First bacon smoke

Dooch said:

 
This is the recipe, that I used, but the garlic and nutmeg were granular

—Mix the following together in a small bowl:

2 ounces (1/4 cup Morton or Diamond Crystal coarse kosher) salt

2 teaspoons pink curing salt #1 (I use this DQ Cure from Butcher-Packer, $2)

4 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper

4 bay leaves, crumbled

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 cup brown sugar or honey or maple syrup

5 cloves of garlic, smashed with the flat side of a chef’s knife

 Not used - 2 tablespoons juniper berries, lightly crushed (optional)

5 to 10 sprigs fresh thyme (optional)


—Put your belly in the zip-top bag or on a sheet tray or in a plastic container.  Rub the salt and spice mixture all over the belly.  Close the bag or cover it with plastic wrap, and stick it in the refrigerator for seven days (get your hands in there and give the spices another good rubbing around midway through).

—After seven days, take it out of the fridge, rinse off all the seasonings under cold water and pat it dry.

—Put it on a sheet tray and put it in the oven (put it on a rack on a sheet tray if you have one) and turn the oven on to 200 degrees F. (if you want to preheat the oven, that’s fine, too). Leave it in the oven for 90 minutes (or, if you want to measure the internal temperature, until it reaches 150 degrees F.).

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Dooch said:

 
Just mixed it and spread on the meat, Just over 5 lbs. of bacon, but used maybe half the cure.

Not very scientific, hope it is not too much.

Made some bacon hangers out of some chromed grills that I came across, rinsed and hung my bacon (Had to shoo the neighborhood cats away!), got them cold smoking right now with my new Amnps pellet smoker. Filled one row with competition blend pellets from my local Canadian Tire store and hung them in my Little Chief, no heat on. Should 4-5 hours be enough?

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• dooch
• Feb 16, 2017

AB Canuck said:

 
Bacon looks good!!! I am a little confused on the thread starter though. Again good looking bacon.

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