First Cold Smoked Bacon

[xray]

Got to try my hand at cold smoking bacon for the first time. I got a new slicer for Christmas, so I was out of excuses. Once again many thanks to the knowledgeable members here at SMF that make this possible. I read over posts by daveomak disco and dirtsailor2003 for guidance. Thank you again guys, it is very much appreciated.

Two bellies were weighed for the proper amount of Cure#1, salt and sugar using diggingdogfarms cure calculator.


Bellies were dry cured for 14 days. I flipped and massaged the bellies each day. After the two weeks, I rinsed the outside off, dried off with paper towels and added black pepper, onion and garlic powder to one and brown sugar, onion and garlic powder to another.

The bellies were placed uncovered on a wire rack in the fridge for two days. Then they were smoked for 7 hours with a mixture of Hickory and Maple. My highest temperature in the smoke chamber was 80F. I used my a-maze-n tube to generate the smoke.

Here they are after 7 hours. They went back in the fridge overnight for a second smoke session the next day.

The second day, I smoked for approximately 6 hours. My highest recorded chamber temp was 89F. So in total, these were smoked for 13 hours split between 2 days.

Next, the pork bellies were placed back in the fridge for 3 days until it was time to slice. Boy these came out awesome!!!! I need to make more ASAP! It's a bummer that I only did 5lbs, but I wanted to test the waters before buying a larger amount of meat.

Some sliced pics. Definitely a good meat to fat ratio on these slices!

I had a small sampling, I got a late start this morning so I only made a few pieces of bacon (mostly the irregular slices) and some toast. I cubed up the bacon ends for future meals. I'll add some to beans and I really want to make the pasta carbonara ala indaswamp

Also, I used some of the leftover bacon grease to finish coating a CI pan. My mom dropped a rusty one off that she wanted me to fix up for her. Did about 6 coats of seasoning and then wiped with some bacon grease and into the oven.

Sanded down to bare metal.

Here it is ready to go. Once she starts cooking on it and taking care of it, it will darken more.

Thanks for looking,

Joe

 

[TNJAKE]

Very nice bacon. Meaty too. I'm gonna give this a try. What's the max temp for cold smoking bacon? We are running out of cool days here

 

[Murray]

I’ve inadvertently let mine get to 100F for a short time, other than deeper than normal rack marks I didn’t notice any difference in taste or texture.

 

[bill ace 350]

Looks great!

I dry cure and use Pops Brine.

Pops Brine gives Excellent results too!

 

[xray]

Very nice bacon. Meaty too. I'm gonna give this a try. What's the max temp for cold smoking bacon? We are running out of cool days here

Thanks Jake, I appreciate it. I wouldn't want to smoke this past 95-100F because I would worry about the fat starting to render.

If it gets much hotter than that, I would just hot smoke it and take the bacon to a safe internal temperature of 145F. I want to try this method too in the Spring. This batch I made needs to be cooked before consuming.

But yeah, I don't have many cool days left here in PA, especially with the mild winter we had, so I'm going to do another batch soon. It's getting to the point where my smoker hits 100F in ambient temperatures just being outside in the sun.

Definitely give it a go if you can, there is no comparison to store bought.

 

[xray]

Looks great!

I dry cure and use Pops Brine.

Pops Brine gives Excellent results too!

Thanks Bill! I've used Pops Brine to make Canadian Bacon with good results. I read that the dry cure method gives a crispier product that's why I tried the dry cure. I definitely have to give the wet brine a go.

 

[smokerjim]

that stuff looks great Joe, I use pop's brine the most, I do have some loins curing using bearcarvers method (dry brine) , i'll have the results next week.

 

[gary s]

Taking Orders !!! Looks Fantastic Nice Job

Gary

 

[Bearcarver]

Looks Perfect from Here, Joe!!
Nice Job!
Like.
Now you're set, and you can always make more!!

Bear

 

[Sowsage]

Joe, thats some good looking bacon! I need to do some before the weather breaks. Hard for me to find bellies that are nice like the ones you have. We didnt have hogs to butcher this year so I'm gonna have to figure something out.

 

[Inkbirdbbq]

Looks real tasty!!

 

[jcam222]

Man that is picture perfect premium bacon!! Those bellies are very meaty!! I’m going to have to try cold smoking mine sooner or later. Congrats on the ride!

 

[bworthy]

Outstanding!

 

[daveomak]

I Like the intense bacon flavor you get from the dry cure method... Also the bacon doesn't absorb water..
Here's what Marianski says about cold smoking...

Cold smoke and penetration
To match these values we have to apply cold smoke that falls more or less in the same temperature range < 72° F, 22° C. It is a known fact that smoke possesses antibacterial properties and smoking meats was one of the earliest preservation methods. Prolonged cold smoking is the most effective of all smoking methods as it thoroughly penetrates meat.

Marianski, Stanley. Home Production of Quality Meats and Sausages (Kindle Locations 9144-9147). Bookmagic LLC. Kindle Edition.

 

[fullborebbq]

Awesome looking bacon. You must have a really nice slicer. My 10" has trouble with the size of a whole pork belly.

 

[fished]

That's a real meaty looking bacon. I've got two slabs curing now, one will get smoked tomorrow and the other next weekend. Mine are not nearly that meaty, but will still eat good!

 

[sawhorseray]

Wow, you did a beautiful job and got some great color on those bellys, Like! I just hot-smoked a batch so I'll have to wait 9-10 months to give cold-smoking a shot. RAY

 

[xray]

that stuff looks great Joe, I use pop's brine the most, I do have some loins curing using bearcarvers method (dry brine) , i'll have the results next week.

Thanks Jim! The TQ method with pork loins is some good stuff. I’ve done that before. Post the results when you finish it.

Taking Orders !!! Looks Fantastic Nice Job

Gary

Thanks Gary! I don’t see this lasting long.

Looks Perfect from Here, Joe!!
Nice Job!
Like.
Now you're set, and you can always make more!!

Bear

Thanks John! I was really happy with how it came out. I need to make more soon.

 

[tx smoker]

Damn Joe!! I've made a lot of bacon and seen tons of bacon made by other people but I gotta tell you, that's about the best looking bacon I've ever seen!! It is beautiful!! I've always smoked mine at low temp for 8 hours or so but you have me thinking cold smoking may be the way to go. Excellent job my friend.

Robert

 

[xray]

Joe, thats some good looking bacon! I need to do some before the weather breaks. Hard for me to find bellies that are nice like the ones you have. We didnt have hogs to butcher this year so I'm gonna have to figure something out.

Thanks Travis! These bellies came as is, skin removed and about 2.5lbs a piece. So I grabbed two of them and took a shot. I’m used to seeing everyone buy the full belly and cut it. I’ll have to go back for more.

Looks real tasty!!

Thank you!

Man that is picture perfect premium bacon!! Those bellies are very meaty!! I’m going to have to try cold smoking mine sooner or later. Congrats on the ride!

Thanks Jeff! They didn’t look like much when I bought them. They were frozen lifeless blocks. But they came out really good, much better than store bought. Seems like some bacon is all fat these days and just falls apart when peeling them out of the package.

Outstanding!

Thanks!