Annnnnnnnndddddd heeerrrreeeesssss
BACON!

Lots of pepper topping when it went into the final cure. My next test will prevent unneeded waste - I'll leave the skin on until the final cure then just peel it off. I'm too full to try this tonight so it'll wait until tomorrow and adjust from there.

That looks outstanding. Love me some peppered bacon. Is that cut a little thicker than the last batch?

Yeah. I tried one of those slicer things my wife had. Didn't work worth a darn and I had to go back to the knife and get it straightened out. The other hunk was started with the knife so it sliced up better. I really need to get a meat slicer.

DeCook,

If you chill the bacon down to about 28-30 degrees it will slice much more evenly. It almost has to be frozen to slice on a home meat slicer. It helps even when cutting with a knife. The meat and fat won't be frozen solid until it gets well below freezing, but it firms it up for cutting more easily.

David

Yeah, I did that David. I put the hunks in the freezer for about 45 minutes or so before I tried. It still cut the meat concave. The knife was much better but the carpal in my hands gets to hurting.

Wherever I get a lease this year is going to have pigs and I'm going into pork belly production. I want enough to make that electric slicer worth the money.

Going to lease at end of the month, will help you eat that bacon.

Looks tasty

Looks great. Next time try baking it in the oven instead of pan frying. Cookie sheet covered with parchment paper, place in an oven at 400 hundred degrees (I think it's a cold oven, but I could be wrong) and cook to the consistency you prefer. This allows you to easily cook large batches of bacon without all the mess and burns from popping grease.

Thanks bigjoe, I'll try that. The nice thing about this bacon is that the popping spitting and splattering is minimal. I don't inject a brine so there isn't all that added water to steam up. There's a little but nothing near a mass produced slab. They can't afford to make it like I do - time is money.

That is how Green's bacon is. You don't get the pop and spatter and it fries very nicely in a skillet.

Cured this and sliced up this week.

Man that looks perfect.

Perfect Buckrage. Man that looks good. I'm out of homemade bacon so I have to suffer through store bought till I kill a pig at the new lease.

Did you go light on the spices? That's going to be my next try. I'm thinking "lesser is better" in that department. What I made was good but not what I really wanted. I do like that pepper though.

So how did it taste?

Unbelievable taste. Cured 12 days with brown sugar. Coated in course pepper before it got a 6 hr cold smoke bath. Sliced it thick and man its good.

This was right after the cure and soaked in ice water to remove some salt. Patted dry and coated in course pepper. Had to cut in half to get it to hang right in the smoker.







When it was curing

That is some B A pork belly, where did you get it?

Your post is making me rethink my process. I am making a cold smoker and planned on doing this when it's ready. 6 hours is more than I would have done so I'm glad you wrote this. Yep, I think I'm on the right track of "lesser is better" when it comes to added spices.

Did you get the belly from HEB? They sell first class bellies.

Costco. I used a pellet tray in my smoker for the cold smoke. You might not need to as long with a traditional stick smoker. Depends how much smoke you like. There's no doubt mines smoked lol but I think it's perfect and so does everyone that's had it so far. Decook... what spices did you use for your cure process?

That slab....bout 10lbs turned into this. Each package has about 10 thick cut slices. Some real thick lol

Here's the first go at it,

Spice
Cinnamon, ground - 1.23 Grams
Sugar, Brown - 43.64 Grams
Couple dashes of Colgans

And then my second cure,

Spice
Pepper, black - 14.77 Grams
Sugar, brown - 11.35 Grams
Onion powder - 2.07 Grams
Paprika, ground - 1.18 Grams
Fennel, whole - 1.18 Grams
Coriander, ground - 0.89 Grams

Both tasted like bacon, but it also tasted like all those other flavors too. It wasn't bad but it wasn't exactly what i wanted either. That's why I'm going back to a simple recipe and if I want to add in something more later I will.

Try this...

Per 5lbs of belly

1/4 cup of salt
1/2 cup of brown sugar or maple syrup
1 teaspoon pink salt

Rub on pink salt first coating evenly
Then salt
Then Brown sugar

Put it in a large bag or container so it lays flat and turn daily. If using maple put the bacon in the bag first then add maple syrup and massage it around to evenly distribute. I use a vac sealed bag to get out the air and keep ingredients tight against the meat. Zip locks will work as well just push out the air. 7 days minimum but more the better. You can under cure but you can't over cure. When ready I take it out rinse it and put it in ice water for an hour at a time. At the end of each hour I cut off a small test piece from the center to cook and taste for saltiness. When it was what I wanted I took it out patted dry and coated with pepper. I let it air dry a little more then put in the cold smoker. I think you might have used to many seasonings IMO but that's the great thing..you can adjust flavor to your liking. Next I'm trying with honey (in place of sugar) and another with dark beer with brown sugar.

Oh and I wouldn't cure with whatever you decide to coat the outside with like pepper.

Macon Bacon great job guys

BuckRage I didn't say in my reply but I was using Morton TenderQuick that has both the sugar, salt, and curing salt. I have a bunch of this and I want to use it up. I thought about honey too and posted that a few weeks ago but at crunch time I didn't have any.

I used too many seasonings and I won't do that again. If there's a flavor I want to try, I'll start with the base which is what you posted. Then I'll add in whatever flavor ONE AT A TIME and try it. After years of reloading you'd think I'd know and use that approach.

Thanks Stub - you need to try this!

BEER - what a heck of an idea!

I like this thread, decook. Thanks for posting. Your bacon looks GOOD too BTW. I DANG sure would love to test it out.

Lots of great info in here. I am going to have to try to find some meat and try this. Thanks guys