I think I'll be pulling this bacon out of the vacuum seal bags this evening, rinsing, patting as dry as I can, then back in the fridge overnight and into the smoker tomorrow. Well, I don't know, I might dry it as best I can, then put it in the smoker tonight to get some cold smoke whilst I sleep, then fire it up in the morning to get up to the 150 temp. I've also got 2 bone-in pork butts I need to debone and cut into small chunks, so I can add them when I cook the bacon, then crank the temp when the bacon is done. Looking forward to smoking all day tomorrow! W00T!
Bottom line, I'll have a bunch more bacon by the end of the weekend, as well as a bunch of pulled pork and maybe more birria to seal up and freeze!
Thoroughly rinsed off the salt and cure, then a new coat of pepper.
Thrown in The Duk offset backyard smoker for some cold smoke with just pellet tubes in the firebox, probably 4-5h worth.
Then fired her up for cooking, pulled each slab about 145ºF. Lotsa good smoke on these, now they're resting in the fridge overnight. Not sure if I'll cut them tomorrow or let them dry in the fridge another day or two.
Yes, it definitely smells like smoked meat, in my whole garage, much less the fridge. As much bacon and sausage as I've done the last couple of months, my garage fridge is almost overpowering with a rich, meaty smoke smell when you open it. Not bad, though some might consider it so, I like the smell, but it is a bit overstrong at the moment.
What's the process with the vacuum seals? For years I've been using ziplocs with the 3/4 cup of water (per Meathead's recipe). Or are you using a chamber vac which lets you seal the liquid?
I do a dry cure. Simply rub the cure all over the slabs, then put them in vac bags and seal. I think it helps keep things cleaner in the process, in the fridge, etc. I can flip 'em and rotate 'em, etc. Works fine. If I were doing a wet cure, I wouldn't vac seal, because it would be a mess and I would inevitably screw up the seal trying to close them.
definitely sounds cleaner. same rub recipe, just no water? does it take longer without the liquid? depending on the thickness of the belly, mine usually take about 5 days to cure through.
jtw I think it probably takes a little longer, yes. I use my own dry rub, the amounts and such are different than if doing a liquid cure, yes.
Here's what I use:
My bacon cure 12/07/2024:
400g kosher salt
60g pink curing salt #1
150g sugar
50g 16 mesh black pepper
24g granulated garlic
10g crushed red pepper
7g ground sage
----------------------------
701g total
65.6% kosher+curing salt
Then I weigh each piece and weigh out about 3-3.5% of the cure for each piece and apply it in a large plastic tub, trying to get as much to stick as possible, then slide it carefully into a vac seal bag that has been folded back to form a 'cuff' on the unsealed side. Then I seal it up. I usually double seal both ends. I'm playing around with how much cure to use, but I think 3.5% and a bit longer cure seems to be working fine for me - 10 days usually. Honestly, it's probably done by 7 days, but a little extra time isn't going to hurt.
I should note, last time I didn't use kosher salt - I bought the wrong kind. DOH! It was table salt. Oh well. It still works, yes it's iodized and has a little extra stuff in it, like dextrose, but it's very teeny tiny. As long as I measure amounts by weight and not volume, kosher vs table salt doesn't matter.
<eidt> With this last batch (with the table salt), I felt it was easier to get my cure to adhere, as it dissolved and absorbed more quickly due to the smaller grain size. I'm not sure it's a huge issue, though.
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