Temperature management for curing and drying bacon questions

Wazoo said:

I am getting ready to try my first cold smoked bacon using Pops brine recipe..  There is a wealth of information on this site but I still do have a couple questions.  Unfortunately, I do not have room in our refrigerator to store a 15 lb. pork belly in a brine solution.  I live in the Seattle area and our temperatures are running between 35 and 52 right now.

Do you have a smoke generator ??  Are you using the heat source for smoking the chips or dust.  ??

Cold smoking should be done below 70 deg for bacon....  approx 6 hours +/day over several days....  Leave it hang in the smoker between smokes....  

1. I have a large really good cooler.  I am thinking that I can put the container with the brine and pork belly in the cooler and fill the cooler with ice around it. I will just check the amount of ice every day to be sure that it hasn't all melted.  Has anyone tried this in a similar climate?

That will work nicely...... 

2. Can I safely hang the bacon outside in the smoker overnight with a small fan to form a pellicle with worrying about temperature?

Yes.... once it is cured, no problem...  

3.  After is has been smoked I would bag it an put it back in the cooler with ice to rest for a couple of days before slicing and packaging.  Will that the bacon mellow okay in zip lock bags?

I would leave it hang in the smoker for the extra days....   then partially freeze and slice....  it will slice much better if almost frozen.... 

4. Has anyone tried adding sliced apples in the brine to add to the flavor in place of maple syrup?

I have no idea what the fruit would do for flavor, or food safety....   

Dave

I appreciate any answers or suggestions.

Click to expand...

[h1]Cold Smoking  from Wedliny-Domowe[/h1]
Cold smoking at 52-71° F (12-22° C), from 1-14 days, applying thin smoke with occasional breaks in between, is one of the oldest preservation methods. We cannot produce cold smoke if the outside temperature is 90° F (32° C), unless we can cool it down, which is what some industrial smokers do. Cold smoking is a drying process whose purpose is to remove moisture thus preserving a product.

You will find that different sources provide different temperatures for cold smoking. In European countries where most of the cold smoking is done, the upper temperature is accepted as 86° F (30° C). The majority of Russian, Polish and German meat technology books call for 71° F (22° C), some books ask for 77° F (25° C). Fish starts to cook at 85° F (29.4° C) and if you want to make delicious cold smoked salmon that is smoked for a long time, obviously you can not exceed 86° F (30° C). Cold smoking assures us of total smoke penetration inside of the meat. The loss of moisture also is uniform in all areas and the total weight loss falls within 5-20% depending largely on the smoking time. Cold smoking is not a continuous process, it is stopped (no smoke) a few times to allow fresh air into the smoker.

Wazoo,  When curing pork bellies I use a dry brine therefore Pop's brine is not familiar to me.  That being said, the bellies are rinsed after the curing period and hung back in the cooler for two days to form the pellicle.  They are then cold smoked continuously for up to three days using the AMNPS for smoke.  No need to shut down and allow fresh air in as fresh air is needed in order for the smoker to burn.  If using my Smoke Daddy the smoke is piped in resulting in a shorter smoke time which then necessitates allowing fresh air in while checking color, but that's all.  I keep the temps below 65 degrees.

If your bellies have been properly cured it should not be a problem hanging them outside to form a pellicle.

Would it be handy for you to halve the belly?  I find them much easier to work with that way.

Not knowing how you are generating your smoke, you may be able to place some dried apples in your generator for a unique flavor.

Let us know how it turns out.

Tom

All good advice listed up there. 

I have tried most the things listed and have found that with limited space, a dry cure works best for me. Most bellies, cut into thirds will fit into 1 gal. ziploc bags (freezer bags are heavier) and I dry cure in batches. Three bags stacked does not take that much room. just turn over and work the meat every day or so. 

Smoke/rest/smoke VS one long cold smoke. I have had the AMNPS go out on me and had the rest thing going on overnight, and I have had all work great and one long 24 hour smoke, (with short reloading breaks) I did not notice a difference. Both ways ended up with the same amount of smoke flavor and the same total time "in the smoke". Taste and texture were about the same.  Bottom line is how much smoke YOU like. 

After the slab is cured, it sounds that the temps you are talking about are cool enough that you can let it hang and rest both before and after the smoke safely.

After the smoke, I usually just let it rest in the fridge for a couple of days wrapped in plastic then vacuum package. This stuff goes so fast that I go ahead and slice before packaging but leaving it whole and slicing when you thaw will give longer storage time. Again it depends on your circumstances and preferences. 

I have not tried the apple and also wonder about the safety factor, I'm sure someone here has tried it and hopefully will chime in. I have switched to maple sugar from the syrup, for me it's just easier to store and mix up in either a brine or dry rub. My preference. 

Have fun with it, once you get that batch out, store bought just doesn't seem to be the same.

I think you will be ok with your plan so long as you cold smoke and observe the temp ranges in DaveOmak's post. I just finished up 22lbs of bellies which were cold smoked for 48hrs w/ an applewood/corn cob mix. It turned out very nice as I'm sure your's will.

Gary

Hoquiam, WA