First Bacon Attempt wIth BB

[AngleAway]

No worries. It’s just oxidation. This happens in the curing process and is not a problem. Once cooked the color will be uniform. Carry on.

Excellent, thank you sir!

 

[DRKsmoking]

Rolling along great. into the smoker and waiting . going to be great

David

 

[AngleAway]

So, the smoke is done. Struggled with my dads MES to get any smoke production at 165, but did end up squealing out smoke and I’m happy with the color. Tried a few slices got off the smoker and it seems mostly like ham, and I’ll definitely be backing the salt down next time. We’ll see how it develops in the fridge. No matter what I have learned a good bit. I ended up bumping temp to 185 so I could hit 145 internal. Not much fat rendering, but this definitely seems to be more akin to ham than bacon on the hot tester pieces.

I’m considering that the Mes temp probe may have been significantly off. This MES not being mine, it’s untested and I’m not at home so I don’t have a thermapen or any other temp device to cross check.

Overall it’s great tasting pork. Not a bad starting point! I’ll update in a day or two after I slice for vacuum sealing.

Oh, and a couple shots of my dads newly acquired restomod Chevy truck, and his eager assistants that have been with me through every moment of the cook, hoping for a crumb.

 

[DRKsmoking]

Love the looks of your BBB, and I bet you will love the flavor after the rest.

Truck and pups just beautiful

David

 

[DougE]

Good looking bacon! Nice color, too. Bacon straight off the smoker like does taste like ham because it basically is fatty ham. Fry a little up and it will taste like bacon.

 

[tbern]

beautiful looking bacon with the color!! one nice looking truck with the 2 nice helpers laying by it!! thanks for the great pictures!

 

[SmokinEdge]

Those are purdy. Nice work. The rest for a couple days in the fridge will balance the flavor a lot, enjoy.

 

[JC in GB]

Looks good. The waste cure I encountered dry brining is why I adapted my process to the 10% cure method. In this method, you add 10% of the meat weight in water and mix a brine for the total weight of meat and water. This method has worked well for me. As far as I know, it is also used in commercial processing. Injecting a 10% brine into pork bellies before going to the vacuum tumbler.

Hope you found this useful.

JC

 

[bill1]

I knew this was an old thread when I saw pork under a dollar a pound. Can't even find chicken for that any more.

 

[CZN]

Looks good. The waste cure I encountered dry brining is why I adapted my process to the 10% cure method. In this method, you add 10% of the meat weight in water and mix a brine for the total weight of meat and water. This method has worked well for me. As far as I know, it is also used in commercial processing. Injecting a 10% brine into pork bellies before going to the vacuum tumbler.

Hope you found this useful.

JC

Hi JC,

Just saw your comment about the 10% water method. After weighing the appropriate amount of cure for water and meat, do you just mix all the cure ingredients together, add the water, and add all that into your brine bag? Yesterday I encountered the problem of the cure getting too sloppy and sticking to my cutting board and gloves like crazy, so looking for an easier and more efficient method of getting the meat evenly coated without the mess. Cheers!

 

[JC in GB]

Hi JC,

Just saw your comment about the 10% water method. After weighing the appropriate amount of cure for water and meat, do you just mix all the cure ingredients together, add the water, and add all that into your brine bag? Yesterday I encountered the problem of the cure getting too sloppy and sticking to my cutting board and gloves like crazy, so looking for an easier and more efficient method of getting the meat evenly coated without the mess. Cheers!

What I generally do is measure out all the ingredients and mix them in a Pyrex measuring cup in the following order mixing after each addition:

1) Water - RO filtered (10% meat weight)
2) Curing salt
3) Salt
4) Sugar

Make sure to add the water weight to the weight of the meat for the proper cure strength.

You don't need to get all ingredients completely dissolved but they need to make it into your curing bag.

Once the meat and brine is in the bag, I evac most of the air then seal it. Then into the fridge to cure.

This method has worked well for me every time I have used it.

Wishing you success.

JC

 

[Cajun Smokes]

Looks good. The waste cure I encountered dry brining is why I adapted my process to the 10% cure method. In this method, you add 10% of the meat weight in water and mix a brine for the total weight of meat and water. This method has worked well for me. As far as I know, it is also used in commercial processing. Injecting a 10% brine into pork bellies before going to the vacuum tumbler.

Hope you found this useful.

JC

I have done this method several times as well. At the end of 14 days, most of the brine was absorbed into the BB. It certainly is a easy method to work with.

 

[Coach JoeQB]

I just prepped a whole belly today. I read somewhere it's easiest to place a sheet of parchment paper to catch all the cure. I rubbed the belly with maple syrup, then the cure. I used a light coat of brown sugar and black pepper. Folded up the paper then vac sealed. Usually I let it go 7 days in the vac seal bags.
I will post the results.

Joe

 

[Cajun Smokes]

I just prepped a whole belly today. I read somewhere it's easiest to place a sheet of parchment paper to catch all the cure. I rubbed the belly with maple syrup, then the cure. I used a light coat of brown sugar and black pepper. Folded up the paper then vac sealed. Usually I let it go 7 days in the vac seal bags.
I will post the results.

Joe

Looks nice. Does the maple flavor penetrate and still be present when cooked?

 

[Coach JoeQB]

Yes, the maple flavor is there as a light note. Using the maple syrup allows the cure to really stay on the belly. After 7 days, I wash it well and dry over night in the fridge. I plan on cold smoking for 4 hours then hot smoke to 150.

Joe

 

[Cajun Smokes]

Yes, the maple flavor is there as a light note. Using the maple syrup allows the cure to really stay on the belly. After 7 days, I wash it well and dry over night in the fridge. I plan on cold smoking for 4 hours then hot smoke to 150.

Joe

Thanks Coach

 

[Coach JoeQB]

Cured and washed, I will smoke tomorrow. I really liked using the sawdust in the tube. Clean smoke, and gave the sausage great color.
Using the parchment was so much easier to get even distribution of the cure.

Joe

 

[Coach JoeQB]

Smoked and ready for a sous vide bath.

 

[Cajun Smokes]

View attachment 683319Smoked and ready for a sous vide bath.

Looks delicious. Gonna be some fine bacon

 

[Coach JoeQB]

Cajun,

This recipe works really well. I love using the sawdust in the tube. I get great color and it's so clean. There's almost no soot.