[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Made my own home cured bacon...with pics...56k NO WAY you want to come in here - Pics Fixed!! (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 10/24/2009 11:52:27 PM EDT
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Heard it was pretty easy & supposed to give really good results, so I tried it & it was pretty easy, but it did take some work...
All the items needed (plus a cooking thermometer, forgot to include that in the pic) 12 pound slab of Duroc breed, skin on pork belly overnight delivered from heritage foods, smoker, measuring cup, brown sugar, morton's tender quick curing salt, fridge thermometer, meat scale, digital scale & a tub. 
I only used a piece since it was my first time trying this and it would be a shame for it all to go to waste if I did a bad job, so I measured one smoker rack size 
Cut it, and it was 1/3rd at 4 pounds (not bad for a by the eye cut!) 
Followed the instructions of 1/2 ounce per pound, plus I used 1 cup of brown sugar 
Rubbed it all over in the tub 
And after only 20 minutes the salt was already drawing water out of the meat. It turned into a brine later, but I didn't take pictures of that... 
I was careful to keep the fridge at between 36 and 40 degrees to keep the cure working and avoid spoilage. I flipped it once a day for 8 days, keeping it in constant contact with the brine. Then I rinsed it down, patted it dry, and placed it uncovered on a rack in the fridge for 18 hours to dry out. Then I placed it in the smoker, skin side up, with one panful of apple wood chips. It was raining today, and some people would have put off the smoking until the rains stopped, but not me...I just placed the smoker in the fireplace! I did a test run first to ensure the draft was strong enough, and all seemed ok, especially if I kept the smoker all the way in the back and kept the side with the heating element either facing the back or at least to the side, since that's where most of the smoke comes out of and it would escape into the room a little every now & then if it faced forward. Notice the Polder dual thermometer (oven and food temp) connected.. 
This thing really got going 
So safety first! I had a bucket of water & a fire extinguisher, too, just in case, before I even started... 
After about 3 hours, the bacon temp reached 125 degrees, so I removed it from the smoker and removed the skin & then returned it, and added a second pan of apple wood chips. 
After about another hour and 20 minutes, it finally reached 150 degrees and was done. Total time from initial placement in smoker till done: 4 hours & 20 minutes. Ha, 4:20, in a smoker. Now that's just poetic, isn't it? The smoker actually reached 240 degrees, without a blanket; not bad. And the anticipation at 149 degrees was killing me! 
Done cooking: 
Circle is from the thermometer probe... 
Underside: 
Hoping the inside looks just as good..and it does! Hard to see in the pics, but it's nice...notice the pink coloring from the nitrite... 
Taste Test is mandatory of course 
And....yes, it is good...the dark one on the right was from the outside, receiving full smoke. Too strong, but inside piece was great! 
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Quoted:
This thread is not hard to masturbate to.  LOLOLOL, omfg, LOLOLOL Quoted:
How'd you find removing the skin? Easy? 90% of it was really easy, but there was this one patch a few inches square that was like trying to cut through raw squid with a dull spoon...weird! |
And here are the pics of it sliced (well, what was left it of it, anyway! lol). The slicer I have is 10 inches long, and the whole slab didn't fit lenghtwise on it, so at first I was holding it on an angle and dropping it onto the blade by hand, and then pushing it the rest of the way through. This was giving me really nice, whole length slices, but it was too much trouble and plus I appreciate having all 10 of my digits intact, so I decided to just cut off an end of the bacon and slice it separately...
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My wife walked behind me just as I got to the last slicer pic and she gives me this weird look and says "Your looking at meat?" I said "It is glorious bacon." she walked away shaking her head and mumbling. It is not like it is porn or something right?
My old man just bought two smokers, I may have to give him a call and schedule a weekend. 
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Quoted:
And here are the pics of it sliced (well, what was left it of it, anyway! lol). The slicer I have is 10 inches long, and the whole slab didn't fit lenghtwise on it, so at first I was holding it on an angle and dropping it onto the blade by hand, and then pushing it the rest of the way through. This was giving me really nice, whole length slices, but it was too much trouble and plus I appreciate having all 10 of my digits intact, so I decided to just cut off an end of the bacon and slice it separately... http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c145/Scrap5000/Bacon/IMGP4772.jpg http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c145/Scrap5000/Bacon/IMGP4770.jpg http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c145/Scrap5000/Bacon/IMGP4769.jpg http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c145/Scrap5000/Bacon/IMGP4775.jpg Good to see you have the same problem slicing I do....I cant get a really clean slice w/o the fat heating and getting all over the top of each slice. I have sharpened and sharpened and sliced almost frozen and just cant keep it from happening. I think the machines at big places are in a meet locker themselves so they stay cold too. |
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It is not like it is porn or something right? Hahah, that is so funny; I just told my wife that story and she cracked up. She always thinks I am loking at porn too, but I am always just looking at guns & food! Quoted:
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c145/Scrap5000/Bacon/IMGP4775.jpg Good to see you have the same problem slicing I do....I cant get a really clean slice w/o the fat heating and getting all over the top of each slice. I have sharpened and sharpened and sliced almost frozen and just cant keep it from happening. I think the machines at big places are in a meet locker themselves so they stay cold too. That's a wild thing about this particular meat...the fat seems to melt at a much lower temp than most any other meat I have ever seen. Any other meat's leftover fat in a pan usually takes a minute on high heat to turn back into a liquid, but this one literally turns back into a liquid within 10 seconds or so...it's kind os freaky! Quoted:
I have got to try that! 
Why Apple wood? I assume you can use other woods for this? Oh sure, you can use any type of wood that you normally like to use. I just had heard that apple was great and then I asked around here what people liked and apple got the most thumbs up. Plus, someone brought up that other types are pretty common to find in stores, so I wanted something different tahn what I normally have... |
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I suppose I will be the only voice of dissent, and say that my arteries just clogged looking at some of those photos.
What is the deal with bacon that is 75% fat and 25% meat? I always find the fat too chewy...so I'm a fan of leaner bacon, if I ever have any. Anyway, thanks for all the photos –– very informative and I learned a lot. 
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Quoted:
I suppose I will be the only voice of dissent, and say that my arteries just clogged looking at some of those photos.
What is the deal with bacon that is 75% fat and 25% meat? I always find the fat too chewy...so I'm a fan of leaner bacon, if I ever have any. Good points, good points...some people like the extra fat for the flavor, and also for other recipes you can make.. Quoted:
deep fry the skin for smokey pork rinds? bacon looks freakin awesome! 80% of it was covered in hair folicles...seems they used a trimmer instead of scraping it off 
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Quoted:
I suppose I will be the only voice of dissent, and say that my arteries just clogged looking at some of those photos.
What is the deal with bacon that is 75% fat and 25% meat? I always find the fat too chewy...so I'm a fan of leaner bacon, if I ever have any. Anyway, thanks for all the photos –– very informative and I learned a lot. And your from NC? Someone ban him! j/k Fine looking bacon, will have to give this a try. |
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Holy mother of God. Do you know those exercises where they say you're stuck on a deserted island and can only have four people with you? Would you take a doctor, a cop, a comedian, a nurse, a teacher, a priest, etc.? I'd take you. Oh man, shit, thanks, that's one of the nicest friggin things anyone's said to me in a damn long time, lolol. |
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Loks really good. I've made bacon twice but I've found it to ne really salty. Both time I soaked the cured meat in cold water for about an hour. Next time I'm going to soak for about 6 hours.
BTW that outside slice is the best! Try making Canadian bacon next. Easy and tastes really good. |
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Holy mother of God. Do you know those exercises where they say you're stuck on a deserted island and can only have four people with you? Would you take a doctor, a cop, a comedian, a nurse, a teacher, a priest, etc.? I'd take you. Oh man, shit, thanks, that's one of the nicest friggin things anyone's said to me in a damn long time, lolol. Next camping trip, you are invited. TRG |
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Quoted:
I suppose I will be the only voice of dissent, and say that my arteries just clogged looking at some of those photos.
What is the deal with bacon that is 75% fat and 25% meat? I always find the fat too chewy...so I'm a fan of leaner bacon, if I ever have any. Anyway, thanks for all the photos –– very informative and I learned a lot. You're not the only one. When I buy bacon I buy the meatiest bacon I can find. I also buy the bacon ends and pieces to make chopped bacon for salads, eggs, pizza etc. I always separate 90% of the fat out of the ends and pieces. There is still plenty of grease in the meaty parts and that way I can put it in the fridge in a container and just add chopped bacon to whatever dish I want and the bacon isn't a massive clump of bacon pieces stuck in solidified bacon grease when I got to use it. I supposed it's also a bit healthier for me too. I'm sure there will come a day when I have to face the decision to stop eating bacon or continue clogging my arteries. If I can put that decision off by a few years just by picking out bacon with a little less fat that I'm all for it.
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I made a couple of more slabs this past week...I could only get one pic before my phone died, will take some more before I slice em up.
I used only 1/2 as much smoke this time and it was much better...only 1/2 tin, twice (instead of a full tin, twice). 
I also found out the obvious; using a fillet knife and placing the slab skin down and filleting it off like a fish skin is incredibly easier than trying to peel and cut it off. Zipped right through the second slab. How did I not think of that before?? |
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How much did it end up costing you per lb? That looks amazing. That with some fresh eggs would be heaven! The place that I bought it from is way too pricy to buy from often; it was $100 for 12 pounds of meat. I have no idea what a farmer would charge for a pork belly though, nor what a "factory raised" pork belly goes for. The places I have asked around here either don't carry bellies, or need a 50 pound minimum order. The salt and sugar are minimal $ |