Fully cooked bacon

[pushok2018]

About a couple of weeks ago I was trying to find some bacon (cooked) in my freezer but realized that I have zero of it.... Not too good... I decided to make some: drove for 40 minutes to closest asian supermarket and grubbed around 20 # of pork belly. After I came back home I made enough of pop's brine. After brine was cooled enough ( room temperature) I placed the brine in the fridge till tomorrow. Next morning I cut bacon pieces in half to make size more suitable for me and placed them in two small buckets filled with brine. Left them in the brine for 13 days in the fridge... After 13 days I discard the brine, pat dry every piece of bacon with paper towel and back in the fridge till next day to dry. Yesterday I prepare my smoker, hanged all pieces of bacon in the smoker and set initial temp at 130F for one hour just to dry bacon some more.. After one hour I places A-MAZE tube filled with oak pellets in the smoker and set temp at 145 for 5 hours. I set temp to 150F for last hour, totaling amount of time to 6 hours not counting first hour of drying at 130F. I am sorry I don't have pick for that process.... In 7 hours I shut down my smoker, collected all bacon, vac packed every piece and all went to Sous Vide bath for 2,5 hours with the temp set to 150F. After 2,5 hours everything went to ice cold bath till it completely cooled down and then in the fridge till this morning. Before I transfered everything in the freezer I had to try some... :-) and.... it was soooo good! Very soft, nice smoke flavor.Very happy with the result. I use this kind of bacon as a cold cut....

 

[chopsaw]

Nice work on that . Looks fantastic .

 

[thirdeye]

Never heard of a sous vide finish on hot smoked bacon.... just curious, what you think is the main advantage?

 

[pushok2018]

Nice work on that . Looks fantastic .

Thank you, chopsaw! I appreciate your like.

Never heard of a sous vide finish on hot smoked bacon.... just curious, what you think is the main advantage?

Well... I can't answer your question because when I tried to smoke and fully cook my first bacon it went to stall and I was forced to sous vide it in order to complete the process. Saying that, I don't know how different bacon will be if you smoke/cook it in the smoker versus sous vide. But... I really like the finished product after using SV in the process!

 

[chopsaw]

I really like the finished product after using SV in the process!

That's all you need . I'm in for trying it that way .

 

[forktender]

"Last week" I was trying to find some bacon (cooked) in my freezer but realized that I have zero of it.... Not too good... I decided to make some: drove for 40 minutes to closest asian supermarket and grubbed around 20 # of pork belly. After I came back home I made enough of pop's brine. After brine was cooled enough ( room temperature). "Next I placed the brine in the fridge till tomorrow morning" I cut bacon pieces in half to make size more suitable for me and placed them in two small buckets filled with brine. Left them in the brine for 13 days in the fridge..."After 13 days"I discard the brine, pat dry every piece of bacon with paper towel and back in the fridge till next day to dry. Yesterday I prepare my smoker, hanged all pieces of bacon in the smoker and set initial temp at 130F for one hour just to dry bacon some more.. After one hour I places A-MAZE tube filled with oak pellets in the smoker and set temp at 145 for 5 hours. I set temp to 150F for last hour, totaling amount of time to 6 hours not counting first hour of drying at 130F. I am sorry I don't have pick for that process.... In 7 hours I shut down my smoker, collected all bacon, vac packed every piece and all went to Sous Vide bath for 2,5 hours with the temp set to 150F. After 2,5 hours everything went to ice cold bath till it completely cooled down and then in the fridge till this morning. Before I transfered everything in the freezer I had to try some... :-) and.... it was soooo good! Very soft, nice smoke flavor.Very happy with the result. I use this kind of bacon as a cold cut....

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Wait a minute, how do you brine it in the fridge for 13 days in only 6 days time? I love your timescale that would only make me 18 yrs old.

 

[sawhorseray]

Looks good Push, nice piece of work, Like! Maybe the sous vide gives it a little softer texture, I never heard of anyone doing that. RAY

 

[pushok2018]

how do you brine it in the fridge for 13 days in only 6 days time?

gorktender, that's right - I did brined it in the fridge for 13 days. Not sure what you meant.... Did I make a typo in my initial post or my wording wasn't correct? Doesn't look like this... If you can point me out to that I would appreciate that....

 

[pushok2018]

That's all you need

Exactly!

I'm in for trying it that way .

I would really like to hear from you if you try this method....

 

[pushok2018]

Looks good Push, nice piece of work, Like! Maybe the sous vide gives it a little softer texture

Thank you, Ray! I was thinking the same - maybe a little softer texture. Unfortunately I can't compare it with the product finished in the smoker.... Thank you for the like! I appreciate that.

 

[forktender]

Last week, plus one day in the fridge doesn't equal 13 days.

 

[pushok2018]

Oooops... Now I got it. Nice catch, forktender - I appreciate that. I just edited my post. I have an excuse though: I am working from home for last 6 month, rarely coming out of my house - especially for last 4 month so.... this 6 month was like a blink of an eye. Every day feels the same, whatever you done two weeks ago feels like it was yesterday and vice versa.... Thanks again!

 

[chopsaw]

. Nice catch, forktender

It's that new expanded view . He sees it all now . Lol .

 

[pushok2018]

It's that new expanded view . He sees it all now

This is nice one!