Alright folks! I followed Meathead's recipe to a tee with a few differences and some notes. I cured it for 12 days. I saw a reply on the webpage where someone asked Meathead if it was ok to cure more than 7-10 days. He confirmed it was ok. Plus, my pork belly was really thick, so the extra few days probably wouldn't hurt. Turns out to be true!
I smoked between 225-275 with two chunks of hickory wood, and one chunk of apple wood. I loved the flavor. I don't remember the exact time, but I think it took about 3 hours.
I refrigerated it overnight and covered it with saran wrap (first), then with aluminum foil. (Per the recipe).
A lesson learned was that it was difficult to slice even slices. And it was difficult to get it non-thick-cut. But, even after cooking the bacon slices on the stove, we still loved (perhaps, even preferred) the very-thick-cut.
Towards the end of the belly, it was pretty uneven, so I made the executive decision to make bacon bits. Excellent decision
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