Bacon question????

[forktender]

What is the difference between the texture of cooked hot or cold smoked bacon? Or is there a difference between the two different type's of bacons?

 

[SmokinEdge]

Honestly, in the end it’s usually all fried and texture is same.
That said, cold smoked has a deeper smoke flavor, not strong but more in depth. Hot smoked just has a lighter smoke, but if your sugar is high, it tends to burn less in the pan, making it easier to cook, for me at least.
True old school smoking is of the cold variety, for preservation. Hot smoking just gets it done faster, with a little less flavor.
I hot smoke everything. Just because of time.

 

[forktender]

I cold smoked 2 bellies for 6 hrs two days in a row with an overnight in the refrigerator. And I'm thinking about finishing off 1 of them to 130 internal temp just to see which I like best. Am I wasting my time? Should I just slice it and be done with it?

 

[daveomak]

You will enjoy the cold smoke... It's old school... How bacon was made, generally, pre 1960.... You could buy bacon in the meat market and they sliced it while you waited... More depth of flavor.. More concentrated flavor... That's how I do all my bacon...

Then I bake it on a wire rack, and sometimes swab it with maple syrup as it is finishing up...

Cold smoked is still available... There are artisan shops that sell it for around $8-10 a pound...

Brican, a meat shop owner, can't keep cold smoked in his shop.... sells out too fast....

Brican's bacon...

 

[zwiller]

@daveomak How many hours smoke you doing now?

 

[daveomak]

@daveomak How many hours smoke you doing now?

I'm smoking belly, generally, 6 hours per day (1 full tray of dust in the AMNPS) and 2 days smoking below 70 F... I've tried longer but, since going to pellet dust, I prefer the "lighter smoke" that doesn't over power the meat..
I can now taste the maple flavor from the dry brine I'm using... It's a commercial product... It does not have the the cure accelerator added to it.. I'm not interested in speeding up the curing process... I cure for 2 weeks.. Old world style of curing...
This turkey cure is one I'm trying now.... Same as the old stuff (I can't find any longer) only the nitrite is 1% in stead of the 0.86% the old stuff had... It's from Walton's... They sell it as a Turkey Brine but dry rub works just fine... You just omit the water.....
Use 9 grams per pound of belly for the rub... That returns approx. 200 Ppm nitrite, which is lawful according to the FSIS for a dry rubbed product...
7 grams per pound for approx. 156 Ppm nitrite.. You may have to add a little extra kosher salt.. which would be about 1 gram per pound...

 

[Brokenhandle]

I would suggest doing both ways. Only way you're going to know which you like best or if you notice a difference.

Ryan

 

[SmokinAl]

Dry cure & cold smoke makes the best bacon, IMHO!
Al

 

[Bearcarver]

I tried may ways:
I've done Cold smoked for 24 hours (Under 70°), and it was Good.
However I warm smoked (100° to 130°) many times for 10 to 11 hours.
In my opinion the warm smoked got better color & better flavor in the 11 hours, than the Cold Smoked got in 24 hours.
I imagine the cold smoke for days, whether continuous or in separate stages could be the best, but I never felt like spending that much time on it, when my Warm Smoked is Awesome in 11 hours.

Bear

 

[zwiller]

Thanks @daveomak. Those @brican threads are off the chart! Probably my fave of all the stuff here. Wish he was still active.

Totally agree you have try both ways and decide for yourself. I have not run warm yet. I suspect you can get very similar effects by either method but depends on duration. I think cold smoking is like 2-3x less potent than warm but as usual YMMV.

 

[SmokyMose]

I've never done "hot smoked" so I guess I really can't say about texture.
My rationale is: Why pre-cook it when it's going to be cooked somehow anyway?
I also don't have an electric smoker...
6 to 8 hours of cold smoke with a tube and pellets is enough smoke flavor for us.
Try it both ways and see what you like best :-)

 

[Winterrider]

You will enjoy the cold smoke... It's old school... How bacon was made, generally, pre 1960.... You could buy bacon in the meat market and they sliced it while you waited... More depth of flavor.. More concentrated flavor... That's how I do all my bacon...

@daveomak , your bacon looks fantastic !

 

[forktender]

It's hot outside so tomorrow afternoon I will run 1 or 2 slabs through the smoker at 170* until it reaches an internal temp of 130-135*.
The rest are ready to slice.
They have 2 days of cold smoke with hickory &pecan smoke on them .

Im looking forward to this batch of bacon.

 

[Bearcarver]

It's hot outside so tomorrow afternoon I will run 1 or 2 slabs through the smoker at 170* until it reaches an internal temp of 130-135*.
The rest are ready to slice.
They have 2 days of cold smoke with hickory &pecan smoke on them .

Im looking forward to this batch of bacon.

I've seen others intentionally stop at those temps. (130°--135°)
I never figured out why anybody would stop that close to 140°.
Stopping below 140° means you still have to cook it in some way to 140° before you eat it. However if you go just a bit more---To 140° IT, that means you don't have to heat it at all---You could eat it cold. Or better yet, you could just warm it up to your liking, instead of having to worry about burning it or cooking it more than you like, while taking it those few degrees higher to make it safe.

Just thought I'd mention,

Bear

 

[forktender]

Thanks John, my Gramp's used to always have 2 to 6 bacons hanging in his cellar at any time that you could slice and eat. The only way I will eat it is fried of trim chunks in green beans or other veggies. The 130 to 135* temp is what the recipe calls for, for whatever reason.

 

[daveomak]

Then the recipe says "to hold at that temp until desired color is obtained".....
Probably up to 12 hours...
Then the intention is to cook the bacon.....

 

[forktender]

It was too hot for me to be messing around with the smoker today. So I said screw it too the hot smoke'in test.
I had my work cut out for me with the 2 bellies that I cold smoked last week. 6-8 hours in my Drum using pecan dust in a maze and hickory pellets in a tube. After the first smoke I let it harden 2 nights uncovered in a 34* refer. On day 4 I cold smoked them again exactly like the first time. Then 4 more days uncovered in cold refer to harden even more.

Like a bonehead, I forgot to take pictures of the bellies and what they looked like before and during the process.

Today, I stayed home soaking up the AC, it was 100* outside, heck it's almost midnight and it's still 81* outside. Today I broke out my meat slicer and sliced up almost 19 lbs of bacon with at least 4-5 lbs of ends, trim and slices that had very little meat or none at all .

Speaking of slices that are pretty much all fat. What do you guys do with the stuff?
How do you use it?

Here's 13lbs plus portioned and vac sealed in to 1 1/4lb- 1 1/2lb bags. I have 2 more trays of sliced to portion, bag and seal tomorrow.

I test fried up a skillet full and I finally get it. Now I can understand why guys love this stuff as much as they do.

This batch taste 5X better than my first batch, I used Tender Quick on the first batch, and it was too salty for me, but my little brother loved it and has been pestering me to make up some more, so I did.

Thanks for all the tips, help and support, once again you guys were right, it is very easy to do. If you have a little free time and a belly handy, go for it. The dry cure took less than an hour from start to finish.

And the smoking, you can do that whenever you have some free time. I smoked mine at night because of the heat, and I don't sleep when it's hot in the house.

Once again sorry for long rambling post, sleep deprivation/desperation is a REAL BITCH!!!!!
Dan

 

[Brokenhandle]

We typically just try to divide the mostly fat pieces up among the decent slices evenly so we don't get a pack of mostly fatty pieces.

Ryan

 

[Bearcarver]

We typically just try to divide the mostly fat pieces up among the decent slices evenly so we don't get a pack of mostly fatty pieces.

Ryan

^^^That's Pretty much My Method too! ^^^

That Looks Awesome Forktender!!
Nice Job---Boy are you eating good Now!!!
Like.

Bear

 

[forktender]

I was too hot and tired to do that. I just threw the fatty prices in with the ends and trim. I guess I'll use it in soups and vegetables.

Thanks.
Dan.