Holiday Bacon (with a bonus gift)


 
Rich G

Rich G

TVWBB Honor Circle
We always have a big breakfast on Xmas morning after opening up gifts. My sister makes a killer coffee cake, I whip up a pile of scrambled eggs and bacon, and my wife is in charge of mimosas.

Had to get the holiday bacon ready to go, so started a belly split in thirds back on 11/22. Two of the thirds got a basic dry cure (salt, sugar, cure #1), and the third got a pancetta cure (salt, sugar, cure #1, juniper, pepper, paprika, and chipotle powder.)

Took them out of the cure yesterday, got them rinsed, and out to dry for a couple hours. Then into the smoke for about 9 hours on the lowest setting on my pellet grill. Wrapped and fringed overnight, and then tested this am.

1733600740367.jpeg

The test slices fried up nicely, and are spot on for my preferences in terms of salt level and flavor! The rest will get the Beswood treatment this afternoon, then vac-packed.

1733600774591.jpeg

The pancetta got rolled and tied, and is now hanging in my garage for a while.....

1733600784880.jpeg

If you haven't made any bacon in a while (or ever), this is definitely your sign to do so! One of the easiest, and best things you can do on your smoker!!

Rich
 
I've made my own bacon before, but your's looks fantastic. I haven't seen a pork belly around here that looks as good as yours, either. Nice job.
 
Tim Campbell said:
Rich, this is awesome. What was the weight of your pancetta?
Click to expand...
Tim, the only reliable weight I have is the one I took when I hung it so I can calculate how much weight it loses in the drying phase. 2042g as of yesterday.....It was obviously somewhat heavier than that when it went into the cure....
 
TonyUK said:
Outstanding! (y)
But I'm not buying you cut those slices by hand. It's perfect. My effort would resemble the hind-leg of a donkey!
Is your meat-slicer "conveniently" out of shot? ;)
Click to expand...
I ll buy three hand cut slices that nice, after the test slices he does say the Beswood slicer will take over.
Damnit, now I want some bacon!
 
TonyUK said:
Ah, I didn't get/understand the Beswood reference. Ta.
Still, those three slices he did by hand look immaculate.
Click to expand...
The full slab doesn't fit on the Beswood, so to get those money shot, full slices, I did, indeed cut them by hand. Very sharp knife AND, knowing I was only hand cutting a couple slices, I took my time to get them lined up well! :)

The Beswood slices are all half length, but that makes fitting them in a skillet a little easier anyway!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top