Cold smoked bacon...

[daveomak]

...UPDATE... 11/6... getting there... .......done after 32 hours of smoke.....
........... ....... ...

...done after 32 hours of smoke..



Rubbed down ..............................................Water added .......
...

In the refer to dry and age for 5 days..


It's time !!! Divided a belly into 3rd's.. Weighed out cure, Kosher salt and white sugar for each slab... Cure#1 0.25% = 1.1 grams per pound, salt 1.75% = 8 grams per pound, sugar 1% 4 grams per pound... rubbed down the bellies and loosely vac packed with a couple TBS of water added... into the refer at ~38F for 14 days... Turned, flipped and gave a rub to the bags daily... Removed from the bags, lightly rinsed and dried... placed on wire rack and into the refer to dehydrate and let the stuff mingle in the meat... 5 days later, the meat "almost" quit losing weight.. It lost 260 grams in 5 days... 10/30 to 11/4... 30 grams the last day..

...

Now it's hanging in the smoker to warm up... At 38ish degrees meat temp, the smoker won't draw... I've got to get the meat above ambient so the smoker will draft...
Smoker is at ~70 F...

...

40% cob... 40% Alder... 20% Mesquite ..... Home made dust from pellets...

I really like the home made dust... Very thin smoke... I used it on my last ham...


I'm planning on a full tray of dust each day... Let the belly sit overnight in the smoker and burn another tray of dust... Maybe for 3 or 4 days.... Time and color will tell...

Pellicle is forming nicely on the meat.. In a few hours, I will add smoke...

Got the smoke going.... Nice very "Thin blue Smoke" ... FWIW... @tjohnson Todd is a genius for inventing the AMNS, AMNPS and AMNTS.... He surely made life easy and helped us make great smoked foods... Thank you Todd.....

bblater....

 

[SmokinAl]

Sounds like a well thought plan Dave!
Looking forward to seeing those BLT's!!
Al

 

[atomicsmoke]

Dave

Your life must be so boring. Having perfected all these methods...cooking all this great meats and knowing you will get exactly what you wanted. No surprises, no fails....boring.

That ham is popping out of the web page. Just awesome.

 

[redheelerdog]

Mornin Dave, the weather is great again for smoking!

Looking good.

 

[GaryHibbert]

Great start Dave. Looking forward to seeing the finish.
Gary

 

[zwiller]

LIKE. That is some serious artisan bacon. Just used dust on some cheese last weekend for the first time: mind blown. Whole other level... How much time are you getting per row on your DIY dust?

 

[chef jimmyj]

Great details, thanks Dave...JJ

 

[daveomak]

LIKE. That is some serious artisan bacon. Just used dust on some cheese last weekend for the first time: mind blown. Whole other level... How much time are you getting per row on your DIY dust?

I'm getting about 4 hours out of a full AMNPS...

 

[daveomak]

Well, I used 2 full trays of dust the first day.... I will weigh the tray of dust to see just how much there is....
Stay tuned... LOL ...

 

[daveomak]

OK.... Well, I just had to weigh out the dust....
DUST .............. ~80 grams for a full AMNPS.... burns ~ 4 hours.... 20 grams per hour......
PELLETS .......... ~454 grams for a full AMNPS ... burns ~ 10 hours ... 45 grams per hour......

I think, that explains the nice clean smoke on the meat... More thinner smoke... HAHAHA..... More chance to "consume" creosotes..... Mo betta flava.... It's 2:30 AM.... what did you expect.... SANITY !!!!

 

[daveomak]

Dave

Your life must be so boring. Having perfected all these methods...cooking all this great meats and knowing you will get exactly what you wanted. No surprises, no fails....boring.

That ham is popping out of the web page. Just awesome.

Well, Atomic... Like you, I experiment and use my notes, as to not screw up too bad... I do get lucky a lot of the time....

Mornin Dave, the weather is great again for smoking!

Looking good.

Perfect for cold smoking... Not so perfect for finishing up yard work... Too many leaves on the ground...

 

[ab canuck]

Dave that ham looks Beautiful!!! I will be doing bacon soon hopefully over Xmas break at the latest, Great details and I may even be trying that dust. I'll be watching the results and Yes taking notes. Somehow somewhere my notebook is gone and of course no one knows where that went or is...... I may have to transfer it to a word doc and save on my comp.

 

[daveomak]

When making dust, I just made a new batch... Wetted the pellets with hot water... stirred to break up the pellets and then dried the dust... No need to put in a blender... LESS FINES also... more better dust......
I'm going to revise the amount of pellets I turn to dust... since the AMNPS uses 80 grams per load, I'm only gonna make 1/2# at one time... 250 grams of pellets... easier to dry... takes less time in the oven at 250F... easier to handle....
That will give me 4 AMNPS loads.....

100 grams + 100 grams + 50 grams ....

 

[ddufore]

Dave. I like your method for making dust. I have a dehydrator and will use it to dry it. Plan to cold smoke some BBB in the near future.

 

[daveomak]

Dehydrator will take a loooooonnnnnnnnng time.... but it will work.....

 

[ddufore]

I’m retired so I have the time and I am in no hurry.

 

[daveomak]

 

[daveomak]

Update... Today the bacon has had 24 hours of smoke added since Sunday early morning... so, that's 8 hrs Sun., 8 hrs Mon., and 8 hrs Tue..... today.... Looks good but I'm gonna add more...
I surely do love the dust for fuel..... I'm leaving the bellies hanging in the smoker 24-7... I will leave it hang for several days when the smoke additions are done... It needs an equalizing - breathing - resting time before slicing.. It will also lose more weight, intensifying the flavor, which is good...

 

[tropics]

Update... Today the bacon has had 24 hours of smoke added since Sunday early morning... so, that's 8 hrs Sun., 8 hrs Mon., and 8 hrs Tue..... today.... Looks good but I'm gonna add more...
I surely do love the dust for fuel..... I'm leaving the bellies hanging in the smoker 24-7... I will leave it hang for several days when the smoke additions are done... It needs an equalizing - breathing - resting time before slicing.. It will also lose more weight, intensifying the flavor, which is good...
View attachment 379876

Dave very nice I like the way you did the pellets,going to dry some myself for cheese.Thanks Points
Richie

 

[browneyesvictim]

Way to go Dave! I've got another 4 slabs of bellies going now. You know I have always just burnt pellets for everything and haven't tried dust yet. Dunno why. But I think you have convinced me to smoke this batch with dust and see. Do you think dust will work the same with a "warm" smoke at ~100' to 130'? I have found I need way less pellets to take on the desired smoke at that temp, curious what the difference will be with dust.