Cold smoking bacon question

[Rick in AZ]

After cold smoking my bacon, I always refrigerate overnight uncovered, or sometimes in pink butcher paper. Watching some cold smoking bacon videos recently, I see that some do it my way and others wrap it in plastic wrap to contain the smokiness. So I'm curious what everybody else does here on SMF, and if any have experimented with wrapping and not wrapping and found that one way is preferred over the other. I even saw one guy that left it uncovered in the fridge for 5 days and it shrunk quite a bit, but he loved the results. I have a belly curing now that I will be cold smoking next week.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Personally I bag them in the fridge after smoking just because it smells up the whole fridge with smoke smell, plus I think it helps the smoke mellow through the meat better. I do the same with cheese.

As to drying a bacon slab, my preferred way of curing them is dry rub and then naked on a rack in the fridge , this dries the slab a bit and to me makes better flavor plus it fries in a pan much faster. Keep in mind that cold smoking is itself a drying step which helps in preserving the meat. So if you cure in a bag, then cold smoke, then rest in the fridge naked on a rack for a week or so you would have a fine bacon slab, but a Smokey fridge.

 

[Brokenhandle]

I leave mine on racks uncovered. But it's in garage fridge with beer ,pop, and what not. Also helps that my wife and I love that smell so it works at our house. Be warned it can transfer to other things... nothing like getting a bottle of water that the lid smells like smoked bacon !

Ryan

 

[Rick in AZ]

I leave mine on racks uncovered. But it's in garage fridge with beer ,pop, and what not. Also helps that my wife and I love that smell so it works at our house. Be warned it can transfer to other things... nothing like getting a bottle of water that the lid smells like smoked bacon !

Ryan

Ditto, I do the same thing with the garage fridge with the same contents.

 

[Astralogics]

It's been awhile since I left one uncovered, since I get yelled at for doing so lol. But from memory, I didn't really notice too big a difference from when wrapped, other than my fridge getting smokey. Maybe it tasted a little more concentrated, but again, that's just from memory.

 

[Rick in AZ]

Personally I bag them in the fridge after smoking just because it smells up the whole fridge with smoke smell, plus I think it helps the smoke mellow through the meat better. I do the same with cheese.

As to drying a bacon slab, my preferred way of curing them is dry rub and then naked on a rack in the fridge , this dries the slab a bit and to me makes better flavor plus it fries in a pan much faster. Keep in mind that cold smoking is itself a drying step which helps in preserving the meat. So if you cure in a bag, then cold smoke, then rest in the fridge naked on a rack for a week or so you would have a fine bacon slab, but a Smokey fridge.

That mellowing thing was mentioned in one of the videos I watched. Like it helped force the smoke flavor deeper into the meat.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Time extended in curing meats is generally a flavor gain. Cure, smoke, and resting. All important.

 

[Fueling Around]

I have a garage fridge/freezer up north. I bag everything after I noticed the smoke gets into the freezer compartment. Granted everything is mostly vac sealed, but my wife's nose notices it and comments.

 

[indaswamp]

One tip I learned recently....I use one of my temperature controllers with a hot plate inside the smokehouse when cold smoking. The AMZN smoke tube filled with pellet dust and packed tight will only raise the temp. in the smokehouse about 6-7*F above ambient temperature. Remember that it is the delta between flew temp. and ambient temp. that determines how good your draft is...so to clear stale cold smoke, I like the ambient temp. in the 40's, then set the controller around 55*F. This gives me more rise through the smokehouse to clear stale smoke. Have done it with ambient down to 26*F and it works great. Very little creosote on the bacon when finished cold smoking 60+hours......

 

[indaswamp]

Another tip based on the above post.....ice inside the smokehouse will not work when it is hot in the summer.....UNLESS you use a forced air system to remove stale smoke. When the flew temp. is lower than the ambient temp, you have negative draft....i.e., no rise.....therefore, the smoke just sits there in the smoker and condenses creosote on your food......

 

[Rick in AZ]

I let it dry out for a few days uncovered in the garage fridge, then ran it through the slicer. There is definitely a difference in giving it more time to dry out a bit, it is my best slab yet.
So thank you all for your feedback, I appreciate it. Smoking Meat Forums is an awesome group!

 

[SmokinEdge]

I let it dry out for a few days uncovered in the garage fridge, then ran it through the slicer. There is definitely a difference in giving it more time to dry out a bit, it is my best slab yet.
So thank you all for your feedback, I appreciate it. Smoking Meat Forums is an awesome group!

View attachment 715204

Really nice work.

 

[Astralogics]

Beautiful slab there Rick, awesome job!

 

[indaswamp]

Yes indeed! Beautiful slab!!