Steakhouse Bacon

Well here is an update, the slabs are in the final stages of resting. After 5 days of flipping the bags once a day AND 3 water baths w/ rinses I am happy to say that the slabs are on drying racks and in the fridge.

I bought a foodsaver from costco this week and recieved it yesterday. Looking fwd to tmrws smoke.

Here is another FYI: I will be using woodpellersmoker's Senior on my UDS. This will be a first time and I can not wait! I will be smoking this baby at 165 for 2 hours, then kick it up to 180 for 1 hour, then 200 for 2 hours and finally 220 till we get an IT of 150! As instructed by Thireye's recipe. The Senior should be able to do all that temp change and then hold the meat's IT at 150 for as many hours as I like. Who knew that it would be bacon that inspired man to create a multi-temp goal cooking apparatus :becky:

Will post some pics after the smoke tmrw.

Slabs are on the drum… fingers crossed

2dumb2kwit said:

No problem at all. (That's how I do it. It will come of easily.)

(And save that smoked skin. It works great for flavoring beans, or greens, etc.)

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Just to be clear, once I get the bacon off the drum. I am going to pull the skin off, kinda like the silverback skin on ribs?

Thinking insulated gloves and a butter knife/paper towel.

What do you do with the skin after? This would def be a first for me.

Also I'm not so sure that this is side belly as I requested. Two of the slabs have a nipple on them :shocked: Can anyone tell from the pics?

OK, so the skin is off (someone help me on what to do with this please ray Came off real easy, used a chef's knife and filet'd it off, no issues there)

I couldn't wait and sliced two thick slices one of Thirdeye and one of Cowgirl. I have to say they both tasted great and very similar.

Some facts about this first run:
1. I think the cut is not side belly and a lil too fatty for thick slices
2. I'm a bit tired (i started the pit at 9AM and as always it's never smooth sailing), the two that I tasted, tasted very very similar. So i will need to wait till next weekend to fry up all 4 and see what I like best.
3. I will need to slice this as thin as I can due to the high fat in it.
4. there was some bones in it, very small nothing ruining just annoying.

My early conclusion is that BOTH rubs are great. And I am not surprised, both Cowgirl and Thirdeye create some amazing Q and are a plethora of knowledge. I love Thirdeyes method of curing, soaking, drying and finally smoking it. I walked the temps up just as he suggests. If you are looking to make some just due as he says… it's idiot proof.

Here are some pics out of the smoker… more pics to come.

OK here is the final product. I vacuum sealed 7 packs each with 1 of each. I than did 2 more packs with about 16 total slices for myself. One thing that was cool was toward the end I couldn't slice nice even slices. So I just diced it up and vacuum sealed them like pancetta. I'm sure that will make great omelets!

I'm exhausted, been dealing with this since 8AM. If I didn't get the slabs partially frozen and smoked this on Sat, leave overnight in the fridge to slice and seal today I think it would have went a lot smoother. Anyway thanks for looking hope this inspired some more peeps to make their own.

Special thanks to Thirdeye and Cowgirl for sharing their knowledge, thank you!

2dumb2kwit said:

Just put the skin in a freezer bag and chunk it in the freezer. Then you can use it to season beans, or greens, etc. When you cook beans, just throw a chunk of the skin in there. Remove and throw away, when the beans are done. It will just add a little of that smokey pig fat flavor, to your beans. (Or greens.)

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That was exactly what I did!! Thanks again for the help.