Bacon - My Journey

[SheilaAnn]

I hovered at about 225F pretty consistently on KJ Jr. I used hickory, next time will be applewood. The taste test was yesterday after cooling. Funny you say about it being smokier the next day. I wrapped it very well and my fridge still smells pretty strong. The belly was lean and there was some rendering, too. I am getting ready to cook up another slice. I will report back.

[tbob4]

What wood did you use? What temp and time? I have gone away from almond wood for smoke and to oak. It tames the smoke (sometimes too much). I really dry the belly after rinsing. I have found that if I leave it in the fridge overnight before slicing, it tends to be smokier throughout. The leaner the belly, the smokier it seems to be. I really go low on temp (200 to 210) with much smaller splits of wood. They tend to burn cleaner and allow me to keep my dampers fully open. I have to tend the fire a bit more that way but I like the results. The slice you show looks really lean for a belly. Was it lean to begin with or did it render? Don’t know if any of that helps. Just my observations from my cooks.

[SheilaAnn]

Followed the recipe from AR to the letter with the exception of salt. I am a Diamond Crystal user. After tasting the bacon yesterday, I realized the error in my ways. I have spent the past couple hours reading about why there is a difference. Live and learn. This is my first bacon I have made by myself. I think I overdone it on the smoke.

Post Cure

Post Smoke



Sliced after cooling down

Small chunk cooked off

It slices beautifully using a long scalloped slicer that gboss talked about in his thread about his weekend
Flavor is good, but very heavy on the smoke, like Nueske’s. I welcome all feedback!