I made bacon. It was good.

TTC

That is glorious. 

onward_2_victory

That bacon looks so good I think Jules Winnfield would eat it.  Well done!

nolaegghead

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZA_Tl1kvlQU

NPHuskerFL

Hell ya!  But, I'm actually surprised with a nice slab like that you didn't roll with pancetta. Nonetheless it looks stellar Carey!

jls9595

Looks awesome nola, I want to do this but haven't seen any pork bellies at Sam's. I need an amazen smoker too.

nolaegghead

thanks @jls9595 - I made that smoker maze with a SS Hobart dishwasher screen and some screen material that I bought.  Plus a plasma cutter and a MIG welder.  It's fairly easy to make but it's really not worth it IMO unless you're doing 10+ pounds. 

QingEsq

I'll take a couple of pounds please.  Seriously, you could sell that at a premium to gourmet shops and higb end restaurants.  You absolutely crushed it.

nolaegghead

NPHuskerFL said:

Hell ya!  But, I'm actually surprised with a nice slab like that you didn't roll with pancetta. Nonetheless it looks stellar Carey!

@NPHuskerFLI made pancetta before - I think the humidity is too low in the house.  End product had some mold (I know that can be dealt with) and tasted bad.  I will give it another shot when I get my environmental chamber built (AKA old freezer) where I can control temp and humidity (and cats and bugs). 

DoubleEgger

This restores my faith in the forum. Bravo sir. 

blind99

@nolaegghead  How much liquid did your belly generate during the cure?  I'm two days into my first bacon cure and was expecting more liquid to come off and disperse. I'm following Ruhlmans recipe which calls for 50g of cure per 5lb of meat. Any advice/insight is much appreciated!

YukonRon

Great cook, awesome presentation, as is always the case! I learn even more.
thank you for sharing.

PASmoke

Are you a surgeon? Those cuts are perfect! Well done brother! 

nolaegghead

blind99 said:

@nolaegghead  How much liquid did your belly generate during the cure?  I'm two days into my first bacon cure and was expecting more liquid to come off and disperse. I'm following Ruhlmans recipe which calls for 50g of cure per 5lb of meat. Any advice/insight is much appreciated!

@blind99 very little liquid.  Don't worry about it.  The nitrite is a color/flavor addition unless you cold smoke, you don't really need it for safety. 

The batch I did since then was 27 pounds.  About a cup of liquid came off it after 10 days.

coooltroy

OMHG

CaptainJimmy

Interesting idea for a cool / cold smoke. I'm looking for ways to smoke polish kielbasa and not render the fat in my egg. Wood pellets mixed with lump seems to be a cool way to get some heat and some smoke but not necessarily hot.

blind99

@nolaegghead Thanks for the advice, I was a little worried about it.  It's curing in the refrigerator, then getting a hot smoke, then I'll fry the bacon, so it should be safe!

mahenryak

Very nicely done and I appreciate the thorough write up.  One of these days I may give this a try.  Also, that table is spectacular.  Great job.

nolaegghead

Dondgc

@nolaegghead - that is just beautiful.  And I suspect it tastes even better than it looks.

shadowrider

nola,

Couple questions on the curing.  Okay maybe three.

1) No liquid at all in the curing process?  I'm not understanding how the salts could penetrate throughout.

2) Would vacuum sealing this work?  Yours looked like it was unless I'm misunderstanding your pics.  I have a foodsaver.

3) Would Morton Tender Quick work?  Never heard of pink salt.

I'm a city boy, go easy on me...

nolaegghead

@shadowrider I used a foodsaver bag on the first belly in the pictures.  And pulled out the air. The next batch I just stacked three bellies in a plastic tub.

The salt on the outside is sufficient without added liquid to cure the meat on the inside.  This is called dry curing and it's as old as the hills.

Tender Quick will work - it has nitrites.  Follow the instructions specifically for the product.  Typical #1 pink salt is 6.25% sodium nitrite.  TQ I believe has a lower concentration. 

blukat

@nolaegghead great looking bacon! I need to check the local Costco, running low on my bacon.  Question with the Amazin pellet smoker.  I have the same one.  Seems like my flame/smoke always goes out.  Is that why you added the lump?  Once again, Great Job!!

shadowrider

nolaegghead said:

@shadowrider I used a foodsaver bag on the first belly in the pictures.  And pulled out the air. The next batch I just stacked three bellies in a plastic tub.

The salt on the outside is sufficient without added liquid to cure the meat on the inside.  This is called dry curing and it's as old as the hills.

Tender Quick will work - it has nitrites.  Follow the instructions specifically for the product.  Typical #1 pink salt is 6.25% sodium nitrite.  TQ I believe has a lower concentration. 

Thankyou sir.  Your bacon looks so good I'm going to try it when it cools down a little.  Hate paying the cost of store bought slab bacon these days and it's probably not as good as yours.  Outstanding looking batch you did here!

nolaegghead

@blukat yes, another trick is to dry the pellets at 250 F in an oven for a few hours.  That's actually a home-made copy of the a-maz-n smoker.

blind99

I would guess that tender quick approximates a basic cure recipe, like Ruhlman's. It'd be nice to know the proportion of all the ingredients. 

@shadowrider take a look at Ruhlman's charcuterie book. It's a really good read. I'm starting my first bacon and already looking forward to more!

shadowrider

@nolaegghead

Okay a couple more questions, then I think I got it.  lol

1) Was your pork belly "brine enhanced"?  The label you pictured doesn't say so, so I'm thinking it wasn't.  Seems that all cryovaced pork and poultry in my area always is, so I may have to dig around for truly fresh.

2) Did you add more "rub" after your ice water soak?  Does it really hang on that tight?

blind99

Bump: I finished my first try at bacon.  I highly recommend trying this! It's dead simple to do: the belly sits in the fridge curing for a week, then hot smoke in the egg. I did mine with no extra flavoring in the cure and applewood smoke. The taste is fantastic - better than almost any bacon I've bought. 

nolaegghead

shadowrider said:

@nolaegghead

Okay a couple more questions, then I think I got it.  lol

1) Was your pork belly "brine enhanced"?  The label you pictured doesn't say so, so I'm thinking it wasn't.  Seems that all cryovaced pork and poultry in my area always is, so I may have to dig around for truly fresh.

2) Did you add more "rub" after your ice water soak?  Does it really hang on that tight?

1) No
2) Yes - some sugar and pepper mostly

SGH

Bump, because I'm fond of the hippy who posted this

Wolfpack

@nolaegghead have you ever tried cold smoked bacon? Besides the obvious what are the main differences- flavor?