I bought 2 belly's from a local butcher here last month. I didn't have time to do them in December so I cut them in thirds, vac packed them and froze until new years eve. I figured it was an easy way to count the curing days if I started on Jan 1st.
Today I am doing one of the belly's, each belly weighed 11.25 lbs. so each third weighed in at approx. 3-3/4lbs.
I mixed up Pops brine on new years eve and started the clock, every couple of days I would rotate the pieces and give them a little stir.
I did a fry test last Monday Jan. 9th (easy to remember how many days they have been in) he-he. The fry test was just right, I let them go one more day and pulled them out, rinsed in cold water and toweled them off, let them sit to dry and develop a nice pelicle at 34F - 38F.
I decided to leave one plain (the wife likes plain with a hint of salt), one with maple, and one pepper crusted.
Today I loaded up the AMA-ZEN with Hickory, I preheated the MES on a 100F for about half an hour, the ambient temp. here when I put them in is around 23F. I turned the MES off and just let the AMA-ZEN do it's thing, the temp is holding nicley right around 100F.
I will be monitoring the bacon closely! More pics to come.
New Years Eve
Day 10 - Out of the brine
Some nice thickness to this belly
Regular (no extra seasoning)
Maple
Pepper
PEPPER - MAPLE - REGULAR
Into the MES at 9:00am
Today I am doing one of the belly's, each belly weighed 11.25 lbs. so each third weighed in at approx. 3-3/4lbs.
I mixed up Pops brine on new years eve and started the clock, every couple of days I would rotate the pieces and give them a little stir.
I did a fry test last Monday Jan. 9th (easy to remember how many days they have been in) he-he. The fry test was just right, I let them go one more day and pulled them out, rinsed in cold water and toweled them off, let them sit to dry and develop a nice pelicle at 34F - 38F.
I decided to leave one plain (the wife likes plain with a hint of salt), one with maple, and one pepper crusted.
Today I loaded up the AMA-ZEN with Hickory, I preheated the MES on a 100F for about half an hour, the ambient temp. here when I put them in is around 23F. I turned the MES off and just let the AMA-ZEN do it's thing, the temp is holding nicley right around 100F.
I will be monitoring the bacon closely! More pics to come.
New Years Eve
Day 10 - Out of the brine
Some nice thickness to this belly
Regular (no extra seasoning)
Maple
Pepper
PEPPER - MAPLE - REGULAR
Into the MES at 9:00am
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