Makin' Bacon
 

Last trip to RD I noticed they had pork belly again, so thought I better grab one since it seems to be a hit or miss item and I don't find them anywhere else up here.

Just under 17 lbs.

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Removed the ribs and broke it down into thirds, one of which was going to be bacon.

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For the cure, went with K. salt, pink salt, black pepper, bay leaves, nutmeg, brown sugar, garlic, thyme, and juniper berries.

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Bagged it and into the frige for a week, flipped it daily.......well, every day that I remembered. :icon_blush:

After a week, took it out of the cure and gave it a rinse and put it on a rack and back in the fridge over night.

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Gave it a "warm smoke" with hickory for the wood. Super windy around here on Sunday so low and steady temps were a challenge. Highest temp I saw in the smoker was 140, but spent most of the time in a 100-120 range.

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Let it cool and wrapped it up again and back in the fridge. Pulled it out yesterday and started to head down to the basement for a quick run through the Hobart...............then I remembered that I had not gotten to use the new MABA slicer yet. :mrgreen: Although, I bought it to keep in my comp gear, I had to give it a whirl on the bacon.

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It did a fine job.

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I forgot to weigh the meat prior to the cure, but wound up with just over 2 lbs of bacon after slicing. Was very pleased with how this bacon turned out, great flavor. It was a nice change from the sweeter style I had been doing lately.

Migty Fine Lookin Bacon !!

They always have belly's at Arnolds or Stern's out in Charlton. I was out at Stern's saturday and picked up a brisket and belly. Arnolds sells frozen belly's with the skin on but Stern's sells it fresh without skin. Just an fyi.

Really?? I have never seen the belly's at Arnolds, I'll have to look a bit closer next time. The one in East Longmeadow?

That is some darn good looking bacon :thumb:

That looks really good Joe. I have been doing sweet bacon lately too, and I need to do a savory one like this. The black pepper crust looks great.

Great looking bacon. I gotta find some pork belly around here sometime very soon.

You gotta ask for the bellies. I've never seen them out either but if you ask them, they'll go in back and get what you need. Yep, the one in East Longmeadow.

That's some damn sexy pig there!

Dang that looks good!

Nice looking bacon. Impressive slices. :thumb: I can never get my slices thin and uniform with a 12" slicer knife. They always end up monster thick - which isn't a bad thing.

Re: Makin' Bacon
 

Beautiful! Well done, sir!




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The bacon looks great. I just made some a week back and it took a lot of time, but it was worth it. A local store had bellies in back and I was surprised that they had any.
I was wondering if RD is worth it for the belly if you still have to pull the ribs out.
Just one question what is the average price per a lb for a belly?
If any one out there has bought one lately.

Nice. makes me want to attempt making my own bacon as well

This one was $2.59 lb if I remember correctly.