It had to be done CHICKEN BACON

[smokingd]

I had an extra Leg-thigh quater and a breast. So it was only natural that I would think to make bacon.

It is now beyond an addiction LMAO.

Here is the leg boned and cured

And the breast soaked and ready (soaked for 30mins)

Just to give you an idea how much moisture the cure pulled out

And of course I had to do a salt test

is good


OK 2 salt test had to resoak for another 30mins


I am pleased with the flavor just fried so into the TBS


It is poultry so I am doing a hot smoke and am running between 250-265. I plan to take them to 170 internal.


From the salt test it seems the dark meat has much the same texture as regular bacon but the breast has maintained it's normal texture. I can judge better when I can munch on a bigger piece

WISH ME LUCK I have no idea how this will turn out.

At 120f iternal now more to come when it hits 170F

 

[mballi3011]

Now I'm as excited as well maybe as excited as you are to see how this comes out. I wonder if this can be done without salt maybe with some progue #1 or something??? What temp are you taking it too dennis??

 

[rbranstner]

Does it actually taste like bacon when it is only in the cure for an hour or so?

 

[rbranstner]

Ok I am glad I went back and read the post again. When you said 30 minutes and then another 30 minutes you were talking about soaking it in water. Now this makes much more sense. I thought you only cured it for an hour and I couldn't see how it could be even be close to bacon tasting. So how long did you have it in the cure? I can't wait to hear how it tastes.

 

[smokingd]

I cured for 3 days using

1/4 cup cure (my cure is similar to tenderquick)
2 tbs fresh ground black pepper
1/4 cup dark brown sugar

 

[smokingd]

I took it to an internal temp off 170
It came out with a great taste and a wonderful smokey flavour (used maple)
here is the product just before i sliced it up

Still had a bit to much salt but hey it was my first time. The white meat came out a little dry and flaked apart alot like fish. I am going to dry it a bit more cause I think it will be a nice jerky type snack. The dark meat stayed really moist and had (notice I say had) a very bacon like flavour and texture. My wife really liked the dark meat.


I think the only things I will do different is soak a little longer to pull out some more of the salt. And will smoke at a much lower temp for a longer time. I might get skin on next time to see if that will help keep some moisture in. :) In the end I am happy with this experiment and plan to do it again.

Thanks for looking.

 

[Bearcarver]

Smokingd,
That looks great !-------->>

Not ground meat bacon, like Mark mentioned about the other day-----This looks even better!

Thanks for showing,
Bearcarver

 

[mballi3011]

Now that stuff sure looks awesome there Dennis and I will have to try it soon. It looks alittle dry but I wonder if you can take it to maybe 160 ish like real bacon like canadian bacon you only take to 160° or so I believe. But you have to get some

for this one to.

 

[squirrel]

Woweeee! That is just down right PURDY!!!

 

[rbranstner]

For experimenting with the chicken bacon