Cliff Bartlett
R.I.P. 5/17/2021
Haven't done a lot of cooks lately. One thing I have had going over the last week or so is my first attempt at bacon. I've had Bob's recipe bookmarked for a while now and finally got to it. I followed his recipe and his follow up comments to questions on the thread closely. Here's my offering, which I was extremely happy with. My wife loved it too. I'll use some it on a later post today or tomorrow. Just to balance out the afternoon I did some quick brownies on the 14 inch WSM after I got done with the bacon. Photo's of that too. Here we go.
Picked up a small pork belly at our Butcher Shop, just around 3 lbs.
Washed, skinned and trimmed it.
Seasoned it as stated in Bob's recipe. Tender Quick, brown sugar and I added a little black pepper.
Bagged it and placed in refrigerator for seven days, turning every day.
After seven full days, I pulled from fridge. Here's my only mistake. I failed to re-read Bob's recipe and I rinsed it off and bagged it for the night. Then the next morning I reviewed the recipe and saw I should have placed, uncovered in fridge over night. So, I did just that and left it uncovered for another day. Finally, after the delay, I got it on my 14 in. WSM.
Took about three hours to get IT up to 145. I cold smoked at around 160.
Cooled immediately by bagging and placing in ice water. Refrigerated until I have a chance to use it. Pulled it out over the weekend and sliced it up. Another small mistake here. Should have given it time in the freezer to firm up and make for easier slicing. Got some of my slices a little too thick for our taste. Another lesson learned... Have a super sharp, long knife! Mine did OK.
All sliced up.
While I was doing this cook, the Canadian Snowbirds did a performance at the Redding Air Show. Just for the heck of it I snapped this picture. They were about 5 miles away so this was the best I could get. Didn't have enough lens and am still have novice ability with my camera for this type of shot.
I ran the WSM up to 325. Got this out of cupboard. Didn't have time to do them from scratch like I usually do.
Continued.
Picked up a small pork belly at our Butcher Shop, just around 3 lbs.
Washed, skinned and trimmed it.
Seasoned it as stated in Bob's recipe. Tender Quick, brown sugar and I added a little black pepper.
Bagged it and placed in refrigerator for seven days, turning every day.
After seven full days, I pulled from fridge. Here's my only mistake. I failed to re-read Bob's recipe and I rinsed it off and bagged it for the night. Then the next morning I reviewed the recipe and saw I should have placed, uncovered in fridge over night. So, I did just that and left it uncovered for another day. Finally, after the delay, I got it on my 14 in. WSM.
Took about three hours to get IT up to 145. I cold smoked at around 160.
Cooled immediately by bagging and placing in ice water. Refrigerated until I have a chance to use it. Pulled it out over the weekend and sliced it up. Another small mistake here. Should have given it time in the freezer to firm up and make for easier slicing. Got some of my slices a little too thick for our taste. Another lesson learned... Have a super sharp, long knife! Mine did OK.
All sliced up.
While I was doing this cook, the Canadian Snowbirds did a performance at the Redding Air Show. Just for the heck of it I snapped this picture. They were about 5 miles away so this was the best I could get. Didn't have enough lens and am still have novice ability with my camera for this type of shot.
I ran the WSM up to 325. Got this out of cupboard. Didn't have time to do them from scratch like I usually do.
Continued.
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. Not bad at all on the brownies either! Never seen that done before in a smoker either. You are a brave man 
Pork belly looked amazing, though.
