Curing and smoking bacon for the WSM 18.5 - Help check my sanity :)

Hello All,

I have done a lot of research and wanted to make sure I understand correctly. I have two pieces of pork belly. I am doing one in a dry rub using http://ruhlman.com/2010/10/home-cured-bacon-2/. It went in the fridge tonight for a smoke on Sunday. I had a 3.5 lb piece so I used equivalent measuring of everything else. I only emitted the fresh thyme as I did not have any on hand.

Here is what it looked like vacuum sealed:





I will be doing a wet brine using the recipe here: http://saucissonmac.blogspot.com/2009/10/taking-back-bacon.html. Since that only needs to cure for three days I will start that later. On this recipe it has a recipe for a pickling spice. I already have pre-made McCormick pickling spices I used when I wet cured a ham. If I add up all the pickling spices, that equates to roughly 4 tablespoons. I assume this is fine to use?

Both bellies had the skin on it. From reading, I think it looks split over whether to remove prior to curing or not. I decided not to remove it as it will be easier to remove after smoking. Hopefully this wasn't a mistake.

Speaking of smoking, I am a little lost here. I know there is a cold smoke and a hot smoke option. I have a WSM 18.5 with no cold smoke accessories. So I am going to assume that I will be hot smoking. All three sites I am reviewing have different smoking temps. Ruhlman says 200, the wet cure one says 250, and this site says 150ish http://makeprojects.com/Project/Homemade+Bacon/218/1.

What temp should I smoke these bellies at? And if it is a lower temp like 150, what is the best way to do this in the WSM? And I have both apple wood and alder wood chips. Should I do straight apple or a mix of the two?

Well, that is all I have going on right now. Everything look in order? AM I missing anything important?

This question should probably be moved to the charcuterie section.

I will be doing my first bacon next weekend and have the same question about getting my 18.5" to 185°.

Today I added the other belly to the brine wet cure. So I have both bellies now curing. I plan to take them out Saturday afternoon, rinse, and dry for 24 hours to smoke after church and lunch.

I did notice on the "dry" rub one I vacuum sealed, there tends to be a lot of moisture/liquid in the bag now. I assume this means the cure is doing it's job?

Jason & Brian,
Click here to see how some members have set up the WSM for bacon smoking.

I usually use my kettle, keeping a few coals going on one side, and use wood chips in foil.
with a few small holes poked in the top.
There is fire/heat, vent control, adding more chips tending to do, and I find it easier doing this on a kettle.

I try to keep the hood temps in the 170-200 zone, and smoke until the darkness suits me.
Lately I've been taking the internal to around 140, but have cold smoked in the past.

Jason, the liquid you see is normal when dry curing.

Good luck to you both, I'm sure it will all turn out great!

Jason: I've done the Saucisson Mac recipe once and used the McCormick pickling spice. It turned out great.

In fact, it's been a while, but I just picked up some belly a couple hours ago and will be getting it into the brine tonight.

So last night I took both bellies out and rinsed, patted them dry, and put them on cookie racks over cookie sheets to dry in the fridge. This afternoon I took them out to smoke. The dry cure one looked fabulous. Great color throughout. Problem is it is about a half inch thick. Next time I need to find better bellies. I did cut a piece and fried it and it seemed good.



The wet brine one looked...anemic. More a grey color in places. I am sure I used enough prague curing salt. I followed the directions and adjusted the rations for everything based on how many pounds of belly there were. When I cut the rind off (which I did a bad butcher job of) and got down to some of the meat, it looked nice and pink like the dry. Also, it just seemed to have a weird shape to it after sitting in a brine. Like it got super loose. Anyways, here are some pictures of that one:





I started a mini -minion file and loaded it up with apple wood chips. I may have put too much on there but oh well:



I set my newly built and tested HeaterMeter Automatic Controller to 150. Right now it is hovering around 162. Bellies are at around 130. I will be smoking to around 150. When I do that, I read I need to put them back in the fridge to firm up before slicing?

140-150. Put the in bags and give 'em an ice bath. Then into the freezer to firm up for slicing. You don't want them frozen, but very cold. Just easier to slice that way.

Well I think I over smoked the bacon. It had a harsh smoke flavor and a little soot on it. From the picture above, does it look like I used too much wood?

UPDATE: After cutting them and not eating an end piece, the smoke flavor seemed to be fine. Tasted pretty decent. I still think I need a better belly next time. Here is a picture of some of the bacon.

Congrats! Nice job.

The end pieces can get very salty and smoky, eh?

I think the thinner slab (dry cure) is still too smokey. Im not really a fan. I liked the flavor better than the wet brine using the McCormick's pickling spices. It tasted too savory like ham. I dunno. Not really happy with either.

Can someone give me some direction on how much wood to use? I had apple wood chips and used to hand fulls at the beginning of the burn. Probably too much?

Here is a pick of some of the wet brine bacon on a chicken breast club sandwhich:

Slice it up, bag it, and leave it in the freezer for a forthnight, at least. The smoke taste will mellow out, and be much more pleasant. I oversmoke my bacon on purpose, because it will be better after a couple of weeks or so. I know no other way to get a rich smoke taste on frozen bacon. If you smoke your bacon to be ready to eat at once, the smoke taste will almost be gone after a period of storing in a freezer.

Geir Widar said:

Slice it up, bag it, and leave it in the freezer for a forthnight, at least. The smoke taste will mellow out, and be much more pleasant. I oversmoke my bacon on purpose, because it will be better after a couple of weeks or so. I know no other way to get a rich smoke taste on frozen bacon. If you smoke your bacon to be ready to eat at once, the smoke taste will almost be gone after a period of storing in a freezer.

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Should I vacuum seal it? Will that give the meat the option to mellow out?

I usually vacuum seal my bacon. The bitter smoke taste mellows out. Vacuum sealing is prefered, just because less oxygen will keep the fatty parts of the bacon fresh longer, as well as it will prevent freezer burn. On the other hand, it won't last long.

I can't really say if sealing the bacon does this or that to the taste. Just storing helps, you can leave your bacon fresh in the fridge for a week, and much the bitter smoke taste will be gone, as well. I think the time is the important factor.

Geir Widar said:

I usually vacuum seal my bacon. The bitter smoke taste mellows out. Vacuum sealing is prefered, just because less oxygen will keep the fatty parts of the bacon fresh longer, as well as it will prevent freezer burn. On the other hand, it won't last long.

I can't really say if sealing the bacon does this or that to the taste. Just storing helps, you can leave your bacon fresh in the fridge for a week, and much the bitter smoke taste will be gone, as well. I think the time is the important factor.

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Thanks I will vacuum seal it, and freeze it for a week and see what happens

A couple of weeks is better, but if you are needy, why not try after one week. It won't hurt you. But don't not draw any final conclusions. Good luck.