Putting spices on bacon before smoking

[mschwartz26]

I have made bacon 5-6 times now and love it (who doesn't like bacon though). I have 2 belly's in Pop's Brine as I type. They will come out this weekend to start the drying process prior to smoking.

Here's my question - after the belly's comes out of the brine, a lot of people put pepper, garlic, etc. on the belly's during the drying process. I understand that will add some flavor to the surface it contacts. Is there any expectation that the spices/flavor will soak in/be absorbed much farther into the meat...or is this just like adding some salt/pepper to a steak before you cook it - you taste it bc it is sitting on the top of the meat and not absorbed into the meat?

The main reason I ask this is I was thinking of trying numerous different spices/rubs/etc on different pieces of the belly but don't want to waste my time/effort if this will not really be noticed after smoking/cooking. Dumping the same stuff on it all is one thing but doing a bunch of different tests and then needing to keep them all separate is definitely more work.

Thoughts?

 

[thirdeye]

The molecules of most things (other than water and salts) are too large to penetrate more than a couple of millimeters into whole muscle meat. This is why a brine can influence the interior of meat, and a marinade is pretty much a surface treatment. I have bought some garlic bacon from a smokehouse in the midwest and I'm betting they use an injectable curing brine with garlic as the flavor is much more than surface...

 

[bregent]

If I want spices I'll add it as it's cooking. That way I can alter it at cook time, or use none at all.

>Is there any expectation that the spices/flavor will
> soak in/be absorbed much farther into the meat

Yes, I think there is that expectation but as thirdeye mentioned, it mostly doesn't happen.

 

[jcam222]

The molecules of most things (other than water and salts) are too large to penetrate more than a couple of millimeters into whole muscle meat. This is why a brine can influence the interior of meat, and a marinade is pretty much a surface treatment. I have bought some garlic bacon from a smokehouse in the midwest and I'm betting they use an injectable curing brine with garlic as the flavor is much more than surface...

This is something I am thinking of exploring on some future batches of bacon.

 

[mschwartz26]

Kinda what I was expecting. As always...thanks to this forum for all the knowledge!

 

[hondabbq]

when you think about how you eat bacon it makes sense to just season the outside. The strips are usually narrow and 99.9% eat bacon end to end not top to bottom, not that op to bottom is wide enough to get a center piece with no flavor.