Back on the 21st of Feb I dry cured a whole bunch of buckboard and belly bacon. I think I had 30-40 lbs of it curing. Thursday morning I started up the Yoder and within minutes I got the rising line of thin blue smoke. The neighbors were going to love or hate me.
I took it all out of the garage fridge as the Yoder was warming up. Onto the counter it went to assess what I had.
I decided to cut it open and put it directly in the smoker, no secondary drying phase in the fridge.
I set it to 160 and left it for 2 hours while I went on my daily 6 mile hike in the hills. I knew the Yoder would take good care of it all.
When I came back the belly bacon was almost at 140 so I waited a few more minutes and then pulled it when it crossed the mark. The color was incredible. I had just enough of my 50/50 KnottyWood plum and Lumberjack cherry left for the 2 hour smoke. I refilled the bin with Cookin’Pellets Competition blend and pressed on. But I replaced the belly bacon I pulled out to wrap with some chicken breasts and a couple giant yams. You can also see the corned beef on the bottom left I used to make that Irish pizza.
The buckboard bacon took a little bit longer to hit 140 but the color got even more intense. I took it off to cool and to wrap for a trip back to the garage fridge to mellow. The color looked so crazy it almost looked fake. I promise I did not enhance these photos one bit. It’s straight off my phone.
I’ll be slicing it all up soon and will post a couple more shots of that when it happens. In addition to the color the smell was intoxicating and even my wife commented on how it made the whole house smell incredible.
I took it all out of the garage fridge as the Yoder was warming up. Onto the counter it went to assess what I had.
I decided to cut it open and put it directly in the smoker, no secondary drying phase in the fridge.
I set it to 160 and left it for 2 hours while I went on my daily 6 mile hike in the hills. I knew the Yoder would take good care of it all.
When I came back the belly bacon was almost at 140 so I waited a few more minutes and then pulled it when it crossed the mark. The color was incredible. I had just enough of my 50/50 KnottyWood plum and Lumberjack cherry left for the 2 hour smoke. I refilled the bin with Cookin’Pellets Competition blend and pressed on. But I replaced the belly bacon I pulled out to wrap with some chicken breasts and a couple giant yams. You can also see the corned beef on the bottom left I used to make that Irish pizza.
The buckboard bacon took a little bit longer to hit 140 but the color got even more intense. I took it off to cool and to wrap for a trip back to the garage fridge to mellow. The color looked so crazy it almost looked fake. I promise I did not enhance these photos one bit. It’s straight off my phone.
I’ll be slicing it all up soon and will post a couple more shots of that when it happens. In addition to the color the smell was intoxicating and even my wife commented on how it made the whole house smell incredible.
Waiting for a pick with sliced bacon...
