Tomorrow is the day!!

[ismoke]

Tomorrow is the day I finally make some bacon!  Thank you to all for answering my questions.  Here is the split butt after being rinsed:

The one on the left is peppered, and the one on the right just has some maple syrup.  I cut a few pieces off to taste:

The peppered was great!  I was worried that it would be too peppery, and it was strong, but I like that. The syrup on the other hand had very little taste other than an almost hammy flavor to it.  Still tasty, just a bit of a disappointment.  Tomorrow I'm going to fire up the AMS for the first time, and knock this out!  I'm also going to go to the store in the morning and get some cheese to do (another first)! Wish me luck, and I promise some more pics of the rest of the process!!

 

[pineywoods]

Hope you have a great smoke

 

[jjwdiver]

Looking forward to seeing your results - have fun and good luck!

 

[SmokinAl]

Looks great so far! Can't wait to see the finish!

 

[fpnmf]

Good luck and have fun!!

  Craig

 

[tyotrain]

Good luck.. looks good this far..

 

[chefrob]

git after it...........

 

[ismoke]

OK, sorry for the delay getting more pics up.  I had a bunch of stuff come up as the bacon was finishing on the smoke that day, and so I grabbed it, wrapped in plastic wrap, and put it in the fridge until I could get back to slice it.  I ended up basically giving it one full load in the ANS of maple, but it never really turned the color I was looking for.  Oh well, I needed to take it out...just had to hope that all was well when fried up.

Here's the peppered bacon after I'd sliced a bit:

This one was really tasty. For whatever reason, it tastes saltier than my test slices, but still really good.  Oh yeah, my knife skills suck, so we have some "man bacon" that I eat with a for and knife, lol. 

Here is the maple one, which still doesn't have the hint of sweetness that I was hoping for, but it's good nonetheless:

Anyways, I would say it was a succesful first bacon attempt, and definitely motivated me to try ever more!  Now I just need a slicer...and a grinder and stuffer so I can make some sausages too!

 

[meateater]

Looks awesome. I had the same problem on my first batch of BBB. I soaked and test fried and was fine, then after the smoke it was salty! Live and learn.

 

[boykjo]

congrats on your sucsess. I too am also in need of a slicer before I attempt some bacon and some roasts.......

 

[SmokinAl]

Great first try, bacon & sausage are both in my future.