Sweet hickory bacon!


 
Morgan C.

Morgan C.

TVWBB Diamond Member
Howdy folks..though we would experiment with a couple small pieces of belly as I just ran myself out of the last stash of bacon! Last time around I followed Bobs easy bacon recipe to the tee..was great but lets try something else! Started with 2 2 lb pieces, cut the rind off before the cure and then added about 2 tablespoons each of natural sugar! Thought about maple syrup but baby steps! In the fridge for 5 days and then air dried 1 day! Last nite after work I started up the WSM with about 4 or 5 kingsford coals and set it up like this!
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Used a mix of hickory and cherry wood for smoke which was the small shaving type stuff! I like to use this soaked for this application!
Smoker stayed about 140 to 170 with no issues! I would add a couple coals and some chips about each hour! Here's how it looked at an hour!
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Was a nice nite to babysit!
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Later on that nite about 145 internal!
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On the counter after cooling all nite!
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Sliced
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Testing
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And breakfast!! Little omlett action with the tasty bacon,mushrooms and cheese!
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Over all best bacon yet! I could have went another hour on the smoker, 5 hours at 140 to 160. Unlike the batch I soaked this batch in cold water for about 2 hours, only brined for 5 days due to the size and these came out perfect! Very little salt taste! Loved it! Going to find some maple sugar for my next project!Hopefully I will get some sausage together for the next round as well!!
 
Gosh darn those look great! Thanks for posting the outcome and your approach. I am just starting to learn to make bacon myself. I am substituting honey for the much more rare (around here) maple syrup.

The only thing I'd change is how you cook it. I love oven cooked bacon. I "jaccard" or pierce the bacon with a fork before cooking to help keep it form curling up. Between that and oven cooking, I get beautiful flat pieces of bacon. Should they survive the initial onslaught of hungry hands, they store well in the fridge and can be warmed in a minute or two, handy when making breakfast or the odd BLT in the middle of the night.
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Morgan that bacon looks awsome... I could almost taste it through the computer. I also saw the pics. of the mts. in the background and I had to see where you live...... Alaska I cannot waite untill I retire, Thats where I am moving to..... Whether my wife comes with or not.
 
Beautiful looking bacon Morgan! I am just waiting for my Morton Tenderquick to get here this next week and will be giving it a shot. Going to go with Bob's simple recipe to start with.
 
Sweet looking sweet hickory bacon Morgan!

I've used just brown sugar, just maple sugar, and a combo of each with my TQ cure, and to be honest, I can't tell much if any difference.
But my taster is not highly refined.
 
Bob thanks! I though about upping the Amount of sweet .. Do you have an idea how much you used before?

I also may just try a maple brown sugar glaze and skip adding the sugar!
 
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