Smoking Bacon help Please

FarmerTom · May 2020

We have several slabs of bacon to smoke. They have all had a salt and brown sugar rub applied and been refrigerated. When they reached the desired saltiness, I rinsed off all the rub and put them back in refrigeration. My friend has a Traeger and is slowly hot smoking them. I have a BGE Medium and XLarge. I don't wish to buy a dedicated smoker but am thinking that surely I can use one or both of my eggs to assist with the smoking. I think he is running his Traeger at 165. I'm not sure that I can maintain that low of a temp in an egg. But I think I have read on here (I can't find the thread now) that an egg can be used to generate smoke and vent its top into the bottom of another egg that contains the meat to be smoked. Does anyone have experience with such a setup and pics. Or is there another way I can use my eggs to speed up the smoking process?

CornfedMA · May 2020

I’ve never used the exhaust from
one egg to cold smoke in a second egg, but I don’t think it’d be a difficult setup. Maybe some flexible dryer duct or something. I’m sure someone will be along time help with that.

In the event that you’d like to cold smoke your bacon, take a look at an Amazen smoke generator. I bought in 3-4 years ago and cold smoke all my bacon with it on the XL. Just load it with pellets, get it burning and place in the bottom of the egg with the bottom vent wide open and no cap on the top. Comes out great every time!

https://amazenproducts.com/

The Cen-Tex Smoker · May 2020

CornfedMA said:

I’ve never used the exhaust from
one egg to cold smoke in a second egg, but I don’t think it’d be a difficult setup. Maybe some flexible dryer duct or something. I’m sure someone will be along time help with that.

In the event that you’d like to cold smoke your bacon, take a look at an Amazen smoke generator. I bought in 3-4 years ago and cold smoke all my bacon with it on the XL. Just load it with pellets, get it burning and place in the bottom of the egg with the bottom vent wide open and no cap on the top. Comes out great every time!
https://amazenproducts.com/

This

Elijah · May 2020

I have done both and will never hot smoke bacon again. You didn't mention cure though. I know salt curing is a thing, but I thought to cold smoke you needed actual cure?

I also use the amazin smoker and try for a cold day.

FarmerTom · May 2020

We had already applied a salt, brown sugar, and black pepper cure. Left it on until a sampling tasted correct for salt. I then washed all the slabs to prevent them getting too salty. My friend has been smoking them with his Traeger but I wanted to smoke some with my eggs. I improvised a setup today and ran a slab for 5 hours. The temp gauge on my XL , which held the bacon, never moved so I wasn’t moving much if any heat, just smoke.

nolaegghead · May 2020

That setup is much better than the a-maz-in smoker thing. Smoke is better.

I hope you added nitrites to the cure, just doesn't taste like bacon if you only use salt and sugar. I also add citric acid (sour salt) or some other option for an antioxidant to mitigate nitrosamines.

The Cen-Tex Smoker · May 2020

"Smoke is better".

Is it?

Neither are ideal for clean smoke but is smoldery charcoal and kiln dried wood chips better than smoldery pellets? I dunno.

FarmerTom · May 2020

I'll be honest, I don't know what I'm doing. Tried to gather what info I could but my search results weren't very productive. I put only a small amount of charcoal in the bottom of the M and then started it. I added several chunks of hickory and a little wild cherry. All from trees on our farm. It was well cured and dry. Ran the M at 350 for an hour or more hoping to let some of the moisture and the worst of the smoke burn away. Then lowered the temp and let it settle there before adding the bacon slab.
nolaegghead you mentioned nitrites. No we didn't add any. I looked all over for saltpeter which my mother always used but couldn't find any. My son found it online but with shipping so screwed up now, we didn't try to order any. What my friend smoked on his Traeger tasted fine. We are keeping the slabs refrigerated until smoking and then they go back in the fridge until slicing and freezing. So far, so good. But if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears.

The Cen-Tex Smoker · May 2020

FarmerTom said:

I'll be honest, I don't know what I'm doing. Tried to gather what info I could but my search results weren't very productive. I put only a small amount of charcoal in the bottom of the M and then started it. I added several chunks of hickory and a little wild cherry. All from trees on our farm. It was well cured and dry. Ran the M at 350 for an hour or more hoping to let some of the moisture and the worst of the smoke burn away. Then lowered the temp and let it settle there before adding the bacon slab.
nolaegghead you mentioned nitrites. No we didn't add any. I looked all over for saltpeter which my mother always used but couldn't find any. My son found it online but with shipping so screwed up now, we didn't try to order any. What my friend smoked on his Traeger tasted fine. We are keeping the slabs refrigerated until smoking and then they go back in the fridge until slicing and freezing. So far, so good. But if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears.

The smoking set up is great- no issues there.

I would be very careful with this since you are new to this and did not use curing salt. You essentially made salt pork- which is great but it's not bacon. I would smoke this to at least 155 internal and see how it tastes. you are not going to get the pink color you are used to or the flavor you are used to with bacon. I don't fully understand the properties of using only salt vs salt and curing salt as far as preserving the meat goes and based on your comments, I don't think you do either. That's why I would personally be careful and cook it all the way through.

When I don't know what I don't know, that's not good enough for me on cured stuff.

HendersonTRKing · May 2020

I do a pretty good amount of cold smoking (bacon and salmon for nova lox) and researched as much as possible before I got going -- I really didn't want to mess with food safety and getting myself or others sick (or worse).

Meathead is about the best resource I found; I've got his book (which I highly recommend just for the read), but you can get everything you need (and alot you don't) for free here:

https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/pork-recipes/how-make-smoked-bacon-home

I don't agree with everything he says/recommends. For instance, he's against cold smoking, but with alot of care, I've had very good success with it. That said, hut his thoughts and formulas on curing (pink salt, Prague powder #1) have been invaluable and his brine recipes are great springboards to start with before getting even more creative.

Have fun. Post pix. Don't send anyone to the hospital.

jtcBoynton · May 2020

I don't agree with everything he says/recommends. For instance, he's against cold smoking, but with alot of care, I've had very good success with it.

He does not recommend backyard cooks cold smoke due to possible health issues if safe practices are not followed. There seems to be a tendency to experiment with our smoking/grilling. Cold smoking and experimentation are not a good combination. You need to learn to cold smoke from a trusted source and make sure you are following safety protocol.

HendersonTRKing · May 2020

jtcBoynton said:

I don't agree with everything he says/recommends. For instance, he's against cold smoking, but with alot of care, I've had very good success with it.
He does not recommend backyard cooks cold smoke due to possible health issues if safe practices are not followed. There seems to be a tendency to experiment with our smoking/grilling. Cold smoking and experimentation are not a good combination. You need to learn to cold smoke from a trusted source and make sure you are following safety protocol.

Yup. From reading and researching, my sense is it’s a smart move for Meathead to advise novices, beginners, and hackers (probably 90%+ of bbq-ers, forum folks excluded) NOT to cold smoke. People frequently don’t follow rules and guidelines, elevate opinions over facts, and refuse to take simple, commonsense measures to ensure their own safety and the safety of others. (We’re still talking about cold smoking, but there plenty of examples of these things are easily found in non-bbq contexts!)

nolaegghead · May 2020

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

"Smoke is better".

Is it?

Neither are ideal for clean smoke but is smoldery charcoal and kiln dried wood chips better than smoldery pellets? I dunno.

I've done it both ways and where you can wick off the heat with the ducting you can run just about as hot a fire as you want. Hot fire = good smoke. Doesn't matter IMO it's pellets or wood, but it does matter if it's smoldering vs hot AF.

The Cen-Tex Smoker · May 2020

nolaegghead said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

"Smoke is better".

Is it?

Neither are ideal for clean smoke but is smoldery charcoal and kiln dried wood chips better than smoldery pellets? I dunno.

I've done it both ways and where you can wick off the heat with the ducting you can run just about as hot a fire as you want. Hot fire = good smoke. Doesn't matter IMO it's pellets or wood, but it does matter if it's smoldering vs hot AF.

Ah- I assumed you would run like a low and slow fire and cool it further with the vents.

Smoking Bacon help Please

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