Well, After about 36 hours of resting in the refrigerator, after smoking, I sliced up the two portions of bacon with different seasonings, fried up some of each, and tried it out. I feel awful....
Awful because I probably ate about 8 sliced of bacon, along with my breakfast of three scrambled eggs and strawberries.
Here are the sliced sweet and savory seasoned belly...
And here is a picture of the sliced "classic" seasoning that I did...
Here, I'm frying up some of the sweet and savory version...
Observations...
The bacon is definitely leaner that the store bought bacon, just going by the excess grease in the skillet, after cooking up 20 slices or so.
The "classic" seasoned (pepper, garlic, onion), had a rich smoky flavor (I used cherry pellets) and wasn't too spicy at all. The end bits I ate were pretty spicy but even they were good.
The "sweet and savory" (dark brown sugar, maple syrup, pepper, and red pepper flakes), was definitely sweeter (but not too much), and had a little bit as well. I think I liked this the best of the two.
I forgot to weigh the two pieces, after smoking, but I'd guess at about 20% loss in weight. The classy seasoned slices weighed out over 40 oz (started with 50 oz), and the sweet and savory I froze 18 oz and cooked I'm guessing at about 12-14 oz (started with 41 oz).
Overall, I'm VERY pleased with how this came out. Next time I'll try some other seasonings, maybe a spicy blend, and another variation on the sweet and savory blend.
My store bought bacon (I've got about 8 packages), will most likely be used to bridge between batches.
Awful because I probably ate about 8 sliced of bacon, along with my breakfast of three scrambled eggs and strawberries.
Here are the sliced sweet and savory seasoned belly...
And here is a picture of the sliced "classic" seasoning that I did...
Here, I'm frying up some of the sweet and savory version...
Observations...
The bacon is definitely leaner that the store bought bacon, just going by the excess grease in the skillet, after cooking up 20 slices or so.
The "classic" seasoned (pepper, garlic, onion), had a rich smoky flavor (I used cherry pellets) and wasn't too spicy at all. The end bits I ate were pretty spicy but even they were good.
The "sweet and savory" (dark brown sugar, maple syrup, pepper, and red pepper flakes), was definitely sweeter (but not too much), and had a little bit as well. I think I liked this the best of the two.
I forgot to weigh the two pieces, after smoking, but I'd guess at about 20% loss in weight. The classy seasoned slices weighed out over 40 oz (started with 50 oz), and the sweet and savory I froze 18 oz and cooked I'm guessing at about 12-14 oz (started with 41 oz).
Overall, I'm VERY pleased with how this came out. Next time I'll try some other seasonings, maybe a spicy blend, and another variation on the sweet and savory blend.
My store bought bacon (I've got about 8 packages), will most likely be used to bridge between batches.
