Cold Smoked Wild Hog Bacon

[indaswamp]

As some of you know, I was recently given a big 200+ # wild sow. She was very fat for a wild one and the belly was 1 1/2" thick. The fat was very clean- no musty off smell at all so I decided to go ahead and make some belly bacon with it. I got 10.5# of belly off that hog and would have got more but I split the shoulder primal between the 5-6 rib for the coppa to dry cure. Probably should have trimmed the belly off first....oh well. Anyways, dry brine for 15 days, pulled it off the brine and hung in the fridge for 2 days to dry for a pellicle. 4 nights of cold smoke with Dave's pellet dust, 10-12 hours of cold smoke a night with apple wood dust. Took it out of the smokehouse this morning and hung in the fridge for 12 hours, then wrapped in kraft paper. Will hold in the fridge 4-5 days and will slice after Christmas.

Plan on bringing some to the deer camp for our New Years weekend doe round up with the kids.

 

[indaswamp]

The meat on this sow is very dark. I made a stew recently and it has a very good flavor. Can't wait to try this bacon!

 

[SmokinEdge]

Looks excellent! Tasty for sure.

 

[bauchjw]

Dang, that looks pretty cool! A lot of work into it, cant wait to see/hear how it tastes!

 

[indaswamp]

Looks excellent! Tasty for sure.

Thanks SmokinEdge, color is nice, and it smells fantastic! I do like applewood smoke on bacon!

Dang, that looks pretty cool! A lot of work into it, cant wait to see/hear how it tastes!

Not really a lot of work, just a lot of steps with a lot of waiting in between. I cold smoke at night because the RH% is much higher. This keeps the surface of the bacon from drying out while cold smoking. I had to wait an extra 3 days to cold smoke becasue temps. were in the 80's. A front rolled through at it was going to get down into the lower 40's/upper 30's at night so perfect timing. Forecast to be back in the 80's day time by Christmas day though...LOL!!

 

[tallbm]

Looks good man, I'm sure it will be amazing :)

 

[SmokinEdge]

I do like applewood smoke on bacon!

Me too. Used apple for years, But then I started smoking my scratch hams with pecan wood, liked that so much I started doing the bacons also. Worst thing for me though, there isn’t a pecan tree within 800 miles of me. Lol but it’s now my preferred wood.

 

[indaswamp]

I do love pecan as well. Stuff is everywhere around here...hell, it should be the state tree for smoking meats! LOL!! Pecan is a member of the hickory trees...very close, but a little milder.

 

[Smoking Allowed]

I can hardly wait for the fried up pics...

 

[indaswamp]

Slicing the bacon tonight...
From this:

To this:

Can get a full slice with ease on my new slicer I bought for salumi.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Looks excellent!
What’s the slicer? I fold my bacon in half like a “C” Then slice 12” or so slices on my 10” big bite slicer.

 

[indaswamp]

It's the same slicer as the LEM big bite, but a different name on it....KWS

 

[indaswamp]

First 20 or so slices, I had the slab turned the wrong way...fried some up and the slice was with the grain. does not matter on domestic, but on wild hog it was tough and chewy. Turned the slab 90* and sliced against the grain....fried some up and it was much much better. Now I know....

 

[indaswamp]

Folding into a "C" or a "U" works very well....I figured that out while I was slicing before I read your post......

I am heading out of town for my annual birthday hunting trip this week. When I return, I have 62# of Canadian bacon to smoke.

 

[Cajun Smokes]

Nice slab Inda. Color isn't as dark as I thought it would be after a 4 day smoke lol, learned something new. Never had wild bacon but it has to be very good. I have always enjoyed wild pork.

 

[indaswamp]

Thanks Cajun Smokes!

Color isn't as dark as I thought it would be after a 4 day smoke lol, learned something new.

Cold smoking is done with a very small ember, and very, very thin blue smoke. You can barely see smoke coming out of the stack and if it is windy-forget it....you'd have to open the smoker.

 

[DougE]

The bacon looks delicious, inda.

 

[Brokenhandle]

Sure does look delicious! Good luck on your birthday hunt!

Ryan