First time bacon questions (Update with cured PIC Question)

[jpsciacca]

Ok, I have finally taken the plunge and decided to smoke some bacon for the holidays. After much lurking and research I settled on a dry rub and cold smoke. I bought a whole belly from a butcher I hadn't dealt with because mine was out. It came rolled up, and I couldnt really inspect it for thickness. Lesson learned. Its a bit thinner than I would have liked. After poorly removing the skin, I mixed my cure according to http://diggingdogfarm.com/page2.html. For the 4.3 lb pieces it gave me a mixture of 4.87g cure #1, 35g salt, 19.5g sugar. It didn't seem like alot, and some recipes call for a lot more salt and sugar. Am I in the right area of rub? How long of a cure in the fridge, I was planning on 7days, then bringing it out of the loose vac wrap for 2 days in the fridge, then smoke. Days are cold (40F) so my AMNPS in the WSM should be good without making it too warm. Then smoke is just for color/flavor. I was thinking 4-6 hours. Some people say 12+. Just wondering if someone wants to weigh in.

 

[SmokinAl]

Your cure calculations are right on. I let mine cure for 14 days, then rinse & air dry in the fridge for 4 days, cold smoke for 10-12 hours, then air dry in the fridge for another 4 days. Then freeze for a couple of hours & slice it up. I also add about 1/8 cup each of granulated garlic, granulated onion, & black pepper to the cure mix.
Al

 

[GaryHibbert]

I'll be doing mine in the spring. I plan to smoke it for 8 to 10 hours, let it rest for a couple of days and smoke again for 8 to 10 hours.
Gary

 

[jpsciacca]

So based on replies, I think I’m going to go 10-11 days on the cure. That will let me do 3 days in the fridge before the smoke.
Am I way off on the smoke time? Plan to use a blend of bourbon and hickory pellets and apple dust. About a 25/25/50 mix.
Thanks for the help. I will post more pick when I’m done with curing and start to amoke

 

[chef jimmyj]

4-6 hours of smoke will be relatively light. Smoke 6 hours and test fry a slice. If you are happy, you are done. If not throw the bacon back in for a few hours and test again. You read the old guys like Al and myself smoking 12 hours because we can wrap it up in one day and, after trial and error, found it gives the intensity we like. There are guys that smoke 8 hours on then rest overnight for 2-3 days. There was a member that smoked 24/7 to get what he wanted. There is no One Way to smoke Bacon...JJ

 

[jpsciacca]

I appreciate the help. After 10 days in the cure, one had good uniform color throughout. The other seems less bright red except for a circle in the center. More of a greyish red color than the deep red of the first slab. Should I be concerned at all? Plan on drying in a minifridge for 3 days and then smoking this weekend. Would love to give out samples for xmas without getting anyone sick.

 

[chef jimmyj]

No need to worry. Surface color is meaningless as you Know it is cured. The rest will equalize the center...JJ

 

[PerazziMx14]

Please remove

 

[chef jimmyj]

If your going to cold smoke do it over several days if you can. Cold smoke for 6 to 8 hour then allow to rest in the fridge for at least 12 hours then repeat.

Just curious as to why? I know many break up the smoke sessions for convenience and their type of smoker. But I can find no scientific reason to break thinks up. The commercial butcher I worked with as a Chef, smoked 500 pounds in a shot, 48 hours straight. Of course he had a 10' X 20' walk-in smoker with a separate computer controlled smoke generator and environment...JJ

 

[tropics]

I just did one for 3 hrs. maybe a few minutes more


You have to go by your taste
Mine will be sliced tomorrow 2 day rest
Richie

 

[Bearcarver]

Everybody's taste is different:
That said, I have found it takes at least 20 hours of Cold Smoking to get the same Smoke flavor as it takes me to get in 10 hours of warm smoking (Between 100° and 130° smoker Temp) in my MES. And No Fat loss, as long as I stay away from 140° smoker temp or higher.

Bear

 

[jpsciacca]

Thanks for your help. I was pretty concerned that the smoke was too much, I smoked for 8 hours with the AMPS (lit the second end after 6 hours) and did a test fry. But after 4 more days in fridge the smoke was where i wanted to be. Had a friend with a commercial slicer rip it into pieces for me...but some were thicker than others (she ignored the freeze first suggestion).
Seems like many pieces were tough. Any pieces over 1/4 in were chewy almost like bacon jerky. flavor was great. wondering what I could have done, possibly slice wrong way?

 

[Bearcarver]

Thanks for your help. I was pretty concerned that the smoke was too much, I smoked for 8 hours with the AMPS (lit the second end after 6 hours) and did a test fry. But after 4 more days in fridge the smoke was where i wanted to be. Had a friend with a commercial slicer rip it into pieces for me...but some were thicker than others (she ignored the freeze first suggestion).
Seems like many pieces were tough. Any pieces over 1/4 in were chewy almost like bacon jerky. flavor was great. wondering what I could have done, possibly slice wrong way?

I have sliced in every direction possible, and never noticed a difference.
I would say slicing it 1/4" or thicker is gonna make it tougher than the normal Thin sliced Bacon.
Also Home Smoked Real Bacon has more substance than the chemical injected store bought crap.
And I only ever lit both ends of my AMNPS one time, and it was putting out way too heavy a smoke. I put one end out after a short while.

Bear