Double smoking bacon: The experiment.

[rickgregory]

So a couple of weeks ago I wondered if smoking bacon 2x would infuse more smoke flavor. I had two 2.5lb hunks of bacon that were very similar, and I'd just smoked them. Well, I'm all about science, so I chilled them for a couple of days, then smoked one of the hunks again.

Both times I smoked at about 250 to 150F or so with apple wood. Both on the Weber. Both took about two hours to get from fridge temp to 150. After I smoked the second belly I chilled them and let them sit in the fridge for a few days (wrapped) to let the smoke settle in.

This morning I cooked them up the way I usually do, in the Lodge cast iron pan, making sure not to burn them. I cook bacon to just crisp.

VERDICT: No difference. The double smoked bacon certainly smelled more smoky out of the bag, but cooking them left zero difference that I could discern. Ruhlman has always said that you can simply roast a cured belly to 150F if you don't have a smoker and I'm starting to think that it would make little difference. Frying seems to drive off the smoke aromatics.

MORE: These were cured with the same salt/sugar cure (2:1 ratio) with some crushed bay leaf and pepper in there. Honestly, I don't detect the herbal influence either.

[Loren]

I'm sad to hear that! But undertaking experiment was appreciated, and the results are interesting....I might now need to convince my wife homemade bacon is needed!

[rickgregory]

Homemade bacon is one of the easiest things to do and the biggest bang for effort. Go look at the price of good pork belly. Then look at bacon. Now thing that all you need is a place to cure it for ~7-10 days in the fridge and a couple of hours to smoke it.

The fridge isn't hard either - get a cambro or Tupperware plastic container and you can set things on it so you really don't lose shelf space, just a little height.

[Donw]

Thank you for doing this experiment. Now to the drudgery of cleaning up after the experiment and having to eat all that bacon.🙂

[rickgregory]

It's all for science!

[HawkerXP]

Have you, or any, tried cooking them for breakfast in the oven, on a rack, or parchment paper. This is how one of my fav hotels in Savannah does it. I dream about their apple wood smoked bacon.

[rickgregory]

Actually, that's on the queue. I cooked them like I usually do but I do want to try this because that way they're not frying in their own oil which could carry off aromatics.