What is the biggest difference between cold smoking and hot smoking bacon? Flavor. Do people actually eat bacon cold? Some do. I have always hot smoked mine, with no intention of eating it cold but I see many cold smoke it. I always fry my bacon anyways but I'm just curious. Thanks!
By the way your bacon looks great!!!
Oh I'm fully aware of the safe IT, I have just never compared cold vs hot smoked bacon and was curious what the major difference was. If I cold smoked a PB for 9 hours and hot smoked a PB for 9, compared the two, what would be the major flavor profile differences? Thanksthoseguys26- cold smoked bacon must be cooked before eating. If bacon is hot smoked to an IT of 145 it's ok to eat without any additional cooking.
I going to speculate, based upon the nature of the two smoking techniques, that cold smoking would provide a deeper, stronger smoke flavor since cold smoking allows total smoke penetration inside of the meat. Unlike hot smoke, which tends to form an exterior barrier, with cold smoke, there's very little hardening of the outside surface of the meat or casing and smoke penetrates the meat easily.If I cold smoked a PB for 9 hours and hot smoked a PB for 9, compared the two, what would be the major flavor profile differences? Thanks
i have the same question..i want to do my first bacon soon and i dont have hangers. is there any disadvantage to hanging vs laying flat?I think that color is just fine...looks awesome Kevin!
Thanks again for the qviews. I wish a I had a similar set-up to hang the bellies. Mine are going to the smoke very soon on my kettle...laying flat. There has to be an advantage to hanging...
Hi Dougi have the same question..i want to do my first bacon soon and i dont have hangers. is there any disadvantage to hanging vs laying flat?
More questions!
- when you "rest" the bacon for a couple days...do you simply just put it in the zip lock bag and let it sit there? i see moisture in the bag do you try to dry that out?
- Do you always leave the skin on or is this a personal preference? if you dont intend to cook up the skin in other recipes could it just be removed?
- for the marinade you have the syrup for a liquid...if i wanted to do a simple dry rub (thinking black pepper, jalepeno, sugar) should i use water?
- also if i used a "dry rub" should i reapply more after the 5-7days of curing?
thanks kevin!2. The 'rest' in the zip-loc post-smoke is dry; there is no moisture present. I removed it from the bag after a day or & let it hang-dry to firm up even more in the fridge before slicing. The main reason I initially bagged it was I didnt want EVERYTHING in the fridge to take on the strong smoke flavor. The pre-smoke ziplock is quite wet as the cure brine has formed.
It will,and additionally there is a generous amount of kosher salt in the rub.does the pink salt (cure #1) draw out moisture on it's own?