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Pork belly = bacon

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Comments

  • paqman
    paqman Posts: 4,660
    @blukat 6.25% nitrite and no nitrate is what you are looking for. Sounds like you got the right stuff.

    ____________________
    Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage. •Niccolo Machiavelli
  • henapple
    henapple Posts: 16,025
    Well, just a waiting game now.
    Green egg, dead animal and alcohol. The "Boro".. TN 
  • just put 10.8 lbs in the fridge.heading out tomorrow until Friday night. Smoke saturday or sunday and start another one. you will love it. which cure did you use? I always add the maple syrup-caramelizes when you cook it. Pig fat + sugar+ heat= awesome
    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • henapple
    henapple Posts: 16,025
    I used the recipe you posted... What's the finishing glaze?
    Green egg, dead animal and alcohol. The "Boro".. TN 
  • henapple
    henapple Posts: 16,025
    Oh... I used the brown sugar
    Green egg, dead animal and alcohol. The "Boro".. TN 
  • twlangan
    twlangan Posts: 307
    We are in the process of enjoying my first batch of homemade bacon. I bought an 8 lb pork loin at Sam's, cut it in half, and cured each separately. I used Morton Tenderquick at the rate they recommend on the package. One I added white sugar, one brown. I cannot tell a difference - at all. Both were hot smoked together with Hickory to 150 deg internal. 

    I did a lot of research before attempting this and saw a lot of recipes calling for numerous spices to use during cure. Quite frankly, we are MORE than pleased with how the dead simple recipe we used turned out. I cannot imagine anything else being added to the cure making it any better. Turned out to be very, very good back bacon.

    I am intrigued by the cold smoking though. How is it advantageous to hot smoking like I did? 
  • twlangan said:
    We are in the process of enjoying my first batch of homemade bacon. I bought an 8 lb pork loin at Sam's, cut it in half, and cured each separately. I used Morton Tenderquick at the rate they recommend on the package. One I added white sugar, one brown. I cannot tell a difference - at all. Both were hot smoked together with Hickory to 150 deg internal. 

    I did a lot of research before attempting this and saw a lot of recipes calling for numerous spices to use during cure. Quite frankly, we are MORE than pleased with how the dead simple recipe we used turned out. I cannot imagine anything else being added to the cure making it any better. Turned out to be very, very good back bacon.

    I am intrigued by the cold smoking though. How is it advantageous to hot smoking like I did? 

    so......you are Canadian, I presume? You would not cold smoke pork loin. We are talking belly but i love back bacon as well.
    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • Sadly this is something that is not financially viable for me.  The places that will order pork belly charge more for it than Hobbs bacon which I quite like.
    Near San Francisco in California
  • twlangan
    twlangan Posts: 307
    twlangan said:
    We are in the process of enjoying my first batch of homemade bacon. I bought an 8 lb pork loin at Sam's, cut it in half, and cured each separately. I used Morton Tenderquick at the rate they recommend on the package. One I added white sugar, one brown. I cannot tell a difference - at all. Both were hot smoked together with Hickory to 150 deg internal. 

    I did a lot of research before attempting this and saw a lot of recipes calling for numerous spices to use during cure. Quite frankly, we are MORE than pleased with how the dead simple recipe we used turned out. I cannot imagine anything else being added to the cure making it any better. Turned out to be very, very good back bacon.

    I am intrigued by the cold smoking though. How is it advantageous to hot smoking like I did? 

    so......you are Canadian, I presume? You would not cold smoke pork loin. We are talking belly but i love back bacon as well.
    Not Canadian - but close, hey. Wisconsin.

    I have a whole case of large pork butts in the freezer that I picked up for the very reasonable price of $1.15/lb. I planned to make bacon out of some of them, but wanted to try it out on some smaller cuts first to find a method & recipe we liked. Can I assume that butt bacon should be hot smoked too? I plan to try some belly bacon some day too if I can find some at a decent price. Local locker plant seems to be pretty proud of his meats with what he charges for stuff.
  • yzzi
    yzzi Posts: 1,843
    If you have any Asian or international stores in your area check them out. They have really good prices on pork belly in my area. I did order from a butcher though, but they were about the same price.
    Dunedin, FL