A lot of work but looks well worth it.
Thanks for sharing
A lot of work but looks well worth it.
Thanks for sharing
Man that's a load of bacon! I've gotta try this too..
Bradley DBS
Weber Kettle
Weber Genesis S-320
Weber Q 200
MAK 2 Star General #390
BPS Drum Smoker
I've been threatening to do the same thing.... Looks like now is a good reasonBut I am thinking getting some of the Jallaulah or Money into the smoke stage will be happening... or need to look at impact to the cure, if I lessen salt and add rub for additonal flavor profile.
If you wait till the 3rd stage of the cure it shouldn't hurt anything, just pick the rub with a lower salt content of the two.
If you want to add allot of rub drop the cures salt content down by 1/2 of a percent to like 2%.
Rich
Cookshack FEC-120
Cookshack SMO-55
Traeger Deluxe 100
Big Green Egg
Weber Genesis Silver
Getting ready to try this one.
I have a question for you about the maple syrup brush down. How much did you use for the bacon? I also have a question about using things like Bourbon that are more liquid. I want to do a bourbon bacon possibly with a bit of molasses . I was thinking that it would be best to do that AFTER the last cure applications and 3-4 day wait, and then then add (maybe in a ziplock) and hold for another 3-4 days...
Thoughts?
Also your statement about 3-4 Amazing Tube Smokers being used. Am I to understand that you run one smoker until its finished, and then refill and run again until empty for a total of 3 or 4 cycles? The other way to interpret is that you run 3 or 4 tube smokers all at the same time, which doesn't make much sense to me.
Thanks for the instructions! And by the way, that is a killer meat slicer and vac sealer you've got.
TD
Bacon is cured and smoked. I have a question about the final part of this process, which says to store in the refrigerator for a few days before slicing to mellow. Is it better to enclose in a plastic bag during this phase? I think my bacon got a little cooked. Smoker temps rose about 40-45 degrees above ambient temp with two amazin smoker tubes running. Ambient temps were in fifties, dipping below fifty overnight. Highest temp I saw on my grill probe just above where bacon was hanging read 104. Mostly in high 80-90s. That's the best I can do in chilly Florida weather.
TD
Dick, unfortunately FrozenTundra hasn't been on for almost two years.
It's important to understand that there are two distinct and different methods describe in this thread:
1) Dry-Rub Cure method (this is NOT dry-curing; true dry (or air) curing involves hanging the bacon/ham in the air).
2) Cold Smoke method (Smoking at temps generally below 100° F)
These two methods are independent of each other and do NOT have to be used together.
You can use a dry-rub cure, then hot-smoke. Or... Brine Cure and then cold smoke.
Since your bacon was cured, the temps you got were fine. Even if your bacon got to 104° it's not cooked. After cold-smoking for a few hours, I prefer to hot-smoke and take my bacon to 150° (it sets the color better) and don't have any issues.
After smoking, I always store my bacon for a minimum of 48 hrs to allow the smoke to permeate throughout the bacon before slicing. You can wrap it, if you like, or just put it in a lidded container. I have done both and the results are the same either way.
Hope this helps.
Last edited by TentHunter; 01-04-2016 at 08:55 AM.
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MAK 1 Star General #651 - 2014 Model
former owner - MAK 1 Star General #171
22.5" Weber Performer with Stoven Pellet Grill attachment
27 + year old 22.5" Weber Kettle (still works fine)
Modified Horizontal Offset Smoker - used mainly for cold smoking.
As always Cliff, thanks for the advice! Exactly what I wanted to know.
Readying for the next round of Bacon!
I have been ordering meat for the last few months, nearly exclusively from a restaurant supplier. Quality is better, especially the beef to steaks. Also a reliable source for bellies! I have two bellies (totalling 36 pounds! More than I thought I'd end up with!) from a specialty pork farm, Vande Rosse. If its anything like their pork chops, this should be great bacon.
I have a cheap slicer from amazon and it struggles to do the long slices without endangering myself. I cut each belly into 6 pieces so that each would easily fit into a 1 gallon zip lock bag for the dry-cure process. I'm going to do the standard dry-cure as described in this post (even if its technically not true dry curing as TentHunter points out) the last batch turned out GREAT! I decided that I'm going to use some Jack Daniels Honey Whisky that a friend left at my place to spike the bacon with. I thought it had a GREAT flavor in the finished bacon.
I'll try to post a few photos. Today is day one...
TD
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