Bacon

Picked up an 11# belly from Costco a few weeks back for $3 lb. Cured with a little Steen's syrup and smoked, came out great!

you had me with the thread title ...

Looks great.

Thanks, will never buy packaged again.

Give the details on how you smoked it, as it looks great

Thanks, smoked around 200 until internal reached 145, used combo oak and pecan.

That looks awesome.....

That's the best hand slicing job I've ever seen or you've got a slicer.
If you've got a slicer, what kind?
Did you only use Steen's ? No dry cure ?

I've been looking at those bellies at Costco for a while now and wanting to get one but don't have a slicer. You just cost me money! Good job!

Thanks, have access to a Berkel slicer. Used a dry cure of salt, cure and brown sugar. Just drizzled a little Steens on it before I vaccuum sealed. Probably won't do the Steens again, or cut back on the sugar, have to cook it real slow to keep from burning, flavor is great though.

Payne gave me a couple of pounds that looked about like yours. I cooked it all up at one time in a large non stick pan. You have to start taking it out as it browns. It's not crispy but it sticks with you. I used all mine on BLTs. I simply stuck three slices in the microwave for 15 seconds.

Here you go.

quote=bill oxner]Payne bacon turkey tomato club. That's what was was for lunch. You guys will just have to cry your heart out, because you can't make it at home. I've been dreaming about this ever since planting time. I finally cooked up all of the wonderful thick sliced bacon that Payne sent me in a care package over the Christmas holidays. It was even better than it looked.



You guys will just have to forgive me on this picture. My lens must have clouded up. Under the home grown tomato and the home cured bacon is a slice of honey baked turkey. The iceberg tops it off.



You really don't expect crispness with quarter inch thick sliced bacon. You get a delicious chewy texture.
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If you are in a town with an Asian market you can often get good prices on fresh pork belly in their meat market. I frequently buy it for around $2.00 per pound. I buy several at one time, to make a decent amount of bacon for the effort of curing and smoking.

Here's some pork belly in the electric smoker cabinet, to be cold smoked with pecan pellet in an Amaz-n-Smoker tray. They are wet cured in the fridge for 12 days with a recipe from SmokingMeatForums. I have some large stainless steel pans that I cover with plastic wrap and hold in the garage fridge. I put a good coat of coarse black pepper on after I remove the bacon from the cure and before I dry it overnight. The cure recipe is mentioned in this excellent bacon-making tutorial:

http://ilovemeat.com/homemade-bacon-part-1-cure/

The photos below are the bacon in the smoker and on the slicer. I generally smoke for about 6-8 hours. That allows me to light both ends of the pellet smoker for a good level of smoke. I also put a little water in the pan, so the heat of the smoke tray doesn't overheat the closest slab of bacon. The thin slices at the end are because my particular slicer doesn't manage the tiny bit of end all that well. I slice with the bacon mostly frozen. I'd really love to have one of those giant blade commercial slicers, but the one I have does okay.

Bill, that bacon looks super. You did well.

At what temp do you smoke um ?

Looks great StretchR! Bill I bet you won't forget that BLT any time soon, pretty hard to beat.

Dan I smoked it at 200 until it was 145 internal.

Awesome!

As soon as it cools off I'm firing up my smoker.