The start of something for the new year...

[shify]

Picked up an almost 9 lb pork belly from Costco today and started the cure used the recipe on this site.

Broke the belly into three 3 lb slabs. Two went into the basic cure, one of which will get an extra thick black pepper crust prior to smoking. The third slab is destined to be a sort of pastrami bacon. I added a TBS of my pickling spice to the cure recipe. This slab will be coated in a black pepper/coriander rub and then smoked.

Plan on smoking on New Years Day do that will be a 5+ day cure. Stay tuned.

[Steve B]

Yummmm. Bacon!!!!

[Frozen Smoke]

Looks like a great way to start the new year! I gotta get around to doing some bacon!

[DWCowles]

Beautiful!

[Mr. Bones]

Sweet!
Fine Job, that!

[kmhfive]

Yum!!!! Gotta make some more myself! Your ideas for pepper and spices seem good! Can’t wait to see it finished.

[HouseHomey]

Whoosh. Nice way to break it in!!

[FireMan]

Oooh, oooh, oooh, lookin good!

[Huskee]

Nice! I love the idea of extra pepper, you're singing my song! I need to get another belly, Mh's bacon is fantastic.

[Catmandu]

I, too, picked up a 9lb pork belly recently to make some bacon for the first time. Being my first time I wanted to keep it basic and just followed Meathead's maple bacon recipe on all three 3lb sections. Hung two of the sections in the PBC, and the third in the Weber kettle. Was a little challenging with the temps while smoking, but seemed to come out OK. Fried up a handful of pieces on Christmas morning - tasted great! Next time I'll experiment with other flavorings as you've done here. Keep us posted.

[Troutman]

I'll be following this as well. Love the pastrami one !!!!

[shify]

Two of the three belly chunks about to go on the smoker. Pastrami on top and extra black pepper on the bottom

[shify]

The end result and a sample from the pastrami bacon

[HorseDoctor]

Okay, nice pix! How did it taste???

[shify]

Dinner tonight. Originally meant to be a pastrami bacon BLT but forgot the LT. so bacon on toast. Pastrami cure and rub gave it just a hint of pastrami flavor. Really good but would go stronger on the pickling spice cure and rub next time.