10lbs of Bacon on the WSM


 
BHasselback

BHasselback

TVWBB Member
I'm making 40lbs total...after slicing, I'm dividing and freezing in 1lb portions, then giving 5lbs to all my cul-de-sac neighbors. Used a pretty standard curing recipe...I did 10lbs for 4 days straight, so each day from today until Thu, there will be 10lbs ready to go. Kept the WSM pretty easily at 190ish for the 3 or so hours it took to get to a 155F internal. Slicing is a little tedious...wish I had a meat slicer. House smells pretty good though.

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Yup , a good meat slicer is the bees knees.

A good used semi commercial or commercial one can be had for a fair price. It's a lifetime purchase.

Mine gets used for pastrami, smoked pork loin, and bacon. Speaking of which I need to make a pastrami soon.

The thickness of the bacon has everything to do with how evenly it cooks. You can't have really good bacon unless it's sliced uniformly, and thin.

You will read people on here say that homemade bacon cooks different than store-bought....... No, it cooks exactly the same when it's sliced thin. When you cut a big thick chunk of meat because you can't slice it thin, it cooks differently. The thickness has everything to do with how good the bacon is.

I read a lot of people convincing themselves they like thick bacon......... Without a meat slicer I would not even bother personally. It's a difference between good bacon and chunks of ham-like fried meat .

I bought my meat slicer ......after making my first bacon and slicing by hand. Its a hassle.....and really doesnt work

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MartinB said:
Yup , a good meat slicer is the bees knees.

A good used semi commercial or commercial one can be had for a fair price. It's a lifetime purchase.

Mine gets used for pastrami, smoked pork loin, and bacon. Speaking of which I need to make a pastrami soon.

The thickness of the bacon has everything to do with how evenly it cooks. You can't have really good bacon unless it's sliced uniformly, and thin.

You will read people on here say that homemade bacon cooks different than store-bought....... No, it cooks exactly the same when it's sliced thin. When you cut a big thick chunk of meat because you can't slice it thin, it cooks differently. The thickness has everything to do with how good the bacon is.

I read a lot of people convincing themselves they like thick bacon......... Without a meat slicer I would not even bother personally. It's a difference between good bacon and chunks of ham-like fried meat .

I bought my meat slicer ......after making my first bacon and slicing by hand. Its a hassle.....and really doesnt work

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Have any advice on where to find a used industrial sliver???
 
They're on craigslist and eBay. Probably Facebook marketplace too since that's taken over from craigslist and a lot of areas.

Bought mine off of eBay. A medium duty Globe model that's not made any longer. Powerful for anything I throw at it and will slice bacon. It's a lifetime purchase I keep it on the shelf in the garage and bring it in put it on the kitchen counter when I need it. Weighs about 45 lb. It is wonderful for slicing pastrami, smoked pork loin, and bacon.

People go to restaurant auctions and literally buy them for $30........ Then put them on eBay and sell them for a $200.

Just got to watch.

Some people have had some satisfaction with new Chinese ones...... That's another option. I like my Italian made Globe though.

There have been changes to meet slicers in recent years to prevent people from slicing their fingers off. On many of them the ring guard is not easily removable from the blade for cleaning now, takes tools to remove the blade because the ring guard isn't removable. They all used to be just a knob... The ring guard was attached to the cover on the front of the blade... And you could run it without the guard if you wanted to , which is what I do to hold a cleaning wipe against the blade while spinning. Ease of cleaning is very important, and generally older commercial slicers are easier to clean than the new Chinese ones
 
You can buy a new Chinese one, some people have done that here. But you get a lot more for your money with a quality commercial duty item, imo. I have an italian made Globe medium duty model that's not produced any longer. Plus you have parts available if needed. The length of the carriage throw is important for slicing bacon...... Most of the cheap Chinese models have relatively short carriage travel distances. This causes some people to convince themselves that they like their bacon short by cutting their belly in half, and having 2.5 in long wafers of bacon after they cook them......




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That pork belly looks amazing.
Where did you get it?

We do 10lb batches in a performer using a modified Jabin Postal recipe and bag a bunch of 1lb vac seal bags.
My family just likes a bit of maple and a bunch of pepper so I don’t go too sweet.

Not that it matters but I don’t think our 7 day wet cure penetrates all the way and I flip 2 times a day.
I might experiment with injection and a few different flavor ideas like habanero Honey and such.
Ate some last night and it puts store bought to shame.

I kinda ruined the first batch we made by not using our slicer.
We now use the slicer on every batch and use the ends sections in beans or veggies.
 
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