25 LBS. of Belly Bacon W/Qview

[txbigred]

All this talk about bacon I figured I needed to make some. I bought 2 skinless bellies from Super H Mart, it's a Korean grocery store, they've got stuff in there I never even heard of,...including Durian fruit ( that stinky fruit).

On the counter in the cyrovac:


In the meat lug with the Morton's sugar cure & brown sugar:


After 10 days, washed and soaked for 1 hour and into the smoke house:



After drying for 1-2 hours at 110F, I started the smoke using Hickory sawdust. My smoker is in my garage, and I have it vented out the side:


After about 14 hours at 135F, they were at 128F internally:



After a overnight rest in the fridge, I took them out to slice:


Cut in half to fit on my slicer:




Started to slice some, and did a fry test, Man-O Man is it good!!:


What I got from 1/2 a belly:


Hope you enjoyed my Qview as much as I'm going to enjoy this bacon

Dave

 

[mybad]

I can smell and taste it from here...looks outstanding!

 

[smokeguy]

You've got me drooling all over the keyboard. Great looking bacon!

 

[solaryellow]

That looks fantastic!

 

[the dude abides]

Man that looks great.

 

[got14u]

man I wish i could get pork belly here. I need to check on another butcher from another town. My local butcher here has terrible customer service and won't sell me a belly without slicing it..lol...he just tells me "that's how we do it". I still can't figure out how he stays in bussiness. oh well.. Nice bacon it looks great.

 

[warthog]

Ahh Bacon natures perfect food!

 

[treegje]

wish i lived over there

 

[chefrob]

that looks great!!!!!!!!!

 

[pineywoods]

That looks awesome nice job

 

[smoke_chef]

First of all... Awesome!!

Second.. what kind of smoker is that? It's looks like a monster! A really cool... awesome monster but a monster none the less. I love how you have it indoors but vented. Have I said "awesome" yet?

Third... I'm sure this is a dumb question.. but your call it Belly Bacon... Is there another kind? I guess it could be Canadian bacon? I don't know??

Any way... Awesome!!

 

[txbigred]

I called it belly bacon because a lot of people on here make buckboard bacon out of a pork butt.

Thanks for all of the kind words from everyone!!

DAve

 

[chefrob]

great idea....i've been scrounging around the used rest. supply for simmilar set up.

 

[morkdach]

good looken stuff i gots to do some belly bacon.
i do lots of buckboard cause of my low fat diet

 

[bman62526]

Damn! Fine looking bacon there, the real deal...

A couple questions for you, if you don't mind. What's the unit price on those pork bellies, and considering you started w/ a gross weight of 25# - what was the final yield in lbs. of bacon strips?

Thanks!

That looks great...my dad and his oldest brother are both WAY into good bacon, but I know damn well neither of them have ever made it...
I would love to learn how to do that myself someday, and then share with them of course!

 

[mballi3011]

Man thats some great looking bacon there Dave and that set up is for mass producing and bunch of good eats ther too.

 

[txbigred]

Well, the price was pretty high, I called and they told me $1.89 lb, when I got there (30 mile drive) they were $2.59, but they were good bellies. I didn't weigh what they were when done, should have been pretty close to green weight, as it was pretty low temps, and I didn't loose any fat. I'm sure it lost some water though.

Thanks!

Got the neighbors over having BLT's right now

 

[pineywoods]

That is an awesome looking smoker.

 

[pineywoods]

Your right that is an awesome smoker

As for the bacon that would be made from a pork belly where Canadian Bacon is usually made from a Pork Loin and Buckboard Bacon is usally made from a Pork Butt at least thats what I understand I think

Then again some of us use a buckboard bacon cure on our pork bellies but its still made from a Pork Belly

 

[blackened]

Looks awesome!