4 Bacon Flavors

[twinfallsid]

My buddy brought over some parts of the hog he had butchered, four shoulder roasts and two bellies.  I hung the shoulders in the smoker at 0-dark-30 this morning, after rubbing them with black pepper and garlic salt

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• twinfallsid
• Oct 23, 2012

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• twinfallsid
• Oct 23, 2012

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A few hours later I started in on the bellies with these spice mixes:

1.- "TenderQuick") 3.5 lbs belly, 3.5 TBs TenderQuick.

2.- "Black Pepper") 3.5 lbs belly, 3.5 TBs TenderQuick, 3.5 TBs Black Pepper.

3.- "Montreal") 3.5 lbs belly, 3.5 TBs TenderQuick, 2 TBs Montreal Steak Seasoning, 1 sm. packet red pepper flakes.

4.- "Creole") 3.5 lbs belly, 3.5 TBs TenderQuick, 3TBs Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning.

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• twinfallsid
• Oct 23, 2012

To mix each of the spice combos, I put them in a coffee grinder repurposed as a spice grinder.

I put each piece in a vac-bag and now they are in the bottom of the 'fridge for the next 2 weeks.

I'll take the shoulders out of the smoker this evening, after about 12 hours at 210-215F.

 

[daveomak]

... Greg, Did you forget about us ???  We need more pictures of this bacon experiment....    And the taste tests are important also.... 

Dave

 

[twinfallsid]

Dave - The proto-bacon is in the fridge, in vac-bags for the next two weeks.  I'll have an update and more photos around November 6th.
 

 

[twinfallsid]

This morning about 5am opened up the smoker and took its temp.  It was a chilly 38F inside the box, so I left the door open for a few hours to cool it down a few more degrees.

I took the four vac-bags out of the bottom of the refrigerator, opened them up and washed them off well with cold running water.  Then put the four pieces of belly to soak in water for almost an hour and a half.  I patted them dry with paper towels, inserted the bacon hooks and hung them in the cold smoker to form the pelicle. Later today, I'll fire up the smoker get it up to 95F to 100F and smoke the belly for 8 hours or so, using 2 or 3 smokes.

..........................Salt..............................Cajun

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• twinfallsid
• Nov 7, 2012

.......................Montreal...................Black Pepper

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• twinfallsid
• Nov 7, 2012

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• twinfallsid
• Nov 7, 2012

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• twinfallsid
• Nov 7, 2012

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• twinfallsid
• Nov 7, 2012

 

[smokinhusker]

Nice! 

 

[sound1]

Looks great, I would love to be on the judges table on this one.

 

[twinfallsid]

I left the bacon hanging in the smoker last night to cool down.  Here are the pics from this morning:

Bacon04.jpg

• twinfallsid
• Nov 8, 2012

Bacon03.jpg

• twinfallsid
• Nov 8, 2012

Bacon02.jpg

• twinfallsid
• Nov 8, 2012

Bacon01.jpg

• twinfallsid
• Nov 8, 2012

I cut off a bit of each and fried them up to taste-test.  Then I wrapped each slab in plastic cling wrap and put in the bottom of the refrigerator to meld and mellow the flavors for a few days before slicing and freezing.

The taste test was good.  Each has its component flavors, but kinda salty and strongly smoked, because each was part of the outer edge of the slab.  The slab edges are best cubed small and saved for making bean pots, or other recipes where smokey bacon is needed..
 

 

[daveomak]

The smoke flavor should mellow over time.....  The salt, that can be corrected when curing...  I cured a batch at 1.7% salt and I couldn't taste it, but then I salt the $%*@ out of everything....  I'm trying 2% salt the next batch.....   I'll PM my address if you are totally unhappy with it....  I'll suffer, forcing myself to eat it....  I love eating mistakes.... And I'll pay the freight too... What a guy huh ???    Dave

 

[twinfallsid]

Thank you Dave, for your generous offer.  I think I'll somehow choke down this bacon here.

Those el-cheapo bacon hooks from Menards worked great.  I bought them online:

http://www.menards.com/main/search.html?search=Chrome+Utensil+Rack&sf_categoryHierarchy=

$2.49 each was such a deal, I bought 10 of them.

For this batch of bacon I used soaked hickory chips for the smoke.  I like hickory-smoked bacon, even though its a bit strong.  I ended up doing 4 smokes from 1pm to 9pm.  The temp was from

90F to 102F, my thermostat has about a 10-12 degree range between off and on again.

The fat did not run out at all, the bacon has that golden color and nice hickory scent.

 

[twinfallsid]

After letting the bacon slabs rest under wraps for a few days, I put it through the slicer today.  I put the pieces in the freezer for 30 minutes to make them slice easier.

I fried up a few slices of the Salt flavor.  That one was made with just TenderQuick and nothing else.  It was very good.  A classic hickory bacon, simple tasty, and not too salty.

The Montreal has a definite scent of the steak seasoning.  I kept a bag of that out of the freezer to have with eggs in the morning sometime soon.

Here are the final results:

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• twinfallsid
• Nov 12, 2012

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• twinfallsid
• Nov 12, 2012

 

[twinfallsid]

I fried up some Montreal Steak Seasoning bacon this morning.  This was the flavor/batch I was most curious about.

Recipe:

"Montreal" - 3.5 lbs belly, 3.5 TBs TenderQuick, 2 TBs Montreal Steak Seasoning, 1 sm. packet red pepper flakes.

The bacon smelled really good while frying.  I liked it, even though it as a bit too salty for me.  My GF did not like it because it was too salty for her.  We both agreed that the Montreal flavor was good, but a little too subtle.

I would change this recipe next time.  No TenderQuick.  I would use 3.5 TBs of Montreal Steak Seasoning and add the correct amount of Prague powder, or other nitrate for the preservative.  I would increase it to two packets of red pepper flakes from the pizza delivery.

Put those ingredients into the coffee grinder/spice grinder until very fine. Vac-bag and cure in the fridge, flipping daily until cured.

 

[smokinhusker]

Looks good! IMHO Montreal Steak is pretty salty on it's own.

I've experimented with a steak flavored bacon - last batch I used Weber's Chicago Steak Seasoning and A1's Black Pepper Seasoning with the cure and added some A1 Steak Sauce. It came out the best so far.

 

[driedstick]

Dang nab it that looks good.