First time bacon

[Cabo]

I've had this 7 lb belly in pops brine for 14 days. Planning to "warm" smoke tomorrow. This is my first one. Any suggestions? I also cut off an end piece for burnt ends. Yum.

 

[tallbm]

I always suggest people hot smoke to an IT of 145F at least once in their life. This way you can eat on it as you slice it and if you don't want to fry it up you can eat it right out of the pack while in the fridge hahaha.

I tell people "this is bacon cold cuts" and they eat it up like crazy even though its just bacon cooked to safe IT and if I told em it was bacon they would think it was raw hahaha.
They usually attempt to eat the whole pack once they try it.

 

[Cabo]

Ok, thanks.

 

[tallbm]

and "hot smoke" i mean you raise the temp up like doing sausage not like super hot smoking temp like cooking normal bbq. I think I take my smoker temp to no no higher than 180F when doing my bacon this way.
ALSO another added bonus. I did an experiment and you CAN totally taste the differences in smoke flavor when you eat the bacon this way or if you fry it soft.

When you hard/crispy cook or fry bacon I found I lose the differences in smoke flavor and it all tastes basically like the same smoke flavor which a lot of people report. The hard cooking process seems to obliterate the flavor differences and leave only the general smoke flavors behind.

So another great reason to try this and taste the difference :)

 

[Cabo]

Ok, it's in the smoker. Can't get the temp lower than about 190, so we'll see what happens.
Thanks again

 

[Cabo]