A little about me...I'm a native Texan. Graduated with a Civil Engineering degree from the University of Texas and have worked in the O&G industry my entire career. Hobbies are fishing, shooting and working on cars but nothing beats a good day around the grill with friends and a cold beverage of choice.
How I got here...A few months back my local grocery store stopped stocking what I consider the best store bought prewrapped bacon on the market. I have also been watching a lot of the United States of Bacon tv show. Todd Fisher on the show is so informative on the different types of bacon it made me start thinking that I should try my hand at it. Since I already had a Bradley smoker I figured it would be easy enough to get this going. My research led me to this site a few weeks ago and I've been pleased with the information that I've been able to find. Hopefully I'll be able to share a few of my pieces in the future.
A lot of research and money (deep freeze, slicer, foodsaver, cure, spices. etc.) later my buddy and I are just about ready to start our first batch of bacon. The key for us was to pick something that would be simple and have a high success rate. Not a shock to many here we are going to go with Pop's Brine as our first attempt. We should be in the brine within the next week or so as all the equipment we needed to order should show up this week. Lucky for us the meat market down the street stocks pork belly for $2.60/lb.
I'll provide results in a few weeks when we get on with the smoking. Any advise for a first timer would be appreciated. Anything special we should know about smoking the bacon in a southern (warmer) climate area?
Pleasured to be part of the community...
John
How I got here...A few months back my local grocery store stopped stocking what I consider the best store bought prewrapped bacon on the market. I have also been watching a lot of the United States of Bacon tv show. Todd Fisher on the show is so informative on the different types of bacon it made me start thinking that I should try my hand at it. Since I already had a Bradley smoker I figured it would be easy enough to get this going. My research led me to this site a few weeks ago and I've been pleased with the information that I've been able to find. Hopefully I'll be able to share a few of my pieces in the future.
A lot of research and money (deep freeze, slicer, foodsaver, cure, spices. etc.) later my buddy and I are just about ready to start our first batch of bacon. The key for us was to pick something that would be simple and have a high success rate. Not a shock to many here we are going to go with Pop's Brine as our first attempt. We should be in the brine within the next week or so as all the equipment we needed to order should show up this week. Lucky for us the meat market down the street stocks pork belly for $2.60/lb.
I'll provide results in a few weeks when we get on with the smoking. Any advise for a first timer would be appreciated. Anything special we should know about smoking the bacon in a southern (warmer) climate area?
Pleasured to be part of the community...
John