Bacon made easy


 
Dwain,
I've found that spices, etc don't do much for bacon during the cure.
I usually add the proper amount of TQ, then coat lightly with brown sugar.

Here's a couple of my experiments that turned out well.
 
Today is the day to add a little smoke to about 4 pounds of cured pork belly...

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Gonna use apple & hickory wood for smoke flavor... I'll add photos during/after it's smoked...
 
Bob Correll said:
Dwain,
I've found that spices, etc don't do much for bacon during the cure.
I usually add the proper amount of TQ, then coat lightly with brown sugar.

Here's a couple of my experiments that turned out well.
Click to expand...

Thanks Bob.

Jim Lampe said:
Today is the day to add a little smoke to about 4 pounds of cured pork belly...

IMG_3030.JPG


Gonna use apple & hickory wood for smoke flavor... I'll add photos during/after it's smoked...
Click to expand...

"It's gonna be a good day Tater."
 
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I cut about a 1 pound piece off of this belly, will use that some other time some other way;)

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set up in front of the garage, out of the breezy Sunday wind...

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Hope your Sunday is smokey!
 
3 hours later....

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vacuum sealed, tossed into ice water for ten minutes then into the freezer.
I'll probably slice it tomorrow.

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I got this hunka pork loin curing now, about a 3 lb piece... we'll smoke that next Sunday.

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Thanks for viewing:)
 
r benash said:
Nice work Jim. I just hooked into a fairly local farm that raises all natural heritage breeds. Actually went through a butchering class with them a couple weeks ago. The belly on those pigs was awesome. I be picking some up in the next few weeks to play with.
Click to expand...

I have about 8 pounds of heritage Berkshire belly curing right now. It's not that thick, so I'm thinking it doesn't need the full 7 days, it's been curing since Saturday and already feels firm. I'm a little nervous about not curing it enough, so I'm gonna let it go a few more days just in case.
 
I just started my heritage 5lb two days ago. Using the Ruhlman recipe. I'm on second day. Don't see any liquid yet but turned it over this morning.
 
Jim Lampe said:
3 hours later....

IMG_3093.JPG


IMG_3094.JPG


IMG_3095.JPG


vacuum sealed, tossed into ice water for ten minutes then into the freezer.
I'll probably slice it tomorrow.

IMG_3096.JPG


I got this hunka pork loin curing now, about a 3 lb piece... we'll smoke that next Sunday.

IMG_3004.JPG


Thanks for viewing:)
Click to expand...

Jim, that bacon looks amazing! Ready and waiting for the pork loin results...! :D
 
I did the standard recipe (from the first post of this thread), with a pork loin to make canadian bacon. It's been curing for a week, so I'm at the rinse stage. Two quick questions:

1. Should I just rinse well, and put in the fridge to dry? Or soak, and put in the fridge submerged in water?
2. It's super hot here, and likely will be tomorrow. I'm aiming for a slow smoke to 145 internal, but the heat index is ~105-110 here during the day. What should the target temp for my WSM be?
 
Here's mine - do we really need more bacon pics :cool:

http://s80.photobucket.com/user/rbenash/library/BBQ/Simple Bacon

This is basically the finish after the Ruhlman Maple recipe after bringing the belly up to 140 degree temp over hickory, slicing and vac seal. Should be starting to eat some tomorrow. I do have to say the Ruhlman is correct in suggesting to try some right off the grid, but this stuff was so awesome it was to scary. I really needed to get it off the counter ASAP. Step back slowly.... crazy good. I think the breed and the way the pig was raised (fed in the woods basically) has something to do with it :)

I did remove and reserve the skin after smoking. Going to use that skin to play with cracklins but also as thickener/flavor in some Potage St. Germain (great pea soup recipe).

Well worth the effort. Easy is right - didn't take much at all. Maintaining 140 deg in the WSM 18 with the controller was simple. Just added hickory or lump as required until the internal temp hit the mark. It was smoked during a work day. The controller comes in handy for those opportunities:wsm:

Cooking some strips up today.
 
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*sigh* You all got me hooked ....

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I've been looking at this thread for awhile and decided to give bacon a run. Went on a hunt for pork belly but couldn't find one anywhere, and then I get an alert from Groupon saying a coupon was about to expire, and dang if it wasn't a deal I snagged couple months ago for $15 for $30 worth of meat at a local meat market (N.side of Indy). So I called them, not really expecting them to have any pork belly - but they DID! I went up and picked up this 6.5 lb belly and 2 lbs of skirt steak for that $15 investment. :cool: Froze it in the deep-freeze because I had to get the MTQ and a few other things I'd need for this little adventure....and finally.....Last night, I started the MTQ cure. I think this is going to be a long, slow 7 days. Will keep you posted ! :)
 
Go get it done Sheila, you won't regret it. I've been holding 1lb from my last run. Going back to the heritage pig source to place another order for belly and this time a whole bone in loin or a whole butt as well.

With this last lb of already cured bacon I'm going to give it a short soak and hit it again with a quick cinnamon/sugar cure in the fridge.

Just to do a flavor mod.

I've done this previous with a recipe from Clinton St. Baking Company in NYC. They prep it from cured bacon. They do an all sugar cure, but I want to play with the recipe and
this time and mix in some cinnamon.

Ray
 
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Eeek. Last night I went to flip the bacon and the bag I put brown sugar on wasn't sealed, A LOT of liquid spilled/leaked out. The other bag is sealed ok. I am hoping most the liquid was a result of the brown sugar, as the other bag doesn't have hardly any liquid in it yet (I put cracked pepper on that one). I got to thinking this morning that I may have lost too much of the cure. Thank goodness I had the bags on a sheet pan so the mess was somewhat controlled.

Should I be worried?
 
Thanks Jim...I did spend time rubbing in the MTQ, both piece seem to be firming up the same- thank goodness! Really appreciate the feedback, I needed some reassurance! "its ok, little one"... ;)

Now for my shameless shout-out for todays NFL: GO COLTS !!!!
 
Some pieces of belly drops quite a lot of liquid, other pieces almost nothing. I've never found any differences in the final result. This is normal, and I'm sure that the missing liquid will not affect the end result. Looking forward to a picture of the final result!
 
Geir Widar said:
Some pieces of belly drops quite a lot of liquid, other pieces almost nothing. I've never found any differences in the final result. This is normal, and I'm sure that the missing liquid will not affect the end result. Looking forward to a picture of the final result!
Click to expand...

In my run I had almost no liquid really. I think it's because it was from a heritage resource. Nothing get's pumped with water during processing. They basically trap the pigs running around in the woods and take them to a abattoir (SP?) which is a small plant who kills the pig for them then does the big cuts, hangs it for a few days and then back to the farm for breaking down into the major groups.

Commercial pork has tends to have a lot of water (and less fat)
 
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