Bacon Bear's way

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remsr

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Jun 8, 2014
982
63
Woodbury Minnesota St Paul)
Picked up a 11-1/4 pound pork belly at Costco
Cut it in half and then cut one of the halfs in half for around 9 pounds of bacon and 21/2 pounds I seasoned for for a Sous Vide cook.
The large half I rubed as Bear instructed.
one table spoon of TQ per pound and one table spoon of brown sugar per pound.
The small half of a half I measured out the same 1 table spoon per pound of TQ but measured out one table spoon per pound of a sugar maple seasoning that may produce that maple flavor we all love, we'll see in 9 days.
Here it is getting happy in the refrigerator, actually it's out of the refrigerator gor the picture.
More pictures in 9 days.

Randy,
 
Great start. You will not be disappointed. the only downside (upside really) of doing this is you will no longer be able to buy bacon from the store ever again. My wife refuses to buy bacon no so I have to make sure we do not run out.

Link
 
Happy problem Link, my last attempt at bacon last year was a flop. I did a wet cure with something I got from my butcher called Sweeter than Sweet, which was simple and flavorful but I over cooked the bacon to 155 degrees as instructed by my butcher.
Crap! He must have been thinking ham. It turned in to jerky when I tried to crisp it up.
I have been using it in beans, bacon jam, stews and such. It taste great and works out well as long as I don't fry it crisp.

Randy,
 
Great Start, Randy!!
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I'm in---

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Bear
 
Randy,

I have only ever cold smoked bacon and have had really good results with this method. I am afraid to try hot smoking it, if it came out wrong I would be in big trouble as the boss would be upset.

I cannot wait to see your results.

Link
 
Next round you will be making the entire 10 lbs into bacon. My wife will not eat anything else but Bear Bacon now that we have made two batches. Must plan ahead to make sure we don't run out before the next round needs to go into the cure.
 
Looks Great Milkman!!
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Glad the Wife likes it too!!
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Bear
 
Took the bacon out of the refrigerator after 8 days of curing and washed in cold water followed by an ice bath for an hour, dryed them off with paper towels.


Then did a fry test.


Was too salty for our taste, so back in the ice bath for two more hour.

Randy,
 
Loaded a full tray of apple pellets in to the amazing pellet smoker fired it up and placed it on the right bottom rack and piled the chip tray out a few inches and placed the pork bellies on the top rack Of the smoker smoker at 7:30 am. Here they are at 4 hours of the planed 12 hours.


Don't they look happy?
 
Here they are after 9 hours of smoking.

Pellets ke p going out. Don't know why?
I only have trouble with Cherry Pellets.

I would move your AMNPS up onto the end of the bottom rack, instead of sitting on top of the Water pan. 

You should get more Air Flow that way.

BTW: Question---Do you always have all your racks in? I only put the ones in that I'm using each time. Less to clean.

Bear
 
Last edited:
Can't tell what model smoker you have, but if you have a chip loader on the side, leave it pulled out a few inches to let air into the smoker to keep the AMPNS going.
 
Can't tell what model smoker you have, but if you have a chip loader on the side, leave it pulled out a few inches to let air into the smoker to keep the AMPNS going.
Yup That Too.

I pull mine out a few inches for more air & push it back in for less air.

Looks like a Generation #2.5, because it has a full width water Pan (Ruling out Gen #2), and it's Hinged Left (Ruling out Gen #1).

Bear
 
Yep it's a gen 2.5 40" the chip loader was out and still the pellets went out so I pulled it all the way out and moved the AMPNS up one level and over to the left. Problem solved. Thanks guys. I just pulled them after 12 hours they are a deep rich mohogany color I will take a picture in 2 days. They are wrapped and in the refrigerator right now.

Randy,
 
Yep it's a gen 2.5 40" the chip loader was out and still the pellets went out so I pulled it all the way out and moved the AMPNS up one level and over to the left. Problem solved. Thanks guys. I just pulled them after 12 hours they are a deep rich mohogany color I will take a picture in 2 days. They are wrapped and in the refrigerator right now.

Randy,
The left side of the bottom rack is where I originally put my AMNPS, but after a few times it was starving a little for air, so I moved it to the right end of the bottom rack, which is right above the chip dumper hole. There I found I'm better able to adjust the air flow with moving the chip dumper in & out.

Bear
 
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