So this is the time of year I have to start emptying my freezers of all the meat I have hoarded to make room for the 1000s of Christmas cookies that I begin making just after Thanksgiving. I am not much of a baker but it is a tradition of my mom who passed quite a few years back so I continue that tradition and hope to pass it on to my daughter some day.
So something I recently defrosted to play around was a few small pieces of belly. My plan was to cook them to pulling temperature for some pulled bacon.
I cured them with
Bearcarver
method, weighing each piece and applying the appropriate amounts of TQ and brown sugar, put them in ziplocks and turned them every day for about a week. Time wasn't as huge a concern for the cure because I was going to hot smoke them in the 225-250 range.
Once I had them out of the cure, I rinsed and dried them (didn't soak them and have never had too with Bear's method) and coated with a healthy dose of black pepper, granulated garlic, and granulated onion.
As you can see I tied two small pieces of belly together tight, figuring the thickness would give them more time in the smoke and it worked. The thin piece next to it took abot 3 hours less than the tied pieces.
Smoked them at 225 with hickory the smaller piece taking about 7 hours to get to 205 and the pieces that were tied took about 10 hours. Not sure how long the stall was because I didn't put a therm into the smaller one until it was already at 183. Here are some pics of them going in the smoker and the finished product:
And finally the pulled bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich.
The verdict: Try this! It was everything I hoped for and more. It is the best of both pulled pork and bacon wrapped into one. You get that awesome bacon flavor combined with the crispy crunchy bark you get on briskets and butts. The smell coming off the whole smoked piece was like nothing I have ever smelled. Salty, sweet, amazing. A sandwich like this a cup of coffee and I am a happy man.
Thanks for looking!
-Chris
So something I recently defrosted to play around was a few small pieces of belly. My plan was to cook them to pulling temperature for some pulled bacon.
I cured them with
Bearcarver
method, weighing each piece and applying the appropriate amounts of TQ and brown sugar, put them in ziplocks and turned them every day for about a week. Time wasn't as huge a concern for the cure because I was going to hot smoke them in the 225-250 range.
Once I had them out of the cure, I rinsed and dried them (didn't soak them and have never had too with Bear's method) and coated with a healthy dose of black pepper, granulated garlic, and granulated onion.
As you can see I tied two small pieces of belly together tight, figuring the thickness would give them more time in the smoke and it worked. The thin piece next to it took abot 3 hours less than the tied pieces.
Smoked them at 225 with hickory the smaller piece taking about 7 hours to get to 205 and the pieces that were tied took about 10 hours. Not sure how long the stall was because I didn't put a therm into the smaller one until it was already at 183. Here are some pics of them going in the smoker and the finished product:
And finally the pulled bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich.
The verdict: Try this! It was everything I hoped for and more. It is the best of both pulled pork and bacon wrapped into one. You get that awesome bacon flavor combined with the crispy crunchy bark you get on briskets and butts. The smell coming off the whole smoked piece was like nothing I have ever smelled. Salty, sweet, amazing. A sandwich like this a cup of coffee and I am a happy man.
Thanks for looking!
-Chris
