Another Great Beef Belly Bacon Experiment!

[mneeley490]

...thanks to Robert, for the inspiration!

Well my butcher gal came thru for me. She got me a 14.9 lb. belly for $4.98 lb. Not too bad, as pork belly is getting close to that around here, sad to say.
(If it's allowed, I'd like to plug this family-owned and operated butcher shop, Double DD Meats in Mountlake Terrace, WA. They carry over 3,000 hot sauces, plus another 2 or 3 aisles of BBQ, mustards, and any other kind of sauce you can think of. It's run mostly by women, and yeah, they're in on the joke. )

Cut into three pieces. The one on the right had a big, bleeding vein going thru the end that I couldn't seem to completely drain, so I sliced a 1" chunk off to get rid of it. Other than that, I didn't trim it much; took off maybe 4 oz. of extra fat, and cleaned up a little trim from the middle.

This is almost 3" on the thickest side, but doesn't get any thinner than 2".

I watched some YouTube videos, and most of them used a wet brine, but I like the texture of dry brining better. Just using a standard bacon dry brine mixture for this; since it's beef, I think it'll hold up to some added CBP during the smoking process.

I think this would be okay brining for two weeks, but I may go three since it's so thick.
Back later...

 

[tbern]

Good start, will be watching!

 

[DRKsmoking]

Looks like this will be fun.
I'm in
( 3 weeks sounds good for the thickness )

David

 

[SmokinAl]

Great start Mike!
Would love to try beef bacon someday!
Al

 

[LoydB]

I'm loving all the beef belly threads that are starting to pop up, it's such an underrated cut.

 

[mneeley490]

Okay, out the cure yesterday, seasoned, and into the fridge. The pics don't do the color justice, but whereas pork is usually brown-ish after curing, this stayed red.

I changed my mind on just going the regular route with all three. Instead will be just one, with a thin coating of maple syrup (which is basically my regular). Then one with CBP, and the last will feature Hatch chile flakes. A local grocery offered this on their bacon recently when they were in season, and it was fantastic! When I saw this at Trader Joe's, I knew what I had to do.

Will be warm smoking tomorrow. Since it's beef, I'm thinking of a mix of cherry and mesquite wood.

 

[TNJAKE]

Following along and thanks for the reminder. Just pulled my beef belly out of freezer and will get in cure tomorrow

 

[mneeley490]

Nice! That appears to be a much leaner chunk than I had.

 

[TNJAKE]

Nice! That appears to be a much leaner chunk than I had.

It's certified piedmontese beef so will be slightly leaner. They pre trim these and they are labeled "bacon ready". I'll post a pic tomorrow when I get it out of the bag and cut it in half

 

[JLeonard]

Ya'll gonna make me try this out. Already looking at Home Place for beef belly.
Jim

 

[Hijack73]

I'm loving all the beef belly threads that are starting to pop up, it's such an underrated cut.

I would absolutely have to take a couple of lbs off of one if I ever got my hands on one and just try oven roasting it. Oven roasted pork belly (not cured or smoked in any way) is a delectable and rich dish that I used to splurge on (caloric wise, not price wise as it used to be cheap, wish I'd known about keto 5-6 years ago lol) back when meat wasn't something you had to mortgage. The fat on roasted pork belly is insanely good crisped up and I imagine the beef is just as rich if not richer especially if it gets as crispity crunchity as the pork does.

 

[TNJAKE]

mneeley490 how did your bacon turn out? Here's a cut shot of mine

Just got it into the cure

 

[mneeley490]

Will post some pics tonight. I like to wrap in plastic and refrigerate, to let the smoke settle into the meat for a few days, like with cheese. I'll post some of when they came out, though.
Had a little trouble keeping the AMZN tray lit yesterday, for some reason. It was about a 60/40 mix of mesquite to cherry pellets. I know cherry doesn't burn well on its own, but I've never heard that about mesquite.

 

[mneeley490]

Here they are. Oddly, the thickest piece seemed to shrink the most.

Basic maple

Black Pepper

Hatch Chile pepper flakes

I had planned on hand slicing these, but then I read that on thick beef bacon slices, the fat doesn't fry up as well as pork, and it's chewier. They recommended thin slicing, which means I'll have to figure out a way to get them to fit on my slicer.

 

[tbern]

they all look very good, great color!!

 

[TNJAKE]

Looks great. Looking forward to sliced pics. Mine will be cold smoked

 

[mneeley490]

Looks great. Looking forward to sliced pics. Mine will be cold smoked

I've tried hot smoking, and didn't care for the cooked finished product. Cold smoking, and it took way too long.
Bearcarver's warm smoking method works for me.

 

[Brokenhandle]

Have great color on those! Look forward to the sliced pics as well!

Ryan

 

[mneeley490]

Well, had things going when I made these, so I sort of tossd them in the freezer and forgot about them for a while.
I sliced them very thinly, to give it a better chance of crisping up when cooked, and so far they have turned out great. Just a hint of beefiness in the flavor to distinguish them from pork.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Well, had things going when I made these, so I sort of tossd them in the freezer and forgot about them for a while.
I sliced them very thinly, to give it a better chance of crisping up when cooked, and so far they have turned out great. Just a hint of beefiness in the flavor to distinguish them from pork.

Nice work Mike. Looks delicious.