smoking BACON!

rgreenberg2000

rgreenberg2000

Got my bacon finished up today. This was a cryovac'd belly from CostCo that I put in a dry cure for 8 days, smoked on my pellet smoker (1.5 hours @ 180°, and 2.75 hours @ 200°) until 150° internal, fridged overnight, then sliced up on my electric slicer today. Really one of the easiest bits of charcuterie one can make, with the hands on portion really measured in less than 60 minutes total. :)

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It really is pretty easy, Hellfire! I use the calculator at this LINK, plug in the weight of the belly I'm curing, and it gives me salt, sugar and cure #1 amounts (you can add other flavorings like pepper, maple syrup, spices, etc.) Rub it all in, give it 7-10 days, then smoke it slow until it's 150 degrees. Cool, slice, fry, eat. The biggest amount of effort is finding the belly (though Costco has it pretty regularly here.) Once you make your own bacon, you won't go back to store bought!
 
I did a batch of bacon, but didn't use cure. The worst part for me was trying to slice it, but my brother in law has a slicer now, so I should make another batch.
 
Walchit said:
I did a batch of bacon, but didn't use cure. The worst part for me was trying to slice it, but my brother in law has a slicer now, so I should make another batch.
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I used to slice mine by hand with my 14" slicer knife, and it worked fine, just time consuming. I scored a great slicer on Craigslist a few years ago, and it makes the job easier/faster for sure (though sometimes it feels like cleaning the slicer takes as long as cutting everything up!) :)
 
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