And So It Begins...The Great Bacon Experiment 2010

Epicurean Exploits - Food and Recipes
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Boil it or use the microwave.

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Just amusing myself . . .

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What, I don’t rate a ++ ?

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Is this a common prep? I seriously have never heard of BOILING bacon. I use a pan/griddle

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hey Zach, I got this bridge …

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ahhhhh…just got out of a LONG meeting! take your bridge and shove it! neener

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[rofl.gif] … i was wondering why there wasn’t a “Hidden Treasures of “Where the Wild Things Are”” thread yet

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Just got finished with dry cure application numero dos. I decanted off four ounces of liquid that was pulled from the belly. It is taking on a nice darker color now…sorry, no pics as we had a minor crisis tonight. I washed the belly and pattted dry with paper towels before the second (and lighter) application of the curing mixture.

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After two days in the cure, I got another three ounces of liquid off the belly.

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OK, so makin’ bacon is over. I smoked the belly yesterday, carved the critter up and cooked up a couple of slices. So thoughts:

  1. Less salt and more sugar in the cure. It is salty, but no more than Benton’s

  2. Lower smoker temp for a tad longer as the ends are more done and “ham” like vs. bacon. Not an issue as it will make good bacon bits for taters.

  3. Less smoke wood at longer intervals as the bacon definitely took up quite a bit of smoke.

  4. Invest in a commercial slicer as hand slicing is difficult for uniformity of thickness and you just get tired of using a knife.

  5. Next belly will get cut into three pieces and brined using three different cures.

Pics coming soon.

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Pork belly out of the cure. All-in-all, the belly yielded right at two cups of liquid during the curing process. Very firm to the touch.

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Cured belly about halfway through the two hour smoking process on the Weber Kettle. Using an oak hardwood charcaol fire with apple wood chips.

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We now have bacon.

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Slicing and cooking.

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The finished product. Not bad for my first time out. Gutting gets to try some this weekend as I am taking a pound for his opinion.

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Looks tasty…cant wait to get my hands on some.

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I’m sorry to be late to this party …

But Bill indeed graced us with a pound of this bacon a couple weeks ago, and it was rocking good stuff. Not anywhere near as salty as commercial bacon. Meaty. Luscious fat, more akin to what you’d find in well-braised pork belly. Subtle smoke that is delightfully flavorful. It’s a brilliant first go at it.

Just last night, cubed up about half of it and made spaghetti carbonara, and it was absolutely magnificent. Cure your own bacon. It’s well worth it.

Grateful thanks, Tex!

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Tex - what was your smoking temperature on the Weber, and how long was it smoked? And based on your comments about smoking at a lower temp for a shorter period, what do you think the target temp and exposure should be?

I’ve sourced some really nice locally produced bellies, and thinking about trying this myself.

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I was running between 225 and 250 deg F the whole time…which was exactly two hours to get the belly up to 150 deg F internal.

Next time I am going to use the same amount of smoking wood, but double the amount of ice in the smoker to keep the temp down.

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Also, I should add that next time I will up the ratio of sugar to salt as I like my bacon a tad sweeter.