Pork Belly Bacon

Doc_Eggerton

First shot at this.  Cured 7 days as in the Rhulman Charcuterie recipe.  Not quite commercial breakfast bacon, and not quite ham.  Different, and definately not health food.  Smoked at 190-200 for 2.5 hours until the internal was 150.  Will be great as an added ingredient in other foods, and we even save the removed skin and fat for cooking in beans, soups, and rice.  Removing the skin while leaving most of the underlying fat was much easier than I thought it would be.

Photo legend:

1  13 pounds of pork belly.  The butcher laughed and said that in 13 years he'd never had a request for this.
2  Raw pork belly
3  Set up for cure
4  7 days later, drying overnight in the fridge
5  After the overnight dry
6  On the apple smoke
7  Smoked
8  Removed the skin
9  Skinless
10 Skin for seasoning
11 First cut
12 Taste test
13 Taste test
14 Yield
15 Bacon sandwiches
16 Bacon sandwiches
17 Bacon sandwiches
18 Sandwich

DMW

Looks good. "Commercial" bacon is cold smoked, which may explain some of the difference.