Makin' Bacon

[mnavarre]

My first shot at making streaky bacon. Two slabs of side meat, both just under 1 1/2 pounds, cured for two days as per the simple bacon recipe and the curing calculator.



Decided to do one slab with a pepper crust and leave the other plain except for the pepper that glommed into the fat cap. On the kettle @225 with a couple chunks of apple.



Fingers crossed! We'll see what we're workin' with here in an hour or so.

[Mark V]

I predict you will be very happy with both of them! They look great.

[Santamarina]

I’ve bought a couple pork bellies over the years. Never cured, just sliced and cooked like regular bacon under the guise of "its more healthy."

Reality...nothing is healthy. Going to do a full cure on the next one!

[Troutman]

I'm wondering if 2 days is enough cure time. I assume the calculator told you that.

[mnavarre]

It actually said 1.4 days, they're only an inch thick.

[Troutman]

I did a 4 pound belly last month and I think the calculator said 4 days. It really wasn't much thicker, maybe 1 1/2". I ended up going 7 days, couldn't get to it during the week. I really wanted the maple syrup I added to penetrate as much as possible. Hope yours turns out good !!

[holehogg]

Doing my first as well. Just have a longer cure time so will be smoking comming weekend. Looking forward to your results.

[mountainsmoker]

Good luck, it should come out delicious. I take mine to 150 for the fully cooked staged.

[mnavarre]

Came out pretty good. Certainly seems cured, though it's not as salty as I expected and a bit on the sweet side for my tastes.





Next time I make it I'll probably back off on the sugar a bit and maybe give it a bit longer in the cure. I should probably go buy a couple of bellies.

[mountainsmoker]

Looks nice. You don't have any brown uncured spots. Try one more day for the salt. I normally do a 5lb slab for 7 days with my recipe but it is not the same as Meatheads.

[mnavarre]

Yeah, it's cured no problem, but I do think another day would not have hurt and may have had some benefit.

[mnavarre]

Some more thoughts after I got a chance to cook up a few slices.

I'm not sure that it's too sweet, rather I think the molasses from the brown sugar is too prominent. Need to play with different sugars. I used honey on my last back bacon and that is fantastic. Maybe turbinado or piloncilo.

The pepper crust? Do that. It's so good. Mental note: use some fresh Tellicherry next time.

I could have rolled heavier smoke right up front with the apple, maybe add some oak for bite.

Salt. Needs a bit more, or maybe longer in the brine.

Definitely need to go buy a couple of bellies to experiment with. For science.

[Mark V]

I have made bacon with hickory, post oak, pecan, cherry, mesquite, and apple.

Apple was the least flavorful. But, all of the flavors have their uses.

[DWCowles]

Looks good. I need to do this again it’s been awhile since I have made bacon.

[Sweaty Paul]

Looks outstanding!

[mountainsmoker]

I like maple wood. I also use maple sugar and maple syrup.