3-Way Bacon Party

[mneeley490]

Since most of my last batch went to the wife's family for Christmas, I decided to try something new (to me.)
I usually use Pop's brine, but this time I wanted to go dry (he said, holding a glass of bourbon).
I've dry brined before, but just a basic recipe, and it was okay. This time, I bought a belly at Costco, and split it into 3 parts. They went into what I hope will be a maple bacon, a savory bacon, and a Black Forest bacon.

Unfortunately, my Foodsaver vacuum sealer crapped out after the second bag. The heating element went out, I guess, and it won't seal. Only had it about 3 years. Too late now to ask Santa for another, so I will probably be looking for a better one from Cabela's, LEM, or Northern Tool.

 

[old sarge]

I've been real happy with the LEM 1088a I got recently after my FS died. It is being phased out - no roll bag holder, 5 year warranty. Not as fancy looking as those from Weston and VacMaster and doesn't have the strong following of a VacMaster. But I like it.

 

[motocrash]

They look at you funny when you ask if they stock cure #1 o_O

 

[mneeley490]

Nice, let us know how that guinea bacon turns out.

Just got on the Foodsaver website. Supposedly this has a 5 year warranty, so we will see.

 

[motocrash]

Dang Petco

 

[SmokinAl]

I gave up on Foodsavers a while ago & moved on to a Vacmaster Pro 380, and am so happy I did.
You can seal bag after bag without it over heating, I even still double seal my bags, and still no overheating.
Looking forward to seeing how your bacon turns out!
Al

 

[crazymoon]

MN490, Too bad about the sealer,keep us posted on your CB. I too bought a vacmaster years ago because of sealer problems from other brands. Webstaurant site has good prices.

 

[ab canuck]

I'm in for this one as well. Love me some good bacon. I too bought a Vacmaster after our 2nd food saver crapped out. I went directly to Lisa on our site and couldn't be happier.

 

[mneeley490]

I'm in for this one as well. Love me some good bacon. I too bought a Vacmaster after our 2nd food saver crapped out. I went directly to Lisa on our site and couldn't be happier.

I haven't heard back from Foodsaver so far, so I'm looking around for something better. Can you provide a link?

 

[ab canuck]

Lisa B is our contact here at SMF link to her site is below, She also has monthly specials. I went right to her site called cust service to ask questions and it was Lisa. Helped me out through a few things and now I am very happy with what I have. Check it out.
https://www.vacuumsealersunlimited.com/

 

[mneeley490]

Bacon slabs came out of the bags tonight.

Into the fridge to dry for a few days. I have high hopes for the savory slab. It already smells heavenly!

 

[mneeley490]

Let the magic begin!

 

[GaryHibbert]

What did you include in the savory bacon rub??
Gary

 

[mneeley490]

What did you include in the savory bacon rub??
Gary

I followed DiggingDog's cure calculator, but lessened the sugar to 2% (the others were at 3%). In addition to the cure #1 and salt, I added 2 teaspoons each of onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper; 1 teaspoon each of ground bay leaf and mustard powder, and about 1 T. of dried thyme.

http://diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html

 

[mneeley490]

Here's a shot when they came out of the smoker, after about 13 hours. I've found that colder temperatures will lengthen the burn time of my AMNPS when it's in a mailbox mod. I lit one end at the beginning, then both ends about halfway thru the smoke, and while there was plenty of TBS, I still had about 2" of pellets left.

From left to right are Black Forest, maple, and savory.

 

[mneeley490]

So they came out of the freezer last night and went under the slicer. This morning, I vac sealed into 8 oz. portions, as there wasn't that much of each to go around.
Found a Vacmaster Pro-350 locally for a good price, so I'm looking forward to many years with it.

Here's a shot of them this morning. Each was cooked for 2 minutes in the microwave. (Yeah, I know, but I wasn't in the mood to cook each separately and clean up after each one.)

From left to right are Savory, Black Forest, and Maple.
The Black Forest was a bit different. It tasted fine, but I'm not sure it's something I would go out of my way to make again.
The Maple was still a bit disappointing. While it had a little more maple flavor than my previous experiments, it was still a bit lacking. Even after using both maple sugar in the cure and syrup in the finish.
However, the standout was the Savory. Both the wife and l liked it the best. (In fact, I got one piece, and she snagged the rest.) The lower, 2% sugar content was just right. It balanced out the salt without adding itself to the flavor component. Salt, fine ground black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, mustard powder, ground bay leaf, and thyme. It was a winning combination. This one will earn itself a whole belly next time I make up a bunch.