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.
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 !!
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.
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.
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.
Hi, my name is Darrell. I'm an OTR truck driver for over 25 years. During my off time I love doing backyard cooks. I have a 48" Lang Deluxe smoker, Rec-Tec pellet smoker,1 Weber Genesis 330, 1 Weber Performer (blue), 2 Weber kettles (1 black and 1 Copper), 1 26" Weber kettle, a WSM, 8 Maverick Redi Chek thermometers, a PartyQ, 2 SnS, Grill Grates, Cast Iron grates, 1 ThermoPop (orange) and 2 ThermoPens (pink and orange) and planning on adding more cooking accessories. Now I have an Anova sous vide, the Dragon blower and 2 Chef alarms from Thermoworks.
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