JPowers
TVWBB Fan
Feeling confident after reading the entire bacon made easy megathread. I went to my local Costco and picked up a 10 lb. pork belly.
I cut the slab into 3 equal pieces and applied the correct amount of MTQ after weighing each individual piece. Tried 3 different varieties:
1. Just brown sugar
2. Brown sugar and fresh Cracked pepper
3. Maple sugar
Placed each piece in a gallon ziplock and put them in a large steam table pan and into the fridge. I turned them once a day for 8 days. I took them out of the ziplocs and rinsed and soaked (20 minutes) them twice. I then allowed them to air dry uncovered in the fridge for 24 hours.
I checked the forecast and it looked like I had a small window to get them smoked before the rain would come solid for 2 days. I made a double snake of KBB along with alternating small chunks of apple and hickory. Temps settled around 140-150 and I was happy with that. I put the slabs on and all that cold meat dropped the temps to around 115. It ran like that for a couple of hours with all vents opened until it finally started to climb up to 150-155 for the next 4 hours. Highest temp I saw was 160. Caught some light rain throughout the cook, but the WSM stayed pretty steady. After the 5 hour mark and an IT of 125, I threw a half chimney of fully engaged KBB to try to get the IT up to 145. Smoker temp went up to 175 with the bottom vents now at pencil thick opening. Rain was starting to pick up; so I ended up pulling when IT was 138-140 in different parts of each slab.
I then put them in the freezer for about an hour to allow easier slicing by hand.
Fried up a few pieces to try and they were outstanding. The only time I will buy store bought bacon would be if I was desperate. Pieces were just so much "porkier" than store bought.
I cut the slab into 3 equal pieces and applied the correct amount of MTQ after weighing each individual piece. Tried 3 different varieties:
1. Just brown sugar
2. Brown sugar and fresh Cracked pepper
3. Maple sugar
Placed each piece in a gallon ziplock and put them in a large steam table pan and into the fridge. I turned them once a day for 8 days. I took them out of the ziplocs and rinsed and soaked (20 minutes) them twice. I then allowed them to air dry uncovered in the fridge for 24 hours.
I checked the forecast and it looked like I had a small window to get them smoked before the rain would come solid for 2 days. I made a double snake of KBB along with alternating small chunks of apple and hickory. Temps settled around 140-150 and I was happy with that. I put the slabs on and all that cold meat dropped the temps to around 115. It ran like that for a couple of hours with all vents opened until it finally started to climb up to 150-155 for the next 4 hours. Highest temp I saw was 160. Caught some light rain throughout the cook, but the WSM stayed pretty steady. After the 5 hour mark and an IT of 125, I threw a half chimney of fully engaged KBB to try to get the IT up to 145. Smoker temp went up to 175 with the bottom vents now at pencil thick opening. Rain was starting to pick up; so I ended up pulling when IT was 138-140 in different parts of each slab.
I then put them in the freezer for about an hour to allow easier slicing by hand.
Fried up a few pieces to try and they were outstanding. The only time I will buy store bought bacon would be if I was desperate. Pieces were just so much "porkier" than store bought.
Last edited:
