Q-Dan
Well-known member
I finally found a local source for affordable, farm-raised, antibiotic-free pork in part of the world and got a nice, 12-pound fresh side from them a couple of weeks back. This was my second stab at curing and smoking bacon and I thought there was no room for improvement after the first go-round, but I think I've actually outdone myself this time :bow:
The slab, before I slathered the cure on...
A while back, I got in an exchange in this thread about whether the pros and cons of using pink salt or not and I said I was going to try a sample this time without. So I saved a couple of trim pieces and went with the usual cure ingredients, minus the pink salt.
You can see in this shot that the slab that got the regular cure (on the bottom) is still pretty much pinkish-reddish. The piece on top is one of the trim pieces that didn't get any pink salt and it's more grayish-brown. I cured for a week in the fridge, flipping the slabs every night.
This about half the slab, right out of the smoker. It took about 4.5 hours to get it to 150°. I used mostly cherry and a little hickory this time and really like the dark color I got from it. I can't tell that it tastes much different that the apple I used last time, but it sure is purty!
And here are the "chef's samples" I cut and fried up when it was done. Good stuff, I tell ya! :thumb:
Remember this scene from the movie "Contact?" I feel the exact same way about this bacon...
Bacon - YouTube
The slab, before I slathered the cure on...
A while back, I got in an exchange in this thread about whether the pros and cons of using pink salt or not and I said I was going to try a sample this time without. So I saved a couple of trim pieces and went with the usual cure ingredients, minus the pink salt.
You can see in this shot that the slab that got the regular cure (on the bottom) is still pretty much pinkish-reddish. The piece on top is one of the trim pieces that didn't get any pink salt and it's more grayish-brown. I cured for a week in the fridge, flipping the slabs every night.
This about half the slab, right out of the smoker. It took about 4.5 hours to get it to 150°. I used mostly cherry and a little hickory this time and really like the dark color I got from it. I can't tell that it tastes much different that the apple I used last time, but it sure is purty!
And here are the "chef's samples" I cut and fried up when it was done. Good stuff, I tell ya! :thumb:
Remember this scene from the movie "Contact?" I feel the exact same way about this bacon...
Bacon - YouTube
