I refrigerate during the day then cold smoke at evening/night. 12 hours fringe/12 hours smoke repeat as many cycles as you like. I've gone up to 8 with good results.
Preparation for smoking
Wash the bacon in warm water, hang in the smokehouse with door open and allow to dry. This may take two or three days. The meat will not take smoke until the surface is dry. If the meat is smoked when still damp, the smoke will be smudgy and the meat will not taste as good. When the bacon is dry, apply the smoke and allow about 36 to 48 hours to complete the smoking. Add sawdust or wood as needed during the smoking.
55*~70*???? That sound right? I'm thinking of hanging the slabs in the smokehouse in the morning and let then sit all day, then roll smoke to them @ night.
daveomak , is this how you do it?
Thanks for the reply Dave and explaining your process. This producer moves the slabs to a warm room after equalization with temps. "above 75*" to dry for 3 days. I am wondering if I could do this by hanging in my smokehouse?.....
Pretty much the way I do it.. 2 weeks with the dry cure... rinse and dry.. 5-7 days on a wire rack in the refer... Warm the bellies to 70-75 and add smoke for a few days.... then back in the refer on a wire rack for however long it takes... at least 5 days...
I'll add this here as well...great info:
https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/c...077cc76/Bacon_and_Food_Safety.pdf?MOD=AJPERES
I did not know that the max. ppm was different for dry cured vs. brine/pump cured bacon:
"The USDA is responsible for monitoring the proper use of nitrite by meat processors. While sodium nitrite cannot exceed 200 ppm going into dry-cured bacon, sodium nitrite cannot exceed 120 ppm for both pumped and immer-sion-cured bacon."
"Dry-cured slab bacon - 3 weeks without refrigeration"
Isn't applying cure and then putting into a Ziploc bag considered immersion curing, not dry cure? But all the recipes on this board for "dry curing" call for putting the pork belly in bags during the curing process. I guess I'm confused.
“Immersion-cured” bacon is placed in a brine solution containing salt, nitrite,
and flavoring material or in a container with salt, nitrite, and flavoring mate-
rial for 2 to 3 days. Sugar, honey, or maple syrup may be added to the brine.
The meat must then be left to hang until it is cured.
is the practice of applying cure then putting the meat into a bag a combination of traditional dry cure and immersion curing? so then is 200ppm nitrite too much, since the usda literature says 120ppm is the maximum for immersion curing?
Bag curing without additional liquid, IMO, is not considered immersion curing.. I call it "dry brining" because the liquid is part of the original hunk of meat.. it allows for all the additions to remain with the meat...
However, when I make bacon, I add the ingredients to the surface of the meat and place it on a wire rack.. very little moisture and ingredients are lost due to the dehydration of the meat from the refer... the meat dry ages while it cures... the flavor intensifies making for great bacon flavor... Any amount of ingredient loss is insignificant... a loss of 10% of the ingredients still has the belly around 140 ish Ppm, if 156 was the initial target concentration... plenty of nitrite for a safe product... especially since the USDA notes 200 Ppm is the maximum allowed... all is good..
Again, thanks for posting Dave. Much appreciated.If you cold smoke at <~70F, just get the slabs to 70+ so they don't collect condensate...
So just to be clear....you do not put your bacon in a bag while curing...you allow the moisture to drain off the meat onto a pan.However, when I make bacon, I add the ingredients to the surface of the meat and place it on a wire rack.. very little moisture and ingredients are lost due to the dehydration of the meat from the refer... the meat dry ages while it cures... the flavor intensifies making for great bacon flavor... Any amount of ingredient loss is insignificant... a loss of 10% of the ingredients still has the belly around 140 ish Ppm, if 156 was the initial target concentration... plenty of nitrite for a safe product... especially since the USDA notes 200 Ppm is the maximum allowed... all is good..