rendered a pint of grease from the trimmings.

 

[giles]

We learned a very important step, don't forget to rinse them before smoking! Stuff is good, but a bit salty

 

[Clay Showalter]

I let them sit in cure for a week under refrigerator temps, flipping the bags every day. Then I rinsed them off.

You could let them air dry in the fridge to absorb smoke better but i didn't (lack of time).

I then stacked them on my grill with an amazen maze pellet maze to cold smoke them. My pellets are old so i microwave then to dry them out and then I'll get 8ish hours of smoke out of one fill.

I did 3 fills trying to get a good bit of smoke in them. Ideally you could let them sit between smokes and use different woods for different flavors but I'm not that fancy.

What temp did you smoke them at and for how long

 

[Buckmaster]

I’ve used the store bought bacon mixes in the past; followed the recipe….but always too salty. I’ve been mixing my own lately and soak in water overnight after cure and before smoke.

 

["J"]

I’ve used the store bought bacon mixes in the past; followed the recipe….but always too salty. I’ve been mixing my own lately and soak in water overnight after cure and before smoke.

You just soaking it in water?

 

[Buckmaster]

Yes. Helps remove the salt.

 

[Hedgelj]

What temp did you smoke them at and for how long

Cold smoke - under 45 degrees is what i do it at

I’ve used the store bought bacon mixes in the past; followed the recipe….but always too salty. I’ve been mixing my own lately and soak in water overnight after cure and before smoke.

Benefit to EQ curing, you can control the salt level without soaking. It's much more repeatable and controlled.

 

[finelyshedded]

Just prepped my second pork belly cure for bacon yesterday. After a week my neighbor and I will be slicing and packing next weekend. Only thing I did different this time was one half I added a 1/2 cup of bourbon. Next Friday I’ll rinse and dry and add a shot and more brown sugar to each side to let permeate another night or two before smoking (apple/hickory)to internal temp of 150-160 then pull let cool and slice and vacuum pack.

Per each 5 lb of pork belly:
1/4 cup Kosher salt
1/4 cup Brown sugar
1/4 cup Maple syrup
2 tbsp Course black pepper
1 teas Curing salt
1/2 cup of bourbon

You can add 1/4-1 cup bourbon

 

[Hedgelj]

Just prepped my second pork belly cure for bacon yesterday. After a week my neighbor and I will be slicing and packing next weekend. Only thing I did different this time was one half I added a 1/2 cup of bourbon. Next Friday I’ll rinse and dry and add a shot and more brown sugar to each side to let permeate another night or two before smoking (apple/hickory)to internal temp of 150-160 then pull let cool and slice and vacuum pack.

Per each 5 lb of pork belly:
1/4 cup Kosher salt
1/4 cup Brown sugar
1/4 cup Maple syrup
2 tbsp Course black pepper
1 teas Curing salt
1/2 cup of bourbon

You can add 1/4-1 cup bourbon

If you can cold smoke, try that next winter, game changer in quality of bacon imo

Have you done bourbon flavor before?

 

[finelyshedded]

If you can cold smoke, try that next winter, game changer in quality of bacon imo

Have you done bourbon flavor before?

No but my neighbor did and he let me try it and we both LOVED it as did his entire family. He added bourbon to one and an Irish whiskey to the other this time.

 

[Buckmaster]

For cold smoke buy one of these guys. Use it in your hot smoker or grill.

 

[Hedgelj]

For cold smoke buy one of these guys. Use it in your hot smoker or grill. View attachment 193602

i use one of the amazen pellet mazes, they also make tubes and I've seen them at lowes it home depot, work very well

 

[finelyshedded]

My neighbor and I rinsed our pork belly slabs thoroughly yesterday and patted dry and returned to fridge till this morning. I added another shot of BT to both sides of bigger slab and rubbed down both with plenty of brown sugar and returned to the fridge for an hour or so. We both put the slabs on his Traeger at 11am till about an hour ago bringing the internal temp up to 155ish. They are in his garage fridge till about 4 and I’ll head over in about 20 minutes to start slicing then I’ll bring home mine to vacuum pack and put into freezer.
I got a pkg out of freezer from 3/9 batch early this morning and fried up a mess for breakfast and it was heavenly.

Here are slabs after prepping this morning with brown sugar and bourbon(just the big boy).

 

[Clay Showalter]

26 pounds Cured, smoked, sliced, sealed

 

[finelyshedded]

 

[5Cent]

Yeah baby, get it Ric!!

 

[finelyshedded]

Yeah baby, get it Ric!!

Trying to maintain this sexy ass bod! Lmao