Geir Widar
TVWBB Wizard
I needed to make some more bacon, as there was nothing left in the freezer, and I wanted to compare the traditional Norwegian bacon, cold smoked, with the hot smoked variety.
I promised j.blesinger to try this out, so here it goes, some pictures, but I see I could have taken more.
First of all, the dry brine in a plastic bag, 2,5% regular salt, plus some ground pepper, two teaspoons of nitrate salt, two teaspoons of brown sugar, and two teaspoons of maple sugar. Cured for four days,.
Here’s the belly, cured and rinsed in cold water.
In the second picture you can see two pieces of belly, I cold smoked one of them for 10 hours.
It was not very easy to do this, as it was -15 degrees Fahrenheit outside. I used a small electric oven inside my WSM as well as my home-made smoke generator, aka smokedaddy. I filled it with apple chips three times during the day. No pictures, I had more than enough keeping my fingers warm without fiddling with a camera. Thanks to the heater, the temperature in the WSM was a few degrees over freezing point during smoking.
The other belly was smoked the day after, 180 degrees, and pulled at an internal temperature on 150 degrees Fahrenheit. I used half a chimney of briquettes, as well as five chunks of apple wood to get real smoke flavor during the cook. It took around two hours.
Now, to compare:
Large pics: http://sportsfiske.nu/foto/arkiv/45973/113771.jpg
The cold smoked bacon to the left, the hot smoked to the right. Just look at de difference, both in size and looks.
This is two different products. As I’m more used the bacon on the left side, I found the hot smoked bacon interesting, but if you are more used to that variety, I’d advise you to try the cold smoked one.
Regarding taste- they are very different, but both are much more tasty with a more developed smoke flavour than store- bought bacon. You'd better come over and try both!
I promised j.blesinger to try this out, so here it goes, some pictures, but I see I could have taken more.
First of all, the dry brine in a plastic bag, 2,5% regular salt, plus some ground pepper, two teaspoons of nitrate salt, two teaspoons of brown sugar, and two teaspoons of maple sugar. Cured for four days,.
Here’s the belly, cured and rinsed in cold water.
In the second picture you can see two pieces of belly, I cold smoked one of them for 10 hours.
It was not very easy to do this, as it was -15 degrees Fahrenheit outside. I used a small electric oven inside my WSM as well as my home-made smoke generator, aka smokedaddy. I filled it with apple chips three times during the day. No pictures, I had more than enough keeping my fingers warm without fiddling with a camera. Thanks to the heater, the temperature in the WSM was a few degrees over freezing point during smoking.
The other belly was smoked the day after, 180 degrees, and pulled at an internal temperature on 150 degrees Fahrenheit. I used half a chimney of briquettes, as well as five chunks of apple wood to get real smoke flavor during the cook. It took around two hours.
Now, to compare:
Large pics: http://sportsfiske.nu/foto/arkiv/45973/113771.jpg
The cold smoked bacon to the left, the hot smoked to the right. Just look at de difference, both in size and looks.
This is two different products. As I’m more used the bacon on the left side, I found the hot smoked bacon interesting, but if you are more used to that variety, I’d advise you to try the cold smoked one.
Regarding taste- they are very different, but both are much more tasty with a more developed smoke flavour than store- bought bacon. You'd better come over and try both!
