My First Bacon - April 2015

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scooterjam

Fire Starter
Original poster
Aug 13, 2014
69
24

My son the Chef, doing the cutting for me...


same same...


With a bit of help from DaveOmak......saved what surely would have been way too salty product....1st day washed, bathed and repacked



Dryed well and left in the Refer for about 30 hours or more to dry and get that sweet pellicule


Retained this much liquid from all the bags...


You will notice I have much smaller pieces, due to not so much room in the Refer.....anyways, after the smoking


chopped and ready to pack, vac and freeze


Ended up with 19 packages (about 12 - 16 pieces 5 inches or so long in each package)


Just some ends and pieces cut up for the wife to use for her home made baked beans this summer....

I have NOT (believe it or not) fryed up any of this yet.....haha...

Will let you know how it turns out.....I am a bit concerned that I might have over 'cooked'....my smoker doesn't get low enough still and most of this was down with 2 pieces of charcoal thrown in the box with a handful of apple and hickory chips....I only turned the smoker on a couple of times....(electric smoke hollow)
 
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I have been making my own bacon for several years and it always turns out great. It looks like you removed the pork skin before you cured and smoked the pork belly. I always leave the skin on and remove it after the smoking process. I use the smoked skins for soup. They work better than smoked pork shank. Not sure how long you cooled the bacon after the smoking process, but I always put the finished smoked product in the frig for a day. This lets the smoke process move through the meat. The juice looks dark, what type of rub did you put on the pork belly? Let us know how it tastes.
 
Thanks Tropics!

Kihler, just used salt, pepper, brown sugar and cure.    12.5 pounds of belly.   4 ounces SALT, about 2 TABLESPOONS black pepper, 3/4 of a 2 LB BAG BROWN SUGAR.  2 1/2 TEASPOONS CURE #1.    Next time we do this, I agree, leave the skin on...I think he cut too much fat off when he was trimming.    I saved fat and skin....lol, its in the freezer....   Thought I might salvage some of that good fat of the skin....   Thank you for the info ~ Scooter
 
 
Thanks Tropics!

Kihler, just used salt, pepper, brown sugar and cure.    12.5 pounds of belly.   4 ounces SALT, about 2 TABLESPOONS black pepper, 3/4 of a 2 LB BAG BROWN SUGAR.  2 1/2 TEASPOONS CURE #1.    Next time we do this, I agree, leave the skin on...I think he cut too much fat off when he was trimming.    I saved fat and skin....lol, its in the freezer....   Thought I might salvage some of that good fat of the skin....   Thank you for the info ~ Scooter
After you scrape some fat down try this.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/g/a/235915/chicharron/
 
Thats awesome!!!   haha.....most definately....the son and I have a big ol bag.....thank you!!!
 
SJ, It looks very good !!!
points.gif
 
After you smoke the bacon and cool it in the frig for a day, do not "cut" the skin off with a knife. Fine a corner and pull the skin off. That way you don't lose any of the bacon . 
 
Thank you everyone...Kihler...helpful hints there friend!  Thanks again
 
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