Makin Bacon 🥓

I picked up a few pounds of quality pork belly because I wanted to make my own bacon. I dry cured it in the refrigerator in a mixture of salt, spices, herbs, and maple syrup. I flipped the package daily to disperse the cure mixture and extracted fluids. After eight days I rinsed the pork and placed it on a rack in my refrigerator to form a pellicle for 24 hours. I used the cold smoker attachment on my Master Built electric smoker and didn’t even turn the main unit on. I smoked it for four hours in a mixture of alder, apple, and cherry chips. I wrapped the bacon and put it in the refrigerator to chill overnight. This morning I sliced it thick and fried it up with large duck eggs I happen to have. It was all delicious! Some takeaways; I probably went overboard on my spice mixture and will keep it more simple in the future. Also, it might’ve been a little too much smoke so maybe next time I will cut it down to 3 hours, or 3:30 smoke time.

Gooooood Stuff!  Thanks for sharing.   

The bacon looks good.   I've been making it for a while now.  We don't eat very much store bought bacon anymore.

If it's got too much smoke for you now, let  it sit for a few days. The smoke will mellow out.

I have only hot smoked, but I see that a lot of people cold smoke for about 24 hours...some of them go 6 hours in smoke and then put it in the fridge to rest and repeat 4 times.  Of course everyone has their own way of making "the best" bacon so following someones method may or may not work for everyone.

I'm going to try making Canadian bacon in the next couple of weeks if I can run across both time and energy at the same time.

A couple of days ago Art and I were talking about putting together some sausages.

A couple of days ago Art and I were talking about putting together some sausages.

Ummmm .... ok.   

-Allen

If it's got too much smoke for you now, let  it sit for a few days. The smoke will mellow out.

^This

-Allen

Nice just sliced some up myself two nights ago. Always taste better when you brine yourself and smoke it.

The bacon looks good.   I've been making it for a while now.  We don't eat very much store bought bacon anymore.

If it's got too much smoke for you now, let  it sit for a few days. The smoke will mellow out.

I have only hot smoked, but I see that a lot of people cold smoke for about 24 hours...some of them go 6 hours in smoke and then put it in the fridge to rest and repeat 4 times.  Of course everyone has their own way of making "the best" bacon so following someones method may or may not work for everyone.

I'm going to try making Canadian bacon in the next couple of weeks if I can run across both time and energy at the same time.

A couple of days ago Art and I were talking about putting together some sausages.

24 hours of smoke is a lot of smoke. I love lox and it is not too smoky so maybe I overdid it with my chips or some thing?