Already-sliced bacon?

[pland01]

All the threads I’ve read so far are for pork belly. I have bacon that came from my processor already sliced. It’s supposedly already cured but it doesn’t look or taste like it when cooked so I’ve just brined it in Pop’s brine for 24 hours to be sure. I want to smoke it.

Biggest question is how? What would you do to smoke bacon that’s already sliced?

Secondary to that is: what would you do to the bacon to prep it? This will be my first bacon smoking. I’ve always liked a little brown sugar and “applewood smoked” store bacon. Now that it’s definitely cured, can I do anything with brown sugar or am I going to be stuck just smoking it this time?

 

[SmokinEdge]

Already sliced and cured bacon? I’ll pass.

 

[SmokinEdge]

You should never re-cure meat. When in doubt, find out. You are traveling down a path that never should have been followed.

 

[olaf]

Stack the strips up then tie the strips together with a string and smoke it. First test fry a piece to check for salt content. I did this for a girl at work when she bought sliced belly rather than bacon, it turned out ok not great but better than what she had. Hopefully your not curing the meat twice.

 

[pland01]

You should never re-cure meat. When in doubt, find out. You are traveling down a path that never should have been followed.

Oops. Am I going to die?

 

[pland01]

Stack the strips up then tie the strips together with a string and smoke it. First test fry a piece to check for salt content. I did this for a girl at work when she bought sliced belly rather than bacon, it turned out ok not great but better than what she had. Hopefully your not curing the meat twice.

Yeah... hopefully... what am I facing if I have?

 

[Nodak21]

A full day of sitting on the John.. err Jim

 

[pland01]

A full day of sitting on the John.. err Jim

Sounds less than awesome. What causes this?

 

[SmokinEdge]

Oops. Am I going to die?

I would doubt that, but this is not the way to go about playing with cured meats.

From now on, order your cure meat cuts fresh, no cure. I’ll help you, or others, cure your own bacon and ham. We have an incredible ham recipe here.

 

[pland01]

I would doubt that, but this is not the way to go about playing with cured meats.

From now on, order your cure meat cuts fresh, no cure. I’ll help you, or others, cure your own bacon and ham. We have an incredible ham recipe here.

Thanks. Definitely should’ve asked here first. The farmer says his processor cures it and actually won’t sell it uncured. I assumed they just missed it this time since it cooks up like pork, not like ham. Still quite new to this. I’ve just brined it in Pop’s...

Will soaking it in water overnightdo anything to help me or have I done what I’ve done and it just is what it is at this point? I mean, I recognize I can’t undo what I’ve done but clearly there’s concern here over me using this meat and I don’t want to waste it.

If I’m smoking this (or ham steaks or whatever else) just for the smoke flavor with the intent to freeze it and cook it later, what’s your suggestion for temp and duration in an electric smoker?

 

[olaf]

If they said it was cured I would just take the loss and get rid of it. When you say it didn't look or taste like bacon did it look and taste like fried fatty pork? It would not have been pink if not cured. Soaking it will not remove any cure you may be at double the amount allowed.

 

[olaf]

.

 

[pland01]

If they said it was cured I would just take the loss and get rid of it. When you say it didn't look or taste like bacon did it look and taste like fried fatty pork? It would not have been pink if not cured. Soaking it will not remove any cure you may be at double the amount allowed.

It looked and tasted like the one “ham” steaks I cooked before I cured the rest of those. Those definitely were not cured before. Wasn’t pink, didn’t taste “hammy”. I’m going to see if I can get in touch with the processor and find out what they did to it.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Thanks. Definitely should’ve asked here first. The farmer says his processor cures it and actually won’t sell it uncured. I assumed they just missed it this time since it cooks up like pork, not like ham. Still quite new to this. I’ve just brined it in Pop’s...

Will soaking it in water overnightdo anything to help me or have I done what I’ve done and it just is what it is at this point? I mean, I recognize I can’t undo what I’ve done but clearly there’s concern here over me using this meat and I don’t want to waste it.

If I’m smoking this (or ham steaks or whatever else) just for the smoke flavor with the intent to freeze it and cook it later, what’s your suggestion for temp and duration in an electric smoker?

We can make this work. Trouble is going to be drying the individual pieces of bacon first, then we can put them together as a whole piece to smoke, but THEY MUST BE DRY for the smoking part. Maybe use some wire racks to lay out the slices to dry. Then we can bundle them for a smoke.

Dont worry about the extra cure at this point. The drying and smoking process will dissapate most of residual nitrite If we pull it out of cure now. It will be fine.

 

[pland01]

We can make this work. Trouble is going to be drying the individual pieces of bacon first, then we can put them together as a whole piece to smoke, but THEY MUST BE DRY for the smoking part. Maybe use some wire racks to lay out the slices to dry. Then we can bundle them for a smoke.

Dont worry about the extra cure at this point. The drying and smoking process will dissapate most of residual nitrite If we pull it out of cure now. It will be fine.

I’m sending you a pm

 

[smokin peachey]

Find a new place to purchase your meat

 

[sawhorseray]

Find a new place to purchase your meat

I couldn't agree more! It's supposed to be cured tho doesn't look or taste cured, so you really don't know if it's been cured or not. How much supposed "bacon" are we talking about here, and how much is it worth to possibly get sick? Maybe you won't get sick eating it, tho maybe you will. Not my kind of gamble, I'd just toss it, get a belly and cure it myself, smoke it and then you'll know what you've got, bacon that looks and tastes like bacon that you can have confidence in. RAY

 

[SmokinAl]

I gave up on buying bellies for bacon a couple of years ago. The prices were just getting too high, so I make buckboard bacon. Just buy a butt & slice it in half lengthwise , cure it just like a belly & we like it better than belly bacon. It’s much leaner, and has more flavor.
Al

 

[pland01]

I gave up on buying bellies for bacon a couple of years ago. The prices were just getting too high, so I make buckboard bacon. Just buy a butt & slice it in half lengthwise , cure it just like a belly & we like it better than belly bacon. It’s much leaner, and has more flavor.
Al

I bought half a hog

 

[smokin peachey]

Next time tell the butcher you want fresh hams and belly then cure it yourself. If he has a problem with that find a different butcher or do the butchering yourself