Black Friday Bacon w/pics

biker.chef · Posted: Nov 30 2016 Post subject: Black Friday Bacon w/pics

Did bacon on Black Friday. It turned out great.
I had a 12# pork belly from Costco that I split in two.
Here is the cure I used for five pounds of belly
2 oz. Kosher salt (about 1/4 cup)
1 level tsp Cure #1, aka Prague Powder #1
(1.14g per pound0

2 Tbl ground mixed peppercorns
2 tsp. onion granules
2 tsp. garlic granules
2-3 bay leaves
1/4 C. Maple sugar
1/4 C. Maple syrup
8 lb. fresh pork belly

I let the bellies cure for 11 days. Then cold smoked in
my small reverse flow vertical cabinet. I used an a-maz-n
smoker tube with apple pellets. It worked great. The outdoor temp
was about 35° and the smoker didn't go above 70° on a 10 hour smoke. The bacon was was different than when I hot smoked.
The fat is all intact and creamy. The edges aren't shrunk up.
I like it. the a-maz-n worked great.

bellies ready to go

smokin bacon

smoking done

Cut the strip short because of my crappy slicer.

sliced bacon
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Help End The Violence.
EAT BACON

Rinngrizz · Posted: Dec 01 2016 Post subject:

Biker, what kind of slicer is that? I've got an old hand me down from my dad doesn't slide far enough back to slice a belly, but am looking into a new one so I can slice bacon instead of hand slicing it.
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biker.chef · Posted: Dec 01 2016 Post subject:

jess · Posted: Dec 01 2016 Post subject:

So how's it taste ? Smokey enough ? Looks like the
makings for my fav. Sammy- BET- bacon, egg, tomato...

biker.chef · Posted: Dec 01 2016 Post subject:

To be honest it could have smoked more or maybe use some hickory.
But I can taste the smoke & I think its the best I've done yet.
_________________
-------
Every Day, Thousands Of Innocent Plants Are Killed By Vegetarians.
Help End The Violence.
EAT BACON

suckaass · Posted: Dec 03 2016 Post subject:

Looks good, biker.chef Very Happy

I too prefer to cold smoke my bacon with just my smoke generator and no heat. I tried hot smoking once and just didn't care for the end result as much.

As for slicing, i have an old Rival slicer that is no bigger than yours, and I found that by removing the sliding tray and resting the belly on the rails, i could easily hold it with my hands a safe distance from the blade and slide it back and forth against the fence and get perfect slices the whole width of the belly, then I'll slice the last couple inches by hand or leave them in chunks to chop up for bacon bits Very Happy

I should also mention that i put the belly in the freezer until it is almost frozen before slicing.
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save the neck for me, Clark - Cousin Eddie

biker.chef · Posted: Dec 03 2016 Post subject:

Good suggestions. I'm going to look at modifying my slicer.
_________________
-------
Every Day, Thousands Of Innocent Plants Are Killed By Vegetarians.
Help End The Violence.
EAT BACON

k.c.hawg · BBQ Super Pro Joined: 17 May 2009 Posts: 1752

biker.chef your bacon came out looking good. I'm glad the smoking tube worked out well for you. Can't believe I waited so long to get one.

suckass thanks for the tip on the slicer. I have a Waring that is too small to do my bacon full length and I don't like cutting it down to fit. Might look into seeing if that mod will work for mine. I've been hand slicing whole bellies with a Wustof Carving knife. Labor intensive!!!
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biker.chef · Posted: Dec 06 2016 Post subject:

BRBBQ · Posted: Dec 07 2016 Post subject:

Looks nice and thanks for pics
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