First try at Bacon

[troy peters]

This was my first attempt at bacon. I used Pop's brine for 14 days.

When I did the fry test I liked it so much I did 2 more fry tests.

I then put it in my basement with a fan on it for 24 hours.

Put it in the Bradley for 4 hours with hickory at a temp of 150 degrees.

And here is the final product cooling. I am gonna wrap it Saran Wrap after it cools and put it in the fridge for a couple day before slicing it.

I have to thank my buddy Goliath on here for the pointers and for getting my appetite going by giving me some of his homemade bacon.



Troy

 

[so ms smoker]

150 seems a little high. but it does look good!

  Mike

 

[goliath]

if you guys met Troy you would know why he took it to 150....
he doesnt have time for a frying pan lots of the time .... just wants to eat it raw ....  HA HA HA

some of the ends of his fingers is already chewed off ...  :0)

nice lookin stuff buddy !!!!!!

 

[bigwheel]

Looks mighty tasty. Great job. I do that brining stuff in double Glad non deodorized tall kitchen trash bags with a knot tied in the top. Try that sometime.

 

[daveomak]

Troy, evening..... Nice do on the bacon..... Excellent choice using food grade bags for the curing step..... Thumbs Up ....Thumbs Up ...


Dave

 

[Rafter H BBQ]

Looks great, nice job !! Thumbs Up

 

[foamheart]

Mmmmm...... Bacon! Looks good, I do love smoking bacon.

 

[marauder]

did someone say Bacon? looks like something i should try .. why the 2 week brine ?

 

[foamheart]

 
did someone say Bacon? looks like something i should try .. why the 2 week brine ?

Have to cure bacon, either a dry rub cure or a brine cure.

There is two excellent tutorials here. Pops which is a brine and BearCarvers which is a rub.

Here is what I understand, max heat allowable is approx. 140 degrees. The warmer the bacon the better the smoke holds on, but you don't want to "Cook" it or render the fat. So from what I have seen some do cold smoke with a smoke generator the entire smoke. Some of the more seasoned veterans do extended smokes gradually increasing the temp from 100 to approx. 140 carefully watching to not render the bacon. Some small amounts of weight loss are generally given to loss of water from curing. Less than 5% seems acceptable.

Cold smoking can but doesn't require a cooling medium like ice. More normally its achieved by just using a smoke generator with no additional heat from the smoker.

If you still have questions and don't we all I would suggest you read either:

Bearcarvers Tutorial

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/108099/bacon-extra-smoky

Craigs Tutorial (Pops Brine)

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/124885/bacon-made-the-easy-way

These guys are ahead of the curve on makin bacon.

Hope it helps.