Got A Little Bacon Going (A Few Pics)

[tx smoker]

While I was reading the post by O Omnivore Tracy managed to sneak into the office. When she saw the pile of bacon all cut up, she "informed" me that we were down to 8 packs of bacon in the freezer. That's perilously low for us and a bit ironic. For years Tracy would not eat bacon except on BLT's. If we went out for breakfast and her meal came with bacon, she gave it to me. Well, that all changed when I started making bacon Disco style and it has become one of her favorite breakfast foods. I've not made any recently for a couple reasons. First is that last time I made some, it was in excess of 30#. 3 bellies, half maple and brown sugar, the other half pepper crusted. 2nd reason is that since I started making bacon I've also started making several other things: dried beef, buckboard bacon, Canadian (Back) bacon, etc. so our breakfast meats are more diversified now. Fast forward to an hour ago. I was having a PM chat with Steve H talking about how we both grind and make our own burgers with chuck roast. One of my favorite burgers is made with 2# chuck, 1# homemade pepper crusted bacon, and 4 to 6 ounces of high temp cheddar cheese. Well,, it just so happened that I had about 22# of bacon on the smoker that had been on since early this morning. It looks gorgeous so thought I'd share....and maybe get Steve making pepper bacon :-)

Maple and brown sugar

Close up. The "juice" you see is the maple syrup. It's still thin because this just came off the smoker. It'll set up as it cools

Pepper crusted....and I'm not kidding. Double doses of a heavy coating of black pepper

Close up

Thanks for looking. Time for a margarita and some frolicking in the pool.
Robert

 

[Steve H]

While I was reading the post by O Omnivore Tracy managed to sneak into the office. When she saw the pile of bacon all cut up, she "informed" me that we were down to 8 packs of bacon in the freezer. That's perilously low for us and a bit ironic. For years Tracy would not eat bacon except on BLT's. If we went out for breakfast and her meal came with bacon, she gave it to me. Well, that all changed when I started making bacon Disco style and it has become one of her favorite breakfast foods. I've not made any recently for a couple reasons. First is that last time I made some, it was in excess of 30#. 3 bellies, half maple and brown sugar, the other half pepper crusted. 2nd reason is that since I started making bacon I've also started making several other things: dried beef, buckboard bacon, Canadian (Back) bacon, etc. so our breakfast meats are more diversified now. Fast forward to an hour ago. I was having a PM chat with Steve H talking about how we both grind and make our own burgers with chuck roast. One of my favorite burgers is made with 2# chuck, 1# homemade pepper crusted bacon, and 4 to 6 ounces of high temp cheddar cheese. Well,, it just so happened that I had about 22# of bacon on the smoker that had been on since early this morning. It looks gorgeous so thought I'd share....and maybe get Steve making pepper bacon :-)

Maple and brown sugar
View attachment 405916

Close up. The "juice" you see is the maple syrup. It's still thin because this just came off the smoker. It'll set up as it cools
View attachment 405917

Pepper crusted....and I'm not kidding. Double doses of a heavy coating of black pepper
View attachment 405918

Close up
View attachment 405919

Thanks for looking. Time for a margarita and some frolicking in the pool.
Robert

Ha! You won! I just need to find some belly first!

 

[chilerelleno]

@everyone
Damn you people, I already have two full size fridge/freezers, a microfridge and an extra large chest freezer.
And y'all are driving me towards adding a walk-in cold storage onto the house.

If I ever win the Lotto and build another house, it'll have a walk-in cold storage.

 

[Omnivore]

Holy cow that looks soooooo good! I'm dying to try some with maple.
You are killing me with this margarita and pool business. It's a rainy Oregon day and we're installing new toilets in our 103 year old house. Can we please trade places for the day!?!?

 

[chilerelleno]

Holy cow that looks soooooo good! I'm dying to try some with maple.
You are killing me with this margarita and pool business. It's a rainy Oregon day and we're installing new toilets in our 103 year old house. Can we please trade places for the day!?!?

 

[tx smoker]

Holy cow that looks soooooo good! I'm dying to try some with maple.
You are killing me with this margarita and pool business. It's a rainy Oregon day and we're installing new toilets in our 103 year old house. Can we please trade places for the day!?!?

Thank you VERY much Omni. Please remember that you're the one that got this started No need to trade places though. We have plenty of room and Texas is a BIG place. Being that I have no desire to go to a rainy place like Oregon, the only other option is for you to come here. Please be forewarned though, we had an Arctic Polar vortex blow through last night. Temps plummeted to a bone chilling 98 degrees today. That's what the Weather channel says but Tracy said 101. I tend to believe her but can only publicly post what I can validate. We did have a little bit of a breeze and a break from the sun once in a while as a cloud blew across and blocked our sunshine.

Rain? What's that??
Robert

 

[pc farmer]

Looks good keep the pics coming. I pulled bacon and hams off the smoker today

 

[SmokinAl]

Looks fantastic!
Al

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

Bacon looks great! I'm down to about 3-5 pounds left myself. I need to get over to Costco and grab a couple more bellies ASAP thanks for the reminder.

John

 

[tx smoker]

Bacon looks great! I'm down to about 3-5 pounds left myself. I need to get over to Costco and grab a couple more bellies ASAP thanks for the reminder.

You better get it in gear John!! I'll send Tracy over there to yell at you

She can yell pretty loud,
Robert

 

[SmokinVOLfan]

You better get it in gear John!! I'll send Tracy over there to yell at you

She can yell pretty loud,
Robert

Lol my wife already has that one covered but thanks for the offer!

 

[tx smoker]

Well, here it is all sliced up. Man, about wore out the slicer and my arm

One pan maple & brown sugar, one pan pepper crusted, and one pan of "leftovers" that will get chopped into crumbles for soups, salads, stuffed taters, etc...

Close up of the maple and brown sugar

Close up of the pepper crusted

Last but not least, the "leftovers". We love these as much as we love the sliced stuff

Just guessing I netted about 19# of sliced and 3# of stuff for crumbles. These bellies were really thick and I got some enormous slices off of them. Very happy with this batch!! What's kinda odd is that I have a nice stainless steel commercial grade slicer that Tracy approved the purchase of when she fell in love with the bacon. My slices don't look any better than what O Omnivore did by hand, and I bet it didn't take her almost an hour to clean the knife like it takes me to clean the slicer. Very impressed with her diligence, determination, and knife skills, that's for sure!!

There's no such thing as leftover bacon,
Robert

 

[tx smoker]

That was not an offer. It was a threat of extreme verbal violence The women stick together and she'd be there to support your wife in a hurry.

All too familiar with the verbal onslaughts,
Robert

 

[Omnivore]

Thank you VERY much Omni. Please remember that you're the one that got this started No need to trade places though. We have plenty of room and Texas is a BIG place. Being that I have no desire to go to a rainy place like Oregon, the only other option is for you to come here. Please be forewarned though, we had an Arctic Polar vortex blow through last night. Temps plummeted to a bone chilling 98 degrees today. That's what the Weather channel says but Tracy said 101. I tend to believe her but can only publicly post what I can validate. We did have a little bit of a breeze and a break from the sun once in a while as a cloud blew across and blocked our sunshine.

Rain? What's that??
Robert

We have family in Houston so I'm gonna hold you to that! We'll bring some coolers to take some of that bacon off your hands :)

Well, here it is all sliced up. Man, about wore out the slicer and my arm

One pan maple & brown sugar, one pan pepper crusted, and one pan of "leftovers" that will get chopped into crumbles for soups, salads, stuffed taters, etc...
View attachment 406041

Close up of the maple and brown sugar
View attachment 406043

Close up of the pepper crusted
View attachment 406044

Last but not least, the "leftovers". We love these as much as we love the sliced stuff
View attachment 406045

Just guessing I netted about 19# of sliced and 3# of stuff for crumbles. These bellies were really thick and I got some enormous slices off of them. Very happy with this batch!! What's kinda odd is that I have a nice stainless steel commercial grade slicer that Tracy approved the purchase of when she fell in love with the bacon. My slices don't look any better than what O Omnivore did by hand, and I bet it didn't take her almost an hour to clean the knife like it takes me to clean the slicer. Very impressed with her diligence, determination, and knife skills, that's for sure!!

There's no such thing as leftover bacon,
Robert

You are too kind! Can you imagine slicing 22# by hand?! I'm going slicer shopping if I ever make that much bacon at a time!
P.s. - if you like clams, use some of those bacon ends for bucatini a la clams casino. Make sure to have lots of crusty bread and wine at the ready!

 

[tx smoker]

You are too kind! Can you imagine slicing 22# by hand?! I'm going slicer shopping if I ever make that much bacon at a time!

Just telling it like it is. You really did do a fantastic job. Heck, you got a ride on the carousel for it. That should tell you something. Insofar as the slicer goes, you'll find a LOT more uses for one than just slicing bacon. I actually have two of them...the big one and a small $85 dollar slicer I got from Amazon. The small one is much easier to clean and it gets used for everything from slicing tomatoes to sausage. You'll find that having one is a Godsend.

P.s. - if you like clams, use some of those bacon ends for bucatini a la clams casino. Make sure to have lots of crusty bread and wine at the ready!

I love clams and that sounds great to me. Tracy would love all of it (especially the wine) but she doesn't do seafood unfortunately. That's the kind of stuff I have to do when she goes out of town on a business trip...and believe me I take full advantage of it!!

Thinking Omni may have found a new home here
Robert

 

[tx smoker]

Well, dinner last night was a no-brainer. With all the bacon sliced up in the fridge, I figured I'd make BLT's. Tracy agreed since the whole house already smelled like heavenly bacon. Worst case, it's one less vac seal bag I'll have to make today

Got a skillet full of the pepper crusted bacon going

Bacon all done

Start building the sammie. Start with bread and cheddar cheese

Pile on the bacon!!

Add the maters

Lettuce and a nice smear of mayo (and my feet. I have a way of doing that)

Plated with some home brined cucumber spears and tater chips

This was a pretty hefty BLT and of course nothing is better than using your homemade bacon.

Off to start making vac seal bags,
Robert

 

[kawboy]

Looks good, just sliced up eleven pounds last night while watching the hockey game. BLTs are in my future.

 

[pigbark]

Looks great.. this is on my list to make soon..

 

[Smokin' in AZ]

Wow Robert that bacon looks fantastic.

LIKE LIKE

Don't know if I am up to that yet. but would like to give it a go....maybe this winter when I am back in the valley and have a bigger kitchen to make a mess in.

John

 

[Bearcarver]

OMG---That all looks Outstanding!!
It just doesn't get any better!
I see the only place you lost is "When You eat Breakfast, you don't get Tracy's Bacon any more". But it looks like you got plenty on hand for you both!!
Nice Job, Robert,
Like.

Bear