Sweet molasses cured smoked bacon & Smoked pancetta (savory bacon) pic heavy
 

Hey everyone! The other day I got a nice 10+lb belly cut and I decided to make 2 types of bacon with it. One was a sweet molasses bacon cured for a week then smoked with almond & Lychee wood. The other was gonna be a savory (Garlic & Herbs) cured pancetta to be hung and air-dried but my drying fridge is down right now so I went ahead and smoked it the same time as the sweet bacon! So I guess its basically a rolled smoked savory bacon. Both came out Great. So Here's what went down. Both were cured in vacu-bags, I didn't get pics of that. Sorry.

Raw Pancetta rubbed:
http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/...n/3040c47c.jpg

Pancetta out of cure:
http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/...n/533c542c.jpg

Molasses cured bacon out of cure:
http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/...n/2688ae87.jpg

On the smoker 1 hour in:
http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/...n/397c77e9.jpg

About to come off:
http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/...n/b8018298.jpg

Smoked Pancetta chilled & sliced (packaged the other half for a gift):
http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/...n/be667beb.jpg

Sweet bacon chilled & sliced:
http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/...n/f061b0f9.jpg

Had to have a sample:
http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/...n/a3d72012.jpg

http://i1117.photobucket.com/albums/...n/8d1cde5c.jpg

Thats it. Thanks for looking. :thumb:

Cheers

Oh my!:shock: I think my tongue just orgasmed!:redface:

DANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!That is fantastic. I so want some!

Fantastic - curing bacon is something I plan on doing soon - thanks for posting!

I'm bummed out. A buddy was going to broker a hog for me...all organic etc. but the source flaked out.

I was SO looking forward to makin' bacon.

i know what i am doing next week! it seems around this time every year everyone starts making bacons and such, it's on now, i'm done putting it off.

Oh yeah! Very nice lookin meaty meats! how'd your pancetta turn out? I've made a pancetta thingy out of a rolled up butt, but not belly - Let it air dry for 4 months and cold smoked several times - I'm curious to see if you think it would have been better dried, or if you were happy with the way it is?

No reason not to make it. Go grab a slab of belly from your butcher and do tha damn thing :thumb: I guarantee the belly you get from the butcher will still be better than the bellies commercial bacon manufacturers use anyway. I lived my whole life loving what I thought was "bacon" only to find out once I started making my own that I had never known what bacon really was! It was a sad time in my life. Now go make your own! :heh:

Yeah I have been curing a lot of hams for the Christmas (like 150 lbs worth) and since I already have the insta-cure1 on hand I did up a batch of bacon for myself (selfish mod :bow:). The molasses recipe I have is actually turning out so damn nice each time I'm thinking of producing some bacon on a small small scale, about 25-50 lbs a batch in 2011 to distribute locally. I'll see how that turns out though. :thumb:


The pancetta turned out really nice. It has all the notes of the herbs, garlic spices & chilies, but its all absolutely mellowed out into this fatty, porky goodness. Im sure the flavors would have been more concentrated if it were air-dried. But I wanted it for use in the kitchen when cooking. Instead of using store bacon in dishes, this pancetta adds a whole new depth of flavor with all its herbs & spices. The almond and lychee smoke is nice and mild on the meat as well, so it by no means overbearing. I Did fry up a thin piece bacon-style and it was awesome... but so were the mushrooms I sauteed with the pancetta cubes tonight :thumb: lol But yes, overall it came out very much to my liking! I do recommend doing it if you dont have the means or time to air dry.


Cheers

BACON.......That looks really good, I have to add that to the bucket list!

Wow, that looks amazing. I really need to try this soon, or at least come down to Jamaica and try yours :-P. You mentioned that your drying fridge was down, what do you use, something you made or modded(is that a word?), or something you bought?

How will I put this.....Phark!!!

Hey Wrench, I have an adjustable wine fridge that I use. I can get mine as high as 68˚*and the humidity usually sticks around 50-60. Mine's just a bit small, looking for a slightly bigger one now.

http://8bottlewinecooler.org/wp-cont...AL-BLK-SLV.jpg

Cheers

mmmmm...homemade bacon...i can smell it from here! nice job!

Now my stomach is growling. right before lunch though. nice post.

that sweet looks awsome what recipe did you use,so what temp did you finish them off in the smoker to?