Letting it mellow....

[wibigfish]

Ok, so I’ve done a few batches of cold and hot smoke bacon that turned out wonderful this far.

I’ve only let them mellow in the fridge a day after smoking and am thinking I can maybe improve flavor a bit by letting the bacon rest in fridge longer after smoking.

when letting the bacon mellow out, can I chamber vac the bellies after they are cooled down and let them mellow out that way, or is open air the best way?

 

[thirdeye]

After smoking I allow up to 4 hours uncovered on the counter for the color to bloom, which is a slight darkening in color. For the mellowing you are asking about I go at least 24 hours uncovered in the fridge, but prefer 2 - 3 days. I loosely cover mine with a paper towel. I've seen methods where folks mellow bacon much longer and somewhere I've seen a post that showed a rack that held the slabs vertical. Check out this video on Benton's bacon, theirs has no cure but their processing times from to start to finish are quite long.