Along with my Jerk Bacon, I also made a honey bacon to appease my wife's sweet tooth when it comes to bacon.
I tared the weight of the plate and then weighed the belly.
Then I used the online cure calculator to see how much of everything I would need.
I measured out all of those ingredients, and then added in honey powder (found at my favorite spice shop) in an amount equal to the salt. This was really just an opening bid as I had never used this stuff before, but I wrote it down in my bacon-making journal for future reference.
Here is the first side all rubbed up and happy.
I used the saran wrap to flip the belly over and used the other half of the rub on the second side.
A double-layer of plastic wrap later and it was sent to the fridge.
Ten days later I unwrapped it. Interestingly, as the moisture was pulled out of the belly, it hydrated the honey powder back into a liquid.
I rinsed off the cure rub, patted it dry, and put it back into the fridge.
It spent half a day in the fridge forming its pellice along with the Jerk Bacon I was trying to make.
Here it is after 12 hours of cold smoking.
Sliced up and ready to go!
Here's the close up.
Bagged and tagged with the Jerk Bacon.
Quick overview of the specs:
Smoker: MES40 with AMNPS
Wood: Pitmaster's Choice
Temperature: 75-90 degrees, had to use a 3 large blocks of ice in plastic containers to do so
Duration: 12 hours
Final thoughts: The bacon needs to mellow a bit, but right now there isn't much sweetness. Clearly more sugar/honey is needed to make this a sweeter-styled bacon that my wife will really enjoy. Still, it's worth reviewing later and trying again! For now, I've made notes in my bacon-making journal to heavily increase the sweeteners.
I tared the weight of the plate and then weighed the belly.
Then I used the online cure calculator to see how much of everything I would need.
I measured out all of those ingredients, and then added in honey powder (found at my favorite spice shop) in an amount equal to the salt. This was really just an opening bid as I had never used this stuff before, but I wrote it down in my bacon-making journal for future reference.
Here is the first side all rubbed up and happy.
I used the saran wrap to flip the belly over and used the other half of the rub on the second side.
A double-layer of plastic wrap later and it was sent to the fridge.
Ten days later I unwrapped it. Interestingly, as the moisture was pulled out of the belly, it hydrated the honey powder back into a liquid.
I rinsed off the cure rub, patted it dry, and put it back into the fridge.
It spent half a day in the fridge forming its pellice along with the Jerk Bacon I was trying to make.
Here it is after 12 hours of cold smoking.
Sliced up and ready to go!
Here's the close up.
Bagged and tagged with the Jerk Bacon.
Quick overview of the specs:
Smoker: MES40 with AMNPS
Wood: Pitmaster's Choice
Temperature: 75-90 degrees, had to use a 3 large blocks of ice in plastic containers to do so
Duration: 12 hours
Final thoughts: The bacon needs to mellow a bit, but right now there isn't much sweetness. Clearly more sugar/honey is needed to make this a sweeter-styled bacon that my wife will really enjoy. Still, it's worth reviewing later and trying again! For now, I've made notes in my bacon-making journal to heavily increase the sweeteners.
