My first stab at bacon

[Russ Sylvester]

Well, I took the plunge into the wonderful world of bacon, and it is wonderful. Should have done it a long time ago.

I figured I would do a small piece for my first try so I wouldn't ruin a huge piece if it went wrong. I also used a very simple rub that actually worked out very well.

So here we go....
This is the piece I used, the rub, and the Maple Syrup.

All rubbed up and ready to go into the fridge for seven days, flipping each day.

Seven days gone by and now it's time to rinse well

Then it's into the cooker at 225 with a generous amount of apple until ~140 internal

We're there!

Into the ice bath to quickly stop the cooking

Now for the fun part, slice it up

Of course a little taste test is absolutely needed, and it was really good

Bag and freeze the rest

In another couple of weeks I'll be doing a full size belly. I've got a comp next weekend so it will have to be after that. The next time I want to try one piece with a little spicy to it and one piece with more maple taste in it.

Russ

 

[Geir Widar]

This is the way to go. Looks delicious.

 

[Chris W.]

Looks great! Glad to hear it tasted good.

 

[Bob Correll]

Super looking bacon Russ!
Did you have cure agents in the rub?

 

[Len Dennis]

You know, you gotta post the rub ingredients too . "Simple" doesn't cut it.

 

[Russ Sylvester]

Yeah, I guess I was a bit vague there. Sorry about that.

Here it is:
1 Tbsp Tender-Quick (per pound of meat)
1 Tbsp Turbo Sugar
1 Tbsp Black Pepper
1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
1 Tbsp Onion Powder
2 tsp Chipotle
Here's the subjective part. Two or three 'glugs' of Maple syrup (how's that for exacting measurements?)
You may notice that after the rinse, I added additional black and 5 peppercorn pepper before putting on the smoker.

Had some more yesterday for my Sunday breakfast. I'll never buy storebought stuff ever again.

Btw, I had some questions about what was on the lower shelf of the cooker. It was a bottom round that was braising for sliced beef sammich's.

Russ

 

[Len Dennis]

Thanks for the detail. Now to try it in a future cook.

 

[Tony R]

Thanks for sharing....
Now I'm craving bacon. I got to do my own also.