Second Bacon Makin'

[Ron Frost]

This was my second try at making bacon. The first attempt was good but came out a bit too salty IMO. This batch was much better IMHO. I dry cured both batches using the recipe from Charcuterie. I cut a 12 lb belly into 4 manageable slabs and cured them in ziploc bags for 10 days with the addition of a 1/4 cup of brown sugar added to the 2 bags of 2 slabs.
Here it is after 10 days of curing.

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Since the first batch was a bit too salty for my taste I decided to give it a soak before smoking it this time. I soaked it for 2 hours changing the water every 30 minutes.

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I used the Weber Smoking Rack on my 18.5" with some skewers to hang the bacon. The weight of the bacon was bit much for the skewers so I added an additional "support" .

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I setup the smoker with an empty foiled water boil, some Royal Oak and a mix of apple, cherry, pecan and hickory and smoked at about 175 - 200 until the slabs were 150 (no peaking).

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OK, had to peak after about an hour.

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I continued smoking for a total or 4 hours to get to 150.

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I put the slabs into an ice bath then removed the skin, wrapped and put in the fridge overnight. Sorry I forgot to take pictures the next day when I sliced a slab and did some sampling. I love home made bacon! Thanks for checking out my post.

 

[RJ Banks]

Good looking bacon so far. Remember to post more after slicing and cooking.

 

[Bill Schultz]

Looks great Ron, second the pic request

 

[tjkoko]

I cut my twelve-pound bellies into three slabs, cut perpendicular to the long axis, which fit quite nicely onto both grates and smoke up quite well. I might recommend smoking at not much more than 150F so as to not render much of the fat. I love fat.

 

[Darren C.]

I'm drooling. I love the color. I can't wait to try some bacon. I'm on day 4 of my first cure right now, doing Canadian Bacon. Depending upon how this comes out, bacon might be next.