Bacon Time of Year Again

Chubbs

Getting cool now and freezer getting low. Some of you may have seen my post yesterday about finding a fresh- not frozen- whole pork belly. Divided it up into 3 portions and squared them off. Ended up with 5.5lbs maple, 4 lbs of basic and 3.5 of savory pre-cure. Starting the 7+ day cure time today. Will post as I go. Pics in whatever order forum wants 

theyolksonyou

I have a hankering for bacon suddenly. 

Killit_and_Grillit

theyolksonyou said:

I have a hankering for bacon suddenly. 

Amen. For some reason bacon tastes better when it comes from the store with the nipples still on. 

Tinyfish

Will be delicious. 

Chubbs

I have always removed my skin prior to curing for maximum penetration for cure. This morning I was reviewing Charcuterie and Ruhlman mentioned removing the skin after cure. That said, this time I left the skin (and nipples @Killit_and_Grillit ) on during cure. 

Chubbs

Tinyfish said:

Will be delicious. 

For sure. I believe this round of 12 or so pounds will put me over the 100lb Mark for amount home cured. Lots given away but lots consumed too. 

Chubbs

Here is a batch of pepper bacon

shtgunal3

Looking good Chubbs. Do you cold smoke or hot smoke?

Chubbs

shtgunal3 said:

Looking good Chubbs. Do you cold smoke or hot smoke?

Cold always. Best texture IMO

shtgunal3

Are you using the a-maze- n smoker? If so do you use pellets or dust? My results with the a-maze-n have been up and down. I've never tried the dust before. I don't have a problem keeping it lit, it just seems like I can never get "clean" smoke with the pellets. The smoke I get with pellets always seems to have a dirty taste to it.

northGAcock

Man that looks good. Ha.....was by by Jack Olivers Pool & Spa (on way to Morganilli's) earlier today. The Regional BGE manager and cooking team were there  doing some cooking demo's. I chatted it up a bit and did a few samples....then moved on.....later was thinking I should have talked up the Butt Blast. I am a dummy.

cazzy

Chubbs said:

shtgunal3 said:

Looking good Chubbs. Do you cold smoke or hot smoke?

Cold always. Best texture IMO

What internal was it after cold smoking?

Zmokin

Looks good, but I thought all year long was the bacon time of year.  

Dyal_SC

Nice.  This has been on my to do list long enough.  Looks awesome.  

Chubbs

cazzy said:

Chubbs said:

shtgunal3 said:

Looking good Chubbs. Do you cold smoke or hot smoke?

Cold always. Best texture IMO

What internal was it after cold smoking?

Approx raw degrees. Haha not sure. Egg never got above 80 and it was prob 36IT when I put it in. Smoked for 6 hours with both sides of AMS lit

Chubbs

Dyal_SC said:

Nice.  This has been on my to do list long enough.  Looks awesome.  

That is one of three slabs. So worth the trouble. Wayyyyyyy better than store bought. 

Chubbs

shtgunal3 said:

Are you using the a-maze- n smoker? If so do you use pellets or dust? My results with the a-maze-n have been up and down. I've never tried the dust before. I don't have a problem keeping it lit, it just seems like I can never get "clean" smoke with the pellets. The smoke I get with pellets always seems to have a dirty taste to it.

I use pellets. Have used theirs and a few kinds from various stores and never noticed a dirty taste. Have used the Ams for bacon, salmon, nuts, salt, cheese and ketchup and never noticed anything bad tasting

Chubbs

Zmokin said:

Looks good, but I thought all year long was the bacon time of year.  

No cold smoke when it is 110 with 80% humidity in Columbia SC. Hot smoke year round not cold

blind99

Love the homemade bacon.  sometime i'll have to try cold smoking, maybe next winter.  

I also cut my belly into pieces, like yours.  For one piece, I left out the pink salt to see what truly nitrite-free would be like.  Has anyone else tried this?  @darby_crenshaw ?  It's in the fridge, getting hot smoked, and then fried up, which should keep the botulism at bay.

Chubbs

blind99 said:

Love the homemade bacon.  sometime i'll have to try cold smoking, maybe next winter.  

I also cut my belly into pieces, like yours.  For one piece, I left out the pink salt to see what truly nitrite-free would be like.  Has anyone else tried this?  @darby_crenshaw ?  It's in the fridge, getting hot smoked, and then fried up, which should keep the botulism at bay.

Never tried it. Guess the pink salt let's me sleep at night knowing my family and friends aren't sick. Let me know what it's like. Tried hot smoking then cold smoking second. Haven't gone back to hot smoking for the last 100 lbs No comparison in my opinion. You'll love it 

Chubbs

northGAcock said:

Man that looks good. Ha.....was by by Jack Olivers Pool & Spa (on way to Morganilli's) earlier today. The Regional BGE manager and cooking team were there  doing some cooking demo's. I chatted it up a bit and did a few samples....then moved on.....later was thinking I should have talked up the Butt Blast. I am a dummy.

Have they beefed the egg section up any at JO? Haven't been in a while. Need to go order a mini carrier. 

blind99

yeah i'm guessing it will be gray and lack the tangy snap flavor of the real thing.  but i figure it's cheap to try, unless i get botulism of course

Chubbs

blind99 said:

yeah i'm guessing it will be gray and lack the tangy snap flavor of the real thing.  but i figure it's cheap to try, unless i get botulism of course

Let's hope not. Good luck  

SciAggie

Bacon is on my list of things I must learn to make. Yours looks killer. 

blind99

@SciAggie if you like bacon, do it!  It's super easy and the payoff is huge

Chubbs

SciAggie said:

Bacon is on my list of things I must learn to make. Yours looks killer. 

If you can make a plate like you did last night you can make bacon. Just requires patience

northGAcock

Chubbs said:

northGAcock said:

Man that looks good. Ha.....was by by Jack Olivers Pool & Spa (on way to Morganilli's) earlier today. The Regional BGE manager and cooking team were there  doing some cooking demo's. I chatted it up a bit and did a few samples....then moved on.....later was thinking I should have talked up the Butt Blast. I am a dummy.

Have they beefed the egg section up any at JO? Haven't been in a while. Need to go order a mini carrier. 

Not really.....I believe they have the mini carrier in stock.

bgebrent

Great looking bacon brother Chubbs!!

Darby_Crenshaw

Nitrite isn't keeping your family from getting sick. Got nuthin to do with safety

not anymore, with fridges and so forth 

pink salts alter the meat, give it that crystalline snap or crispness when cooked, and add a piquancy that salt doesn't 

might not notice much of a difference, but without it, it is salt-pork basically. 

The organic "no nitrite added" stuff at whole foods, which people have tricked themselves into believing is nitrite free, has as much nitrite as oscar myers 

And your spinach salad has more than a pack of hot dogs

if the rationale is that nitrite free is 'healthier', it's based on wishful thinking

You can't make pork fat and salt "healthy" anyway.  

But to reiterate, nitrite in the form of salt petre was used historically for curing so that food could be stored a long time. Your bacon has been refrigerated since slaughter. No spoiling worries there. We use nitrite in bacon now not for safety, but simply because it isn't bacon without it. 

Darby_Crenshaw

It shouldn't be too grey. Might not be as super pink though 

botulism? Not unless you ground it up to make air dried sausage at room temp and skipped nitrite/nitrate. There's no clostridium botulinum bacteria IN meat. Just potentially on it

This stuff is pretty straightforward.  It is odd that the same questions keep popping up over and over. 

Remember too, prosciutto is salt-only, and hung at room temp for a couple years. 

A whole lot has to go wrong with your bacon to kill your self with it. 

chrisc133

@Chubbs I just picked up a pork belly to make bacon with...and want to make it exactly like this...cold smoked, etc.

Can you please point me to a resource you use to get started?