Makin' Bacon... Pictures included

smokeydrew

This was my first attempt at curing meat(other than jerkey). I could never get my hands on tenderquick or prague powder, so I used the cure mix that comes with the Hi Mountain jerkey kits. I combined the cure mix w/ brown sugar in a 50/50 ratio and covered a 2 1/2# boneless pork roast with the mixture, placed in gallon size ziplock bag and stuck it in the fridge for 8 days. I turned the roast 2-3 times a day. After 8 days, I removed the roast, and soaked it for 2 hours, changing the water 3 times, while I stabilized the egg at 225*.
I then patted it dry, basted it w/ maple syrup, just before smoking it indirect over apple chunks for almost 5 hours even to an internal temp of 145*. It was 1:00 in the morning when I pulled it off the egg, so I just wrapped it in foil and stuck it in the fridge. The next day I sliced it thick with my rival fold up food slicer that I bought for $30 from walmart.com (one of the best food gadgets I own) and then fried some up.[p]I had read that this type of bacon often tastes much more like ham, but both my wife and I thought it had the distinct bacon taste, but the texture of country ham.[p]This stuff was great!!!! It was easy too! [p]
Here it is the day after it was smoked[p]<img src=http://www.conceptgames.com/drew/bacon/whole_bacon.gif>[p]
<img src=http://www.conceptgames.com/drew/bacon/sliced_bacon.gif>[p]
<img src=http://www.conceptgames.com/drew/bacon/fried_bacon.gif>[p]
<img src=http://conceptgames.com/drew/bacon/plated_bacon2.gif&gt;

Lawn Ranger

smokeydrew,
I'm impressed! Really![p]Mike

Borders

smokeydrew, when you say boneless pork roast, what do you mean. Is it a shoulder? [p]That's really cool.

badbruce

Hi smokeydrew,
Try Eldon Sausage Co. they have a page for curing meats.
http://www.eldonsausage.com/
bruce[p]

smokeydrew

Borders,
To be honest, I really can't remember the exact cut, but I think it was a boneless shoulder roast. It was had butchers twine around it when I bought it, but I when I removed the twine, I saw no reason for it since it was one solid piece. [p]I am planning on starting a beef pastrami (a cured brisket) and canadian bacon (a pork loin) this weekend.[p]Here are the links I relied on for my inspiration:[p]
<a href=http://www.dizzypigbbq.com/recipesBacon.html>DizzyPig</a>[p]
<a href=http://www.bbqboard.com/features/buckboardbacon.html>Buckboard Bacon</a>[p][p][p]

djm5x9

smokeydrew:[p]Sounds like you are ready to try your hand at Canadian bacon.