First batch of bacon! (And some bonus cheese)

[SunnyDC]

Putting the A-Maze-N maze to use on the pork belly I've had curing for a bit. Also, some cheese. Including part of the 25+ pounds (yes!) of Butterkäse and two pretty mozz balls that my daughter gave me (I highly recommend raising offspring to become cheesemongers).

We are four hours in... I would normally have pulled the cheese earlier I think, but it is *really* cold. Gonna take an experimental slice at the end of this hour to see what's that what about the cheese.

EDIT 1: Pulled off the cheese. Tasted a few, and there's definitely smoke flavor. Vac packed it all up to age for a few weeks. Got sharp cheddar, colby-jack, the butterkäse, mozzarella, pepper jack, and boursin.

EDIT 2: Bacon's now been in for almost 8 hours. A-Maze-N Maze just started to run out, so we added another line or so of pellets to give us another couple, though it's all looking pretty good!

Onward!

XO Sunny

 

[gmc2003]

Looking good Sunny, a match made in heaven - Bacon and cheese. Can't wait to hear about the results

Point for sure
Chris

 

[smokin peachey]

Looks good Sunny. Is that a new offset or were you able to fix your damaged one?

 

[GATOR240]

Looks good. You won't be buying your bacon anymore! I just started making my own in early February and am on my third belly.

 

[SmokinAl]

Wow!
Looks like your set for a while!!
You have some nice thick bellies there!
Everything looks great!
Al

 

[SunnyDC]

Looks good Sunny. Is that a new offset or were you able to fix your damaged one?

My neighbor banged it out for us. It doesn't seal up real well now, but we grabbed a welding blanket from Harbor Freight that we can drape over it, and hopefully that will help hold it to temperature. Didn't need to worry about that with the cold smoke, but we will try it out today when I stick a couple of butts on there!

 

[SunnyDC]

Looking good Sunny, a match made in heaven - Bacon and cheese. Can't wait to hear about the results

Point for sure
Chris

Thanks! It's going to be hard to wait on that cheese!

 

[SunnyDC]

Looks good. You won't be buying your bacon anymore! I just started making my own in early February and am on my third belly.

I don't imagine much time will go by before I'm prepping another one!

Wow!
Looks like your set for a while!!
You have some nice thick bellies there!
Everything looks great!
Al

Thanks! I thought these were pretty nice looking when I bought them. They're looking even better, now!