Mike Coffman
TVWBB Olympian
I picked up a 10 pound pork belly on the 25[SUP]th[/SUP] of October. After splitting it in half and doing some
trimming I ended up with a 4 pound slab and a 5 pound slab. I coated both with Morton Tender Quick
only and then put in 2 gallon bags and into the refrigerator, to be turned over every day for the next 7 days.
I need to add that I took the rind completely off one of the slabs to see if there was a difference in flavor
and taste. This time around I skipped all the other additives such as garlic powder, maple syrup, pepper, etc.
as I didn’t really get enough of those flavors out of my first bacon attempt.
I removed them from the refrigerator last Friday night, rinsed them off and cut off a small piece from
each of them to test for saltiness. Both were just about right, so I then cut each slab in half and coated
2 slabs with a 5 pepper blend from McCormick’s and the other 2 slabs were coated with pure maple sugar.
They were then put on cookie racks and back into the refrigerator until Saturday.
On Saturday I coated each of the slabs once again with the pepper mix and the pure maple sugar.
They were then put onto the WSM, with pecan chunks. I held a steady temperature of 160 for
4 hours and when I checked them at the 4 hour mark all the slabs were at 143 internal temperature.
I was shooting for 145. This was close enough for me. So after quickly cooling them down, they were
bagged and put back into the refrigerator. Forgot to take pictures!
I didn’t get around to slicing them yesterday as my helper (wife) was out of town and wouldn’t be
back until late last night. My wife’s mother gave us an old Electra-O-Matic meat slicer and it is really
a 2 person job on using it.
Tonight the bacon was removed from the refrigerator and getting ready to be sliced.
Sliced
Pepper Bacon close up
Maple Bacon close up
Samples into the CI skillet
Almost done
Plated with some fried potatoes with onion and scrambled eggs.
Packaged for the freezer. We ended up with 11 packages of bacon and 2 small packages of bacon ends.
I didn't bother weighing each package as we just put about the same amount in each package.
As far as my experiment with removing the rind went, the pepper bacon seemed to have more of a peppery
flavor with the rind gone. It also stuck real well to both sides of the bacon. The maple bacon was good,
but there was not a strong maple flavor. I think the next time I make bacon I will continue taking the rind
completely off before I use the MTQ. I did remove the rind from the maple bacon while it was still warm and
that was a piece of cake.
Thanks for looking! I probably should have posted this in the Charcuterie forum, so if this is the wrong place Chris
please move it.
trimming I ended up with a 4 pound slab and a 5 pound slab. I coated both with Morton Tender Quick
only and then put in 2 gallon bags and into the refrigerator, to be turned over every day for the next 7 days.
I need to add that I took the rind completely off one of the slabs to see if there was a difference in flavor
and taste. This time around I skipped all the other additives such as garlic powder, maple syrup, pepper, etc.
as I didn’t really get enough of those flavors out of my first bacon attempt.
I removed them from the refrigerator last Friday night, rinsed them off and cut off a small piece from
each of them to test for saltiness. Both were just about right, so I then cut each slab in half and coated
2 slabs with a 5 pepper blend from McCormick’s and the other 2 slabs were coated with pure maple sugar.
They were then put on cookie racks and back into the refrigerator until Saturday.
On Saturday I coated each of the slabs once again with the pepper mix and the pure maple sugar.
They were then put onto the WSM, with pecan chunks. I held a steady temperature of 160 for
4 hours and when I checked them at the 4 hour mark all the slabs were at 143 internal temperature.
I was shooting for 145. This was close enough for me. So after quickly cooling them down, they were
bagged and put back into the refrigerator. Forgot to take pictures!
I didn’t get around to slicing them yesterday as my helper (wife) was out of town and wouldn’t be
back until late last night. My wife’s mother gave us an old Electra-O-Matic meat slicer and it is really
a 2 person job on using it.
Tonight the bacon was removed from the refrigerator and getting ready to be sliced.
Sliced
Pepper Bacon close up
Maple Bacon close up
Samples into the CI skillet
Almost done
Plated with some fried potatoes with onion and scrambled eggs.
Packaged for the freezer. We ended up with 11 packages of bacon and 2 small packages of bacon ends.
I didn't bother weighing each package as we just put about the same amount in each package.
As far as my experiment with removing the rind went, the pepper bacon seemed to have more of a peppery
flavor with the rind gone. It also stuck real well to both sides of the bacon. The maple bacon was good,
but there was not a strong maple flavor. I think the next time I make bacon I will continue taking the rind
completely off before I use the MTQ. I did remove the rind from the maple bacon while it was still warm and
that was a piece of cake.
Thanks for looking! I probably should have posted this in the Charcuterie forum, so if this is the wrong place Chris
please move it.
