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.
Removed the ribs and broke it down into thirds, one of which was going to be bacon.
For the cure, went with K. salt, pink salt, black pepper, bay leaves, nutmeg, brown sugar, garlic, thyme, and juniper berries.
Bagged it and into the frige for a week, flipped it daily.......well, every day that I remembered.
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.
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.
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.
Although, I bought it to keep in my comp gear, I had to give it a whirl on the bacon.
It did a fine job.
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.
