Bland bacon

[Skibum151]

I bought two pork bellies and followed a recipe to cure them and smoke them. I did that and sliced one of them tonight. We fried a few pieces and it had no flavor. Is there a way to save the sliced belly or the unsliced belly or hopefully both? Thanks in advance .

 

[SonnyE]

Tell us more about what you did.
I'm using Daveomak's dry brining method. Cure it in my fridge at ~38°. Turn and massage daily.
Then let it sit for 5 days naked on racks to form a good pellical. Then smoked it with 'dust' (sawdust from deconstituted Apple wood pellets) for 4 hours on two, and 6 hours for the other two slabs, hanging in my smoker.
Then let it age for 5 days open to let the smoke mellow.
Wonderful, Home Cured and Smoked Bacon. I did some Pork Belly, and some Pork Shoulder (aka: Buckboard Bacon)
My Buckboard came out too salty for my tastes. But it'll make great Bean Makin Bacon.

Maybe you need more smoke? Or maybe you didn't cure yours long enough?

 

[pc farmer]

Agree with Sonny. Need more information. Smoking it will change it allot thou

 

[Skibum151]

Here is the recipe I followed. I had two 4.5 pound bellies so I tripled the recipe and then divided it in half and poured half over each belly in 2 2 gallon Ziploc bags. I put both in the fridge for 7 days flipping every day. On the seventh day, I removed the bellies, rinsed them off and put them in fresh water for 3 hours. I then pat them dry and put them in the fridge uncovered for 24 hours. After that, I smoked them with apple wood at 190 F for about 4 hours until the internal temp was 150 F. I removed them, let them cool for a few hours, wrapped them in plastic wrap and then foil and put them in the fridge for 24 hours. Then I sliced the one up today. The other is still wrapped in the fridge. Sorry about the lack of info. Hope this helps.

 

[SonnyE]

Helps a lot Skibum.
Off hand, that sounds like a short cure, even though you gave it 7 days.
Hopefully better bacon heads will prevail here. I have a whopping 4 slabs in one curing session (2 different curing methods) under my belt.
But my slabs cured for 14 days, formed Pellical for 5 days, smoked, then aged for 5 more days in the fridge open*, before I sliced and packaged. Around 25 days.
So to me, in my limited experience, I'm thinking too short a curing time.
Curing time is when the flavor sinks into the meat.
Don't give up on it, just try the ways you will find here. These work, and taste great.

* = After smoking came the open air refrigerator aging. I didn't want to get B'd at for stinking up "her" fridge with my smoke smell. So I bought a little 4.3 Cu. Ft. fridge (No Freezer) and it is now my Curing and Beer fridge that my smoker sits on top of.
If I get a big enough dog house, I could live out there. LOL!

 

[bregent]

On the seventh day, I removed the bellies, rinsed them off and put them in fresh water for 3 hours.

That could be part of the problem. The only reason to soak is if it's too salty. That's why it's always good to test fry a slice and taste for salt before soaking. Based on your recipe, you're probably around 2% salt or just under depending on the brand of salt you used. I cure with 2% and I never have to soak. My guess is that you just removed too much salt. You can always just sprinkle some on when you're cooking to fix the problem.

7 days cure may or may not be enough time, it really depends on how thick it was. But you'd know if it wasn't cured fully when you cut into it - the center will look uncured compared to the parts closer to the surface. If it looks uniform, then it's fine.

I'd also recommend using a scale to measure salt and cure if you can.

 

[daveomak]

I agree with all of the above.... Some tweaks to your recipe...
Let me suggest you get a grams scale 0-100 grams for accuracy and repeatability...
Make a "plain" bacon so you have a ground zero as a starting point for later enhancements...
weigh out based on the weight of a belly segment...
#1 belly.... Say a 2# belly (908 grams)..
2% Kosher salt (18 grams), 1% white sugar (9 grams), 0.25% cure#1 (2.26 grams)

#2 belly...
2% Kosher salt, 1% brown sugar, 0.25% cure#1

#3 and #4 bellies..
Use one of the above and add weighed black pepper 2%, jalapeno powder 1%, garlic powder 1%... and keep notes...

Thoroughly mix the above cure/spice mixes and evenly distribute over the bellies... Place the bellies on wire racks in the refer at 36-38 deg. F... Temp is important for this process to work properly... Leave in the refer for 10-14 days, I recommend 14 days... Lightly rinse and put back in the refer for 5 days.... This 19 days step is an aging process, not unlike aged beef, to enhance flavor...
Remove the bellies and bring up to 70 ish deg. F... Have your smoker going at +/- 70 F with very light smoke, thin blue smoke...
I suggest an AMNPS with pellet dust..... https://www.amazenproducts.com/category_s/62.htm ... https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/making-dust-from-pellets.271863/.... I suggest Todd's pellets... they have very clean flavor.... https://www.amazenproducts.com/category_s/62.htm .... and I would suggest Alder, apple, Mesquite and pecan to start... purchase $50 and get free shipping... Todd has sales every month or so... I just used his 25% off coupon..
Alder is perfect for salmon... Apple and pecan are mild for most stuff including cheese... Mesquite, I use it mixed (20%) with other woods for that "What is it" flavor...
Put the bellies in the smoker for a full tray of dust, about 4 hours smoke.. Leave the bellies in the smoker over night at 70F.... smoke again with 4 hours smoke... Leave hang in the smoker overnight again at 70F... Now you can move into the house at room temp for a couple days or into the refer for a couple more days...
..pellet dust....
.
..belly in refer on a rack...
.
...32 hours of smoke over 4 days...
.
..my set up...

 

[Skibum151]

I agree with all of the above.... Some tweaks to your recipe...
Let me suggest you get a grams scale 0-100 grams for accuracy and repeatability...
Make a "plain" bacon so you have a ground zero as a starting point for later enhancements...
weigh out based on the weight of a belly segment...
#1 belly.... Say a 2# belly (908 grams)..
2% Kosher salt (18 grams), 1% white sugar (9 grams), 0.25% cure#1 (2.26 grams)

#2 belly...
2% Kosher salt, 1% brown sugar, 0.25% cure#1

#3 and #4 bellies..
Use one of the above and add weighed black pepper 2%, jalapeno powder 1%, garlic powder 1%... and keep notes...

Thoroughly mix the above cure/spice mixes and evenly distribute over the bellies... Place the bellies on wire racks in the refer at 36-38 deg. F... Temp is important for this process to work properly... Leave in the refer for 10-14 days, I recommend 14 days... Lightly rinse and put back in the refer for 5 days.... This 19 days step is an aging process, not unlike aged beef, to enhance flavor...
Remove the bellies and bring up to 70 ish deg. F... Have your smoker going at +/- 70 F with very light smoke, thin blue smoke...
I suggest an AMNPS with pellet dust..... https://www.amazenproducts.com/category_s/62.htm ... https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/making-dust-from-pellets.271863/.... I suggest Todd's pellets... they have very clean flavor.... https://www.amazenproducts.com/category_s/62.htm .... and I would suggest Alder, apple, Mesquite and pecan to start... purchase $50 and get free shipping... Todd has sales every month or so... I just used his 25% off coupon..
Alder is perfect for salmon... Apple and pecan are mild for most stuff including cheese... Mesquite, I use it mixed (20%) with other woods for that "What is it" flavor...
Put the bellies in the smoker for a full tray of dust, about 4 hours smoke.. Leave the bellies in the smoker over night at 70F.... smoke again with 4 hours smoke... Leave hang in the smoker overnight again at 70F... Now you can move into the house at room temp for a couple days or into the refer for a couple more days...
..pellet dust....
View attachment 382568.
..belly in refer on a rack...
.View attachment 382569
...32 hours of smoke over 4 days...
.View attachment 382570
..my set up...
View attachment 382571

View attachment 382572


View attachment 382574

View attachment 382575

I have a Yoder pellet smoker but it only goes down to 150 F. I also have an amazing smoker pellet tube and tray but I don't know how I'd get the temp to 70 F.

 

[Bearcarver]

I disagree with some above:
Not long enough in cure, too long in cure, soaking after curing all have to do with Salt flavor.
The flavor you're missing, I believe is "Smoke" flavor, so I would say drop the Apple Smoke & give it some Hickory Smoke.

Also, I don't care what Internal Temp you take it to, but don't be in such a hurry to get it there.
4 hours in my book isn't long enough time for a Light to Medium density smoke from a smoker.
I give my Bacon about 11 hours of Medium Smoke before it gets the color & flavor I like.
Like This:
Bacon (Extra Smoky)


Bear

 

[Skibum151]

Thank you all for the input. I'm looking forward to getting more bellies and trying out these techniques. Is there anything I can do to fix the ones I've done?

 

[bregent]

Thank you all for the input. I'm looking forward to getting more bellies and trying out these techniques. Is there anything I can do to fix the ones I've done?

Depends on what the problem is. If it's not enough smoke, you can certainly cold smoke them again. If it's not enough salt, then sprinkle salt on the slices while their cooking. I often sprinkle rub or other spices on my bacon when cooking.

 

[danbono]

Making Bacon..