need some help with bacon please

[landcruzr]

So I have the bellies sitting in the fridge for the next week. and would like some info on the cold smoking process. If Im reading correctly, I want to keep temps under 100?
That shouldnt be a problem since the latest day time highs are in the teens lately..
Im using an MES..
what IT am I aiming for? and can someone give me a ball park of time it should take??
Any other info and suggestions will be appreciated as this is my first bacon
thanks
PS- my confusion is coming from reading so many threads and finding so many different answers........maybe there just isnt a set way?

 

[tallbm]

So I have the bellies sitting in the fridge for the next week. and would like some info on the cold smoking process. If Im reading correctly, I want to keep temps under 100?
That shouldnt be a problem since the latest day time highs are in the teens lately..
Im using an MES..
what IT am I aiming for? and can someone give me a ball park of time it should take??
Any other info and suggestions will be appreciated as this is my first bacon
thanks
PS- my confusion is coming from reading so many threads and finding so many different answers........maybe there just isnt a set way?

Hi there and welcome!

First thing to know is if you are using cure #1 on those bellies right now while they sit?
When cold smoking bacon, or making sausage, or smoking anything at super low heat temps for over 4 hours you should pretty much have cured the meat with the proper amounts of cure #1 and other seasonings.

If you are curing the pork bellies with cure #1 and other seasonings for the proper amount of time then you can basically cold smoke for a number of hours at a time and just need to pick an approach you think may work best for your liking and then adjust from there (more or less smoke time).

I belive Bearcarver and @daveomak have some good info on smoking cured pork bellies that you may find helpful.

Again, you need cure #1 in this mix so don't start doing any cold smoking on these pork bellies until you get that done properly or else prepare for a hospital visit or worse. Best of luck! :)

 

[landcruzr]

Yes- cure#1 is in with the seasoning

 

[Mauritius]

Hey there, I'm in your exact situation right now. I just took a belly out of the cure and am letting it dry a few days in the fridge before smoking. The wait is killer so I've been doing plenty of research on how to finish things off.

I've found that there are two main schools of thought on how to smoke bacon in these parts. Either cold smoke < 70F for a long time, usually 6-12 hours a day for several days, resting in between, so you're at least 24 hours in the smoke. Most people judge by color (or years of experience that we definitely don't have :)) to determine end times since a lot of factors can affect how long a cold smoke takes. Everyone around these parts recommend using an amaze-n pellet smoker (AMNPS) since there's no way to get smoke out of a cold electric smoker. You can put that in the bottom of the smoker, or attach it via a side box and some ducting (search for MES mailbox mod). The mailbox mod solves the problem of the AMNPS not being able to stay lit in the MES due to a lack of airflow.

The other option is to "warm" smoke the bacon around 100-130F, also using the AMNPS. Bearcarver recommends this approach as it greatly cuts down on the total time required to get a good smoke to take. The usual process is to start the bacon without smoke at 130F and let it come up to temp for an hour or two, then add smoke and decrease your temp to 120F for the bulk of the smoke, and then increase back to 130F for a couple hours to finish it off. Total time around 8-12 hours. The crucial part with this approach is to not exceed 130F, small swings will happen, but it's generally considered bad mojo to hot smoke bacon over 150F, or attempt to cook it to temperature (meaning raise the temp of the bacon to the point where it's safe to eat "raw"). You don't want to turn it into ham, or melt fat out of the meat.

I am going to try bearcarver's method first and see how it goes. I plan on 3-4 days resting before and after the smoke. I did pop's wet brine, and bearcarver uses a dry cure, so I'm combining several methods to try and figure out what works for me. That's the best advice I've seen - practice, lots and lots of delicious practice - and figure it out what works given your setup and patience level.

 

[PerazziMx14]

Please remove

 

[tallbm]

I think you guys are on the right track following any of Bear's documented bacon smoking methods.

... generally considered bad mojo to hot smoke bacon over 150F, or attempt to cook it to temperature (meaning raise the temp of the bacon to the point where it's safe to eat "raw"). You don't want to turn it into ham, or melt fat out of the meat.

Mauritius you raise some good points of caution in the quoted statement above.
After you a get a successful bacon smoke or two under the belt I would encourage you to try and do a bacon smoke where you get the temperature to 145F Internal Temp (IT).

I do this and the key is smoking the bacon the same way a person smokes sausage.
The key is to have the same tighter temp control need for smoking sausage and you will have no problems. If one cannot get sausage level temp control out of their smoker then yeah they may well have some problems.

One major benefit of taking the bacon to 145F IT is that you can eat the bacon right out of the smoker and right out of the package after storing.
The other major benefit is that when eating the bacon this way or lightly fried you actually taste the exact/different smoke flavors. When frying bacon hard or crispy you tend to lose the specific smoke flavorings and cannot distinguish between hickory vs apple, etc.

I honestly eat like 90% of my bacon without frying it when I take it to 145F IT. I basically like to think of it as Bacon Cold Cuts hahahaha. Everyone seems skeptical about it until I talk them into trying a piece and then they are amazed at the flavor of the unfried bacon cold cut :D

Anyhow just some food for thought. I think you are well on your way to great cold smoked bacon with the approach you've landed on :)

 

[Mauritius]

Bacon cold cuts! I love it. I might try that with one of my three slabs, see what the real difference is. Mostly I'm worried about texture, I want the crispy bacon, but I also don't want to spend 4 days smoking it ;)

 

[Bearcarver]

I think you guys are on the right track following any of Bear's documented bacon smoking methods.



Mauritius you raise some good points of caution in the quoted statement above.
After you a get a successful bacon smoke or two under the belt I would encourage you to try and do a bacon smoke where you get the temperature to 145F Internal Temp (IT).

I do this and the key is smoking the bacon the same way a person smokes sausage.
The key is to have the same tighter temp control need for smoking sausage and you will have no problems. If one cannot get sausage level temp control out of their smoker then yeah they may well have some problems.

One major benefit of taking the bacon to 145F IT is that you can eat the bacon right out of the smoker and right out of the package after storing.
The other major benefit is that when eating the bacon this way or lightly fried you actually taste the exact/different smoke flavors. When frying bacon hard or crispy you tend to lose the specific smoke flavorings and cannot distinguish between hickory vs apple, etc.

I honestly eat like 90% of my bacon without frying it when I take it to 145F IT. I basically like to think of it as Bacon Cold Cuts hahahaha. Everyone seems skeptical about it until I talk them into trying a piece and then they are amazed at the flavor of the unfried bacon cold cut :D

Anyhow just some food for thought. I think you are well on your way to great cold smoked bacon with the approach you've landed on :)

Tallbm makes a good point!!
I never did that with my Belly Bacon, but I always take my BBB and my CB to an IT of at least 145°.
Then I can eat it cold or just warm it up a bit without having to take it to 145° again before eating it.

I'm sure Belly Bacon is good that way too, as I believe "Pops" takes his Belly Bacon to 145° too, and if Pops does it, it must be good!!:)

Bear

 

[landcruzr]

So.....
If I follows Bears guidelines with the addition of taking it up to an IT of 145 during the last couple/three hours, it will be safe right out of the smoker?
And then I can eat it cold, warm or crispy from there on out????

 

[Mauritius]

That is correct! You smoke it at around 120-130 and then when you're satisfied with the smoke, crank it up higher and pull it when it hits 145. Then you can eat it straight out of the fridge.

Edit: by higher, we're probably talking 180ish smoker temp, but I'm not 100% on that...?

 

[tallbm]

So.....
If I follows Bears guidelines with the addition of taking it up to an IT of 145 during the last couple/three hours, it will be safe right out of the smoker?
And then I can eat it cold, warm or crispy from there on out????

In theory yes.
The problem is that I don't think you can get it up to 145F IT in the last 2-3 hours unless you really crank up the smoker temp. I would not advise this because you may very well render out all of the fat from the bacon.

It takes me roughly 12 hours at a steady 165F smoker temp to have my pork bellies reach 145F IT.

That is correct! You smoke it at around 120-130 and then when you're satisfied with the smoke, crank it up higher and pull it when it hits 145. Then you can eat it straight out of the fridge.

Edit: by higher, we're probably talking 180ish smoker temp, but I'm not 100% on that...?

I wouldn't go over 180F temp.
It takes about 6 hours for my pork bellies to hit 145F IT when I use a smoker temp of 165F.
I have smoked my fair share of wild pork sausages and I take them to 165F IT and that takes me walking up to a smoker temp of 180F and my sausages don't have an issue BUT sausage and pork bellies are two different meats so I can't tell you what a prolonged 180F would do to pork belly bacon.

I posted two of my 145F IT pork belly smokes with great detail here:
1st Ever Bacon Attempt
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t...bacon-mysteries-solved-qview-included.259287/

Attempt WithOUT Forming Pelicle
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t...n-no-pellicle-hot-smoke-results-qview.264199/


I just want to give you guys a fair warning... Once you go Bacon Cold Cuts, you never go back!!! :D

 

[landcruzr]

I don't have any issues with running them in the smoker for however long it takes to hit 145....I just want to do it right so it is bacon and not ham...
I'm thinking of going the "warm" smoke way, starting them in the 120-130 range And after the smoke session, bumping up to the 160 range till I hit the 145 mark. At least for this first batch....
So what I Will probably do is remove from fridge, rinse, soak for a couple hours, pat dry and go back into fridge overnight. Around 6am the next morning throw them in the smoker and hopefully have bacon for dessert that evening.....unless someone with experience sees a problem with that???

 

[SmokinAl]

IMHO, cold smoking ( any temp under 90 degrees ) gives the bacon a much better texture when cooking it.
Either way your going to cook the bacon before you eat it, unless you like cold bacon right out of the fridge.
Cold smoked bacon it more crispy & has a better mouth feel IMHO.
Here are a couple of examples of bacon that was cold smoked 10-12 hours.
The key is drying it before & after the smoke.
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t...n-so-i-made-bacon-steps-q-view-galore.247278/
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/berkshire-hog-belly-bacon.271069/
Hope this helps!
Al

 

[tallbm]

I don't have any issues with running them in the smoker for however long it takes to hit 145....I just want to do it right so it is bacon and not ham...
I'm thinking of going the "warm" smoke way, starting them in the 120-130 range And after the smoke session, bumping up to the 160 range till I hit the 145 mark. At least for this first batch....
So what I Will probably do is remove from fridge, rinse, soak for a couple hours, pat dry and go back into fridge overnight. Around 6am the next morning throw them in the smoker and hopefully have bacon for dessert that evening.....unless someone with experience sees a problem with that???

I just had a thought.

It is likely you will have 2 pieces of belly.
After you finish the "warm" smoke you could pull one piece right then and then take the other piece to 145F IT.
This way you have both styles to compare against :)

 

[Bearcarver]

So.....
If I follows Bears guidelines with the addition of taking it up to an IT of 145 during the last couple/three hours, it will be safe right out of the smoker?
And then I can eat it cold, warm or crispy from there on out????

Sure you can:

Just follow my "Buckboard Bacon" Step by Step with your Belly Bacon.
I believe I went from 150° for Smoke, to awhile at 170° for more smoke, and then a short time at 180° until every piece got to at least 145° Internal Temp. Easy Peasy.
However since you're doing Belly Bacon, Substitute those first few hours at 130° instead of 150°, and then move to 170° like I did on that BBB.

It's ALL in this Thread:
Buckboard Bacon (Step by Step)


And BTW: I'll match the texture & flavor of my "Warm Smoked" Bacon (100° to 130°) against any Cold smoked bacon around.


Bear

 

[Mauritius]

Has anyone finished bacon in a sous vide? Maybe I can keep it cold/warm smoked and bring it up to temp in the water bath?

 

[landcruzr]

Ok- well it looks like next Thursday the temps will be a little more cooperative. Its been a little chilly here in the North East.
But that will give me 9 days of curing, and a slightly warmer day to do the bacon...
I think I'll even throw some smoked Mac & Cheese on for dinner while Im out there
Thanks for all the info and suggestions- will keep you posted how it comes out!

 

[landcruzr]

So today I pulled the meat from the fridge and rinsed- and did the fry test.....
VERY HAPPY so far with the flavor...and to continue building my base of knowledge, I have a couple questions...
1) When I cut the test piece from each slab, there was a small section of pink in the very center....is that ok? Im guessing its where the cure didnt quite reach???
2)how long should I go naked in the fridge before smoking? :p
Its all unwrapped and sitting in the fridge now

 

[Bearcarver]

So today I pulled the meat from the fridge and rinsed- and did the fry test.....
VERY HAPPY so far with the flavor...and to continue building my base of knowledge, I have a couple questions...
1) When I cut the test piece from each slab, there was a small section of pink in the very center....is that ok? Im guessing its where the cure didnt quite reach???
2)how long should I go naked in the fridge before smoking? :p
Its all unwrapped and sitting in the fridge now

#1 That Pink in the center means the cure got all the way to the center. If that small spot in the center was Gray-Brown, that would mean "Not cured to center".

#2 That's your choice. I Smoke mine a day after removing from the cure. Then after smoking I wait about 48 hours before slicing. I never noticed longer being better.

Bear

 

[landcruzr]

Thanks Bear!!