Tim Mulvihill
TVWBB Fan
So after reading Bob Correll's post "Bacon Made Easy," I finally decided to pull the trigger and try my hand at making bacon.
After several phone calls I found a place that sells pork belly & another that sells MTC. The butcher said they had to order the pork belly & it would come 8-10 lbs @ $2.99/lb. I went to pick it up last night & it was 11.5 lbs!!!! I was a little nervous buying that big of pork belly in case I srew it up, but bought it anyway.
Got home, cut it into 3 big slabs, teased the wife with the pig nipples, and coated with MTC, black pepper, & brown sugar & placed in the fridge in 3 separate bags.
Here's my questions when it's done curing:
1) Can I rinse them pretty hardily when they are done curing? I've seen other people mention how salty the bacon can be.
2) When I let them air dry in the fridge, is that covered or uncovered?
3) I was going to leave the skin on for smoking because I saw the it peels easily when the pork belly has been heated up. However, can I just as easily pull the skin off @ let's say 100 F internal? I was just wondering so I can get smoke flavor on both sides of the belly.
Thank you ahead of time in helping me turn this 11.5 lbs of pork belly into delicious, edible bacon.
After several phone calls I found a place that sells pork belly & another that sells MTC. The butcher said they had to order the pork belly & it would come 8-10 lbs @ $2.99/lb. I went to pick it up last night & it was 11.5 lbs!!!! I was a little nervous buying that big of pork belly in case I srew it up, but bought it anyway.
Got home, cut it into 3 big slabs, teased the wife with the pig nipples, and coated with MTC, black pepper, & brown sugar & placed in the fridge in 3 separate bags.
Here's my questions when it's done curing:
1) Can I rinse them pretty hardily when they are done curing? I've seen other people mention how salty the bacon can be.
2) When I let them air dry in the fridge, is that covered or uncovered?
3) I was going to leave the skin on for smoking because I saw the it peels easily when the pork belly has been heated up. However, can I just as easily pull the skin off @ let's say 100 F internal? I was just wondering so I can get smoke flavor on both sides of the belly.
Thank you ahead of time in helping me turn this 11.5 lbs of pork belly into delicious, edible bacon.