First timer with bacon, one simple question.

[K9BIGDOG]

I'm sure this has been covered here at some point but I could not find the answer by searching.
I'm getting ready to hot smoke about 10lbs of belly that I've been wet curing for a couple weeks. I'll be using the Camp Chef pellet smoker and smoking at 220-225 shooting for an internal temp of 150F. The big question is...Fat Side Up? or Fat Side Down?
Thanks guys and sorry for what I'm sure is a much beaten to death subject.

 

[Braz]

I don't think it matters since you are not going to let it get to a temp that would start to render the fat.

 

[D.W.]

When I did bacon directly on the rack I did fat side up and it was great, but I don't think it matters much since your not rendering it. If you have the ability, I've found that hanging keeps it a little more cleaner.

 

[SmokinEdge]

I shoot for 145* IT because it gets less greasy. I cook fat side up, but as said above, it doesn’t matter. I do it this way because the racks get hot toward the end and renders a little bit more with fat side down. Either way your fine though.

 

[daveomak]

Why not try cold smoking below 70F ... 4-6 hours a day... 18-20 hours rest... smoke again.... Smoke at night if daytime temps are too warm....

 

[smokerjim]

Fat up or fat down I think everyone has their prefernce, do one up and one down and see what ya like better.

 

[K9BIGDOG]

Ok, so here's the update...
The bacon came out just beautiful. I smoked it fat-side up, and I think next time if I use the pellet smoker again I'll try it fat-side down. I smoked it at 220 ( the High Smoke setting on the Camp Chef) and I thought it would take only a couple hours to hit my target temp of 150. It took quite a bit longer than that and I think that possibly with the fat on top it caused the slab to go into something of a stall phase at around 125-130 degrees. I may be wrong but that's what I suspect was happening. I did wind up raising the smoker temp to 250 after a bit over 4 hours. Again, I'm guessing here so I'll try it next time with the fat closer to the heat source and see what happens.

 

[smokerjim]

Looks good from here

 

[K9BIGDOG]

So tonight we fried up a bit of the bacon for some BLT's. I gotta say it did come out really good but I have to agree with my wife (though I'll never tell her) that it's a little salty.. I did soak it in clean fresh water for about 90 minutes with a coupe water changes prior to smoking. Do you all soak the bellies to get some of the salt out? How long do you soak for?

 

[daveomak]

I'm guessing you used TQ....

 

[K9BIGDOG]

No, didn't use Tender Quick.

 

[daveomak]

May I suggest, 1.75% kosher salt, 0.25% cure#1 and 1% white sugar... That's been my recipe for the last5-6 years... Works very well.... bacon doesn't burn with the lower sugar content and I can't taste the salt.....
What recipe did you use, if I may ask.....

 

[K9BIGDOG]

I used a bag of Cabelas bacon cure, which is made for them by PS Seasonings.

 

[daveomak]

Did you weigh out 1# of cure and put it in 1.75 gallons of water ???

 

[daveomak]

Did your belly weigh 20#'s

 

[K9BIGDOG]

Yes I followed the instructions to the letter. The weight of the belly that I cured was about 10 lbs. It started as an 11.5 lb belly but I cut off about a pound and half and made burnt ends. My understanding was that the cure package was good for up to lbs of meat if using it as a wet brine cure in a gallon of water. I know that had I used it as a dry cure I would have had to measure it out based on the weight and thickness. To be clear, it wasn't bad at all, just a little salty to me. I'm just wondering if after curing would soaking it in clean water for 24 hours help with that. I'm most likely going to start using the Pop's Brine recipe from the forum here in the future, and may even try a dry cure some time if I can find a recipe/formula that gives me the measurements in pounds, ounces and/tablespoons and teaspoons. I'm a bit too cautious to try to do conversions based on percentages at this stage and my level of experience with curing meats.

 

[hondabbq]

Pops brine only here. I have used others. Pops is the best all around flavor IMHO. Never have to cold soak after curing.

 

[daveomak]

If the belly weighed less than 20#'s, the ingredients will be more concentrated.... salt, cure etc....
That's one problem with "One Size Fits All" curing techniques.....
You might think about getting a grams scale, like this..... $10...

Grams Scale

Then use cure#1, kosher salt and sugar to make your brined and cured meats...
I have directions that make stuff easy....

 

[K9BIGDOG]

Thank you! I just ordered one of those scales. would love to have a peek at some of those directions you're talking about. Especially for one and maybe two gallon batches of cure.

Joe
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